Lionel Rose (2 works by) (birth name: Lionel Edmund Rose )
Born: Established: 21 Jun 1948 Warragul ; Died: 8 May 2011
Gender: Male
Heritage: Aboriginal
(jkm-20/01/2010) Lionel Rose wrote his lifestory with the help of rod humphries; this should make him a poart of Austlit? Note on awards and state funeral info from death notice in the Age 12 May 2011 (JR 16/5/11)

BiographyHistory

Lionel Rose was born and raised at Jackson's Track, Victoria. Rose left school at fourteen, which was also when his father died, and became a lever-man in a sawmill. Rose came from a family of fighters and had his first fight at the age of fourteen. Training at the Warragul Youth Club, Rose had his first professional fight at the age of sixteen and was Australian Champion in 1967 at the time of the Referendum. He won boxing's bantamweight World Title three times, first at the age of nineteen. In 1968, he was the first Indigenous Australian to be named Australian of the Year. Rose suffered three heart attacks, the first at the age of 39, and in 2007 he suffered a debilitating stroke.

Notes

  • Lionel Rose's awards include induction into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, 1994; Australian Sports Medal 2001; the Ella Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sport 2005.
  • A state funeral was held for Lionel Rose at Festival Hall, West Melbourne, Victoria, 16 May 2011.
  • See also the entry for Lionel Rose on the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll: http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/indigenous/leadership/victorian-indigenous-honour-roll/victorian-indigenous-honour-roll-biographies/lionel-rose-mbe

Awards

2012 inaugural inductee Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll
2003 Centenary Medal
1983 National Medal
VIEW ALL AWARDS