18 Facts About Shirley Strickland

Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE, known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete.

Shirley Strickland won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports.

Shirley Strickland grew up on the family farm east of the wheatbelt town of Pithara, Western Australia.

Shirley Strickland's father, Dave Strickland, while working at Menzies in the goldfields of Western Australia, was an athlete.

Shirley Strickland was unable to compete in the 1900 Summer Olympics because he lacked the money for a trip to Paris.

Shirley Strickland's performance was considered to be as good as those of Stan Rowley, who won the Australian amateur sprint titles that season.

Dave Shirley Strickland subsequently went on to play one senior game of Australian rules football with Melbourne-based VFL team St Kilda in 1900 and six with WAFL club West Perth spread across the 1901 and 1909 seasons.

Shirley Strickland's mother, Violet Edith Merry, was American-born with a British mining engineer father and a Norwegian mother.

Some runners, including Shirley Strickland, enlisted to help the war effort.

Shirley Strickland coached sprinter Raelene Boyle for the 1976 Olympic season.

Shirley Strickland was a founding member, and later served as president of the party's branch in Western Australia.

Shirley Strickland ran for the Legislative Assembly in 1983 and 1993, and for the Legislative Council in 1971,1986,1989, and 1996.

Shirley Strickland ran for the House of Representatives in 1981,1984, and 1993, with the latter being her only independent candidacy at federal level.

Shirley Strickland was criticised by some for that but asserted she had a right to do so and the income generated would help pay for her grandchildren's education and allow a sizeable donation to assist in securing old-growth forests from use by developers.

Shirley Strickland's memorabilia were eventually acquired for the National Sports Museum in Melbourne by a group of anonymous businessmen who shared her wish that the memorabilia would stay in Australia.

Shirley Strickland had been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to athletics on 1 January 1957.

Shirley Strickland's body was found on 16 February 2004 on her kitchen floor, but the coroner determined that she died on the evening of 11 February.

In 2011, Shirley was posthumously inducted into the WA Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2014, Strickland de la Hunty was inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations' Hall of Fame.