Marjorie Jackson-Nelson

Marjorie Jackson-Nelson (born 13 September 1931) is an Australian former athlete and politician. She was the Governor of South Australia between 2001 and 2007. She finished her sporting career with two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, six individual world records and every Australian state and national title she contested from 1950 to 1954. Early life Jackson was born Marjorie Jackson on 13 September 1931 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. Her parents are William Alfred and Mary (née Robinson) Jackson. Her father was a toolmaker and after the commencement of World War II, he moved to Lithgow to work at a factory manufacturing rifles. The family initially planned to remain in Coffs Harbour but as the war continued, they moved to Lithgow. Her mother was hospitalised when Jackson was thirteen and she became responsible for running the household. While in school, Jackson began to win local races and was nicknamed Bernborough after the race horse. She travelled to Sydney for the national championships when she was fifteen, where she won every race that she entered. After joining the South Sydney Athletics Club, she was invited to compete in the 1947–48 Athletics Championships, which served as trials for the 1948 Summer Olympics. During the race, she stayed in the starting blocks while the rest of the runners began the race, believing that they had started before the gun; as a result, she missed selection for the Olympics. She began to work as a typist but she continued to train as an athlete. She ran on the Lithgow Oval until the town built her a cinder track and her father bought her track spikes and built her a set of starting blocks. Jackson trained at night, and her coach, Jim Monaghan, would use his car headlights to light the track.