Daphne Ceeney

Daphne Jean Hilton (née Ceeney; 7 January 1934 – 25 July 2016) was an Australian Paralympic competitor. She was the first Australian woman to compete at the Paralympic Games. She won fourteen medals in three Paralympics in archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, and table tennis from 1960 to 1968.

Personal

Ceeney was born in the New South Wales town of Harden-Murrumburrah on 7 January 1934, as the eldest of four children. She became a paraplegic after breaking her back in a horse-riding accident in 1951 at the age of 17. She died in Canberra on 25 July 2016 at the age of 82.

Sporting career Australian Paralympic Team members Daphne Ceeney (now Hilton) and Elizabeth Edmondson shake hands after Edmondson won gold and Ceeney silver in the 50m prone swimming event at the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games. They are pushed by Kevin Betts (Ceeney) and 'Johnno' Johnston (Edmondson)

1960 Summer Paralympics Ceeney was the only Australian female competitor at the inaugural 1960 Rome Games. At the games, she won two gold medals in the Women's 50 m Breaststroke complete class 5 and Women's 50 m Crawl complete class 5 events, three silver medals in the Women's St. Nicholas Round open in archery, Women's Club Throw C, and Women's Javelin C events, and a bronze medal in the Women's Shot Put C event.

1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games She won 8 gold medals and one silver medal at the 1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Perth, Western Australia,

1964 Summer Paralympics At the 1964 Tokyo Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's Doubles C table tennis event with Marion O'Brien,

2002 World Wheelchair Games In the 1990s, Ceeney came out of retirement and took up lawn bowls in the hope of gaining selection for the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. Hilton was inducted into the New South Wales Hall of Champions in November 2014. In December 2016, she was posthumously inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame. A tunnel boring machine used in New South Wales is named after her.