Percy Hobson

Percy Francis Hobson (5 November 1942 – 4 January 2022) was an Australian high jumper. He won the men's event at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, making him the first Indigenous Australian to earn a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Early life Hobson was born on 5 November 1942 in Bourke, New South Wales, to Fanny Williams and Percy Hobson. Fanny was the daughter of a respected NSW Police Aboriginal tracker, Frank Williams, who was a Ngemba man. During his youth Hobson trained using a makeshift high-jump.

Career In November 1961, Percy Hobson broke the NSW resident high-jump record with a leap of . In March 1962, at the Australian Athletics Championships, Hobson won the high jump event with a jump of , defeating Tony Sneazwell on a countback. setting a new Commonwealth Games record. In doing so, he became the first Indigenous Australian to win a gold medal for Australia at the Commonwealth Games. Hobson received a hero's welcome when he returned to Bourke and the local brass band played "Hail, the Conquering Hero".

Legacy A local park in Bourke was later renamed Percy Hobson Park in his honour.

A small standing exhibit on Hobson is at Bourke's The Back 'O Bourke Exhibition Centre.

On the park's water tower, a mural project was commenced prior to July 2020 to raise funds to paint a mural on the tower, supported by Hobson's sisters Freda Harvey and Heather Mieni. With the base coats applied, the mural started in April 2021, a re-creation of an iconic photo of the moment Hobson earned his first gold medal.