Melbourne 1956: a shared Olympic Games

The Games of the XVI Olympiad helped drive Melbourne’s development as Australia’s sporting capital, as a key contributor to the national economy, and as a centre of modernist art, architecture and design.

In delivering what became known as the “Friendly Games”, Melbourne presented itself to the rest of the world as a forward-looking, modern metropolis, and in the process achieved civic progress and gained in self-belief.

The Olympic Games Melbourne 1956 also saw boycotts by seven countries as a result of separate political motivated tensions in eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

Much needed housing

A village in its own right and designed as a new suburb that would help alleviate the state of Victoria’s housing problems at the time, the Olympic Village marked a departure from the tradition of housing athletes in dorms and hotels.

Situated in the suburb of Heidelberg West, the village area faced social problems after the Games, and many of its 841 individual housing units fell into disrepair. A 1995 urban renewal and revitalisation programme transformed many of the dilapidated houses. More recently, the 10-year renewal project has seen the demolition of several hundred homes in the village and their replacement with modern public housing. The village has its own sports centre, primary school, shopping strip and community health centre, which is home to a training organisation and a legal service.

A Games shared

The Games of the XVI Olympiad were unique in that they were held across two continents, the first and only time to date that the concept of unity of time and place, enshrined in the Olympic Charter, has not been observed. Australia’s strict quarantine laws prevented the importation of horses for the Olympic Games and led to the three equestrian events being held in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, which beat off competition from four other cities to host them. In total, 158 athletes from 29 countries participated in these competitions, which were held in June 1956, almost six months before the rest of the events took place in Melbourne.

Sporting advances

Several technical and sporting innovations took place at the Olympic Games Melbourne 1956. These included the introduction by OMEGA of a semi-automatic, digital-display timing device in the swimming pool, which automatically recorded finish times. New technology also made an appearance in fencing, with the introduction of the electric foil, which was installed on each track and made the scoring of bouts easier. Meanwhile, a new points-scoring system was introduced in modern pentathlon, with athletes being allocated points for their performance in each discipline and their overall scores determining their final position in the competition standings. The system is still in place today.

Melbourne 1956 remembered

Melbourne continues to take pride in its Olympic history and showcases it to this day. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the Australian Sports Museum. Situated at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) – the main stadium of the Games of the XVI Olympiad – the museum’s Olympic Gallery tells the story of Australia’s participation at the Olympic Games and focuses closely on Melbourne 1956. It makes use of the latest technology to create an interactive visitor experience and features a large number of exhibits, including the Olympic cauldron used at Melbourne 1956.

Anniversary celebrations also ensure that the city’s attachment to the Games of the XVI Olympiad remains strong. The events held to mark the 50th anniversary in 2006 included a recreation of the Opening Ceremony at the MCG, with 320 of the athletes who competed at Melbourne 1956 taking part in a march of nations. Ten years later, surviving athletes gathered at Lake Wendouree, the venue for the Olympic rowing, kayaking and canoeing events, for the lighting of the Olympic torch and the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the 1956 Olympians.

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