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56th Anniversary of the 1956 Olympic Torch RelayPrint Page Print this page

18-May-2015
18-May-2015

Photographs supplied by John Huth

The plaque commemorates 56th anniversary of the Olympic Torch Relay from Cairns to Brisbane in the lead up to the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. 

The Torch Relay 1956 

The Olympic Games are indelibly associated with Greece, the country of their origin. This association is acknowledged on each Opening Day by giving premier position to the Greek team, and also by the ceremonial raising of their flag to the playing of their National Anthem. To these tributes from 1936 has been added a further link by bringing from Olympia, the birth-place of the Games, a flame to kindle the cauldron in the Main Stadium.

On its first journey to the Southern Hemisphere the plan accepted was to carry the flame by runners from Olympia, in Elis, to Athens whence Qantas Airlines would give it safe passage to Darwin, its first stop in Australia. A Royal Australian Air Force plane would carry it across the north of the continent to Cairns, on the north-east cost, which was to be the starting point in Australia of a relay of 2,830 runners who would carry it day and night to arrive at the Main Stadium in Melbourne at 4.32 on the afternoon of 22nd November.

 

 

Location

Address:Bruce Highway, Gin Gin, 4671
State:QLD
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -24.992032
Long: 151.956855
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Culture
Sub-Theme:Sport
Approx. Event Start Date:1956
Approx. Event End Date:2012

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:2012
Front Inscription

Games of the XVI Olympiad

Melbourne 1956

On 14th November 1956 J. Coumessos carried the Olympic Flame into Gin Gin and handed the Olympic Relay Torch to T. Dutton to continue the journey south to Melbourne for the Opening Ceremony of the Games of the XVI Olympiad on 22nd November 1956.

Erected by the Bundaberg Regional Council and the 1956 Torchbearers Commemorative Club to mark the 56th anniversary  of the 1956 Olympic Torch Relay from Cairns to Melbourne.

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au