Charlene Todman - Australia's first Stoke Mandeville Games competitor

Charlene Todman (left) was the first Australian to compete in the Stoke Mandeville Games, competing in the 1951 Games as a member of the Stoke Mandeville team. She is seen here with Bunty Brookes and Pat Kingsford, fellow members of the NSW Society for Crippled Children, in May 1953. In 1951 she was in England, rehabilitating at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital following a horse accident when she was 14. Todman was one of the first known women international competitors at the event, and finished second in the women’s Archery event. Todman was an active sport competitor for many years, competing again at Stoke Mandeville in 1959, 1970 and 1974, when she finished her international career with a medal in Table Tennis.

Date: July 1951

Author: The Sun (Sydney). Photo in the public domain with expired copyright.

Charlene Todman – Australia’s first Stoke Mandeville Games competitor

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