The power of radio to bring live sport into the homes of millions is clearly evident here, in this sequence from the closing stages of Melbourne 3DB commentator Ron Casey's exciting radio call of Lionel Rose’s World Bantamweight Title Fight in Tokyo, Japan against Masahiko ‘Fighting’ Harada.
Broadcast live on many radio stations around the country on Tuesday 27 February 1968 from 9pm AEST, Rose would win on points in a close 15-round encounter. Victory ensured the popular 19-year-old Gunaikurnai man from Warragul, Victoria became the first Indigenous Australian to hold a world title in any sport. The following January, Rose would be crowned Australian of the Year, the first First Nations Australian to achieve this accolade.
This radio broadcast was inducted into the NFSA’s Sounds of Australia registry in 2009, acknowledging the nation’s most significant recordings.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.