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Jim Achurch Oral History
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Collection SummaryOne of the Sunshine Coast’s greatest athletes was Jim Achurch.
He was Queensland’s very first competitor to attend the Commonwealth Games and won gold for Australia in 1954 in the sport of javelin.
Jim, born in 1928, grew up travelling through country towns in NSW where his father Claude, a former NSW cricket representative, managed wool and pelt shops.
After he completed an apprenticeship as a railway carriage builder in 1952, he moved to Nambour where his family had established a small crops farm at Bli Bli, where he farmed with his parents.
Prior to moving to Bli Bli, Jim had taken up athletics in the late 1940s to improve his fitness on the tennis courts and was determined and trained hard. He quickly earned a reputation as a first class cricket and tennis player on the Near North Coast. In 1953 and 1954 Jim won the Maroochy Open singles in tennis for the Bli Bli Tennis Club.
In his own words Jim described when he first took up the javelin. ‘While jogging around an oval I saw people tossing a ‘stick’ around.’
Jim had a go at throwing that ‘stick’ which was the javelin and by the end of that afternoon he was throwing the javelin much further than the instructors.
Working hard for Noel Day on Mapleton Road in Nambour, he practiced the javelin by launching his only javelin on the hilly farm. He was worried at times about launching his javelin too far as it might become lost in the long grass and hilly terrain which was not ideal for retrieving the javelin. Jim came into Nambour when he could on weekends, to train on the flat ground. With his hard working nature and determination he was offered a half share in Noel Day’s farm.
In early 1953 and 1954 Jim won the Australian titles with a javelin throw of 216 feet (65.8m). Only the top 10 athletes in Australia were sponsored and their fares paid to participate in the Vancouver British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He was not one of those selected for sponsorship.
The local newspaper, the Nambour Chronicle, promoted the appeal for Jim Achurch to represent his country in Vancouver, Canada. Only the financial assistance from local people in a Nambour funding drive enabled him to go.
A fund raising venture initiated by the COD in Nambour (Committee of Direction of Fruit farming in Queensland) asked farmers to consign a case of their produce to donate to the funds for Jim Achurch. And donate they did. They marked their donated produce boxes ‘British Empire Games Fund Brisbane’.
Jim represented Australia in javelin at the 1954 Vancouver British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he won the gold medal with a throw of 216ft (66.2m) whilst breaking the standing record by more than 17 feet. (5.18 metres)
That throw stunned his rivals and thrilled the crowds. It broke a Commonwealth record which stood for 14 years. He certainly lived up to the local region and its faith in him.
Jim married Christine Winkle a local girl in 1955.
Date of interview30 August 1985IntervieweeJim AchurchInterviewerValerie Poole
He was Queensland’s very first competitor to attend the Commonwealth Games and won gold for Australia in 1954 in the sport of javelin.
Jim, born in 1928, grew up travelling through country towns in NSW where his father Claude, a former NSW cricket representative, managed wool and pelt shops.
After he completed an apprenticeship as a railway carriage builder in 1952, he moved to Nambour where his family had established a small crops farm at Bli Bli, where he farmed with his parents.
Prior to moving to Bli Bli, Jim had taken up athletics in the late 1940s to improve his fitness on the tennis courts and was determined and trained hard. He quickly earned a reputation as a first class cricket and tennis player on the Near North Coast. In 1953 and 1954 Jim won the Maroochy Open singles in tennis for the Bli Bli Tennis Club.
In his own words Jim described when he first took up the javelin. ‘While jogging around an oval I saw people tossing a ‘stick’ around.’
Jim had a go at throwing that ‘stick’ which was the javelin and by the end of that afternoon he was throwing the javelin much further than the instructors.
Working hard for Noel Day on Mapleton Road in Nambour, he practiced the javelin by launching his only javelin on the hilly farm. He was worried at times about launching his javelin too far as it might become lost in the long grass and hilly terrain which was not ideal for retrieving the javelin. Jim came into Nambour when he could on weekends, to train on the flat ground. With his hard working nature and determination he was offered a half share in Noel Day’s farm.
In early 1953 and 1954 Jim won the Australian titles with a javelin throw of 216 feet (65.8m). Only the top 10 athletes in Australia were sponsored and their fares paid to participate in the Vancouver British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He was not one of those selected for sponsorship.
The local newspaper, the Nambour Chronicle, promoted the appeal for Jim Achurch to represent his country in Vancouver, Canada. Only the financial assistance from local people in a Nambour funding drive enabled him to go.
A fund raising venture initiated by the COD in Nambour (Committee of Direction of Fruit farming in Queensland) asked farmers to consign a case of their produce to donate to the funds for Jim Achurch. And donate they did. They marked their donated produce boxes ‘British Empire Games Fund Brisbane’.
Jim represented Australia in javelin at the 1954 Vancouver British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he won the gold medal with a throw of 216ft (66.2m) whilst breaking the standing record by more than 17 feet. (5.18 metres)
That throw stunned his rivals and thrilled the crowds. It broke a Commonwealth record which stood for 14 years. He certainly lived up to the local region and its faith in him.
Jim married Christine Winkle a local girl in 1955.
Date of interview30 August 1985IntervieweeJim AchurchInterviewerValerie PoolePublication
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Oral History
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Oral HistoryJim Achurch Oral HistoryCollectionOral Histories
CollectionOral HistoriesJim Achurch Oral History. Sunshine Coast Life, accessed 06/05/2026, https://sunshinecoast.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/702