Timeline - Paralympics

1954

"This must have been my destiny to do what I've done"

Frank Ponta on how it all started

1957

1960 Paralympian Frank Ponta recalls wheelchair basketballers training against able-bodied players.

Frank Ponta talks about early basketball competitions against able-bodied players

WA ‘Paras’ vs the police cadets on the streets of Perth

The first Australian team gold medalists

Ponta and Mather-Brown face off for the camera

1960

Kalgoorlie crowd watches Paras push around police cadets

Members of the 1960 Australian Paralympic Team pose with an entertainer at their hotel in Singapore en route to the first Paralympic Games in Rome, September 1960. At this time, it was seen as beneficial for people with paraplegia to spend time standing and even to learn to 'walk' using crutches and wearing calipers, so Daphne Ceeney (later Hilton) in the back row and Frank Ponta (seated, far left) are out of their wheelchairs in this photo.

Australian team en route to 1960 Rome Paralympics

Seven members of the 1960 Australian Paralympic Team - the first - at the reunion to mark the 50th anniversary of the Games. The team members and their partners were guests of honour at the 2010 Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards. All but one of the pictured athletes were accompanied by their long-term wives or husbands. Of the 12 athletes who attended the Games, eight were still alive 50 years later (Frank Ponta was too ill to attend). L to R (athlete and partner): Chris O'Brien with his sister; Daphne Hilton (nee Ceeney) and husband Frank; Gary Hooper and wife Jan; APC President Greg Hartung; Bruno Moretti and wife Scarlett; Kevin Coombs and wife Linda; Kevin Cunningham and wife Maureen; and Bill Mather-Brown and wife Nadine.

Australian team 50-year reunion Rome Summer Paralympics

I hope they appreciate us, and what we've done for the future

Listen to how Frank Ponta would like to be remembered

1964

Australian Team Members at athletics Tokyo Paralympics

"I could see a gold medal staring at me"

Frank Ponta on his fencing silver medal in Tokyo 1964

1968

Everytime you went away you'd learn from everyone

Frank Ponta talks about learning from other teams

1970

Waiting to enter the stadium on a ‘perfect’ Edinburgh day

1972

And then they’re off! In the 1972 wheelchair dash.

Frank Ponta's 1972 nomination woes may have cost him a medal

Hear Frank Ponta talk about missing out on the pentathlon at the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics

1976