Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE (b. 1931), former sprinter, was Governor of South Australia from 2001 to 2007. The 'Lithgow Flash' won Olympic gold medals in the 100m and 200m at Helsinki in 1952, becoming the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal for track and field and the first Australian to win an Olympic gold medal on the running track since 1896. Between 1950 and 1954 she won every state and Australian title for the 100 yards and 220 yards. She broke world sprint records ten times and garnered seven Commonwealth Games gold medals. Sportsman of the Year in 1952, in 1953 she was awarded an MBE for her services to athletics. Since the death from leukaemia in 1977 of her husband Peter Nelson, former Olympic cyclist, she has been dedicated to securing funds to sponsor research into the disease, raising over $7 million for facilities in Adelaide through the Peter Nelson Leukaemia Fellowship Research Fund.
This photograph was taken in January 1953 at Parafield airport, Adelaide, and published in The News. Jackson was returning from Sydney, where she was named Sportsman of the Year at Sydney Town Hall. Her then boyfriend, Peter Nelson, who she married later that year, is standing behind her on the left.
Purchased 2011
Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE (age 22 in 1953)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
As part of its ongoing program of commissions of portraits of prominent Australians, the National Portrait Gallery has unveiled a portrait of Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson by South Australian artist Avril Thomas.
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