(30 May 1919 – 2 September 2025)
When on 2 September 2025, at 106 years of age she passed away after a grand life, Amy Burow was Athletics Australia’s oldest Life Member – an honour that was originally bestowed upon her in 1974 by the then Women’s Amateur Athletic Union of Australia and affirmed by Athletics Australia upon the merger of the women’s and men’s national bodies in 1978.
Whilst not alone Amy was unquestionably one of those trailblazing women in sport who declined to accept no for an answer and provided sporting opportunities for girls and women at both a participation and elite level from as early as the 1930s. It meant for example that when the Olympic Games came to Melbourne in 1956 it was not a question of introducing potential female competitors to the sport to make up the numbers – they were not only already there but ready to contend for medals and higher placings against the World’s best.
As a young girl Amy (then Bennett) herself displayed talent as an athlete at school sports and was invited to join the Eastern Suburbs Women’s Amateur Athletics Club. The letter was sent to her via her school with the principal intervening and suggesting that athletics was not an appropriate activity for girls.
Encouraged by her father, Amy took a different view and joined up in 1934. It was perhaps reflective of her actions from then on in helping to ensure the consistent and successful growth and development of women’s athletics in Victoria and nationally.
As was not unusual in that era, Amy soon became involved in the administration of ESWAAC. At 17 she was treasurer. After a break to start and raise a family Amy was back in the 1950s. In 1956, she was elected to the board of the state governing body – the Victorian Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, becoming vice-president in 1964 and remaining in the role until 1982, when the Victorian men’s and women’s associations joined to form a single organisation – the Victorian Athletic Association. She had previously served as treasurer of the VWAAA during the war years.
In these roles Amy oversaw great changes in the management, structure and funding of athletics in Australia. The amalgamation provided a great number of challenges, which Amy with her leadership skills addressed with great dedication.
She became a Board Member of the VAA (now Athletics Victoria) for the crucial first three years. There was potential for things to go astray but steady and experienced hands like Amy ensured a steady ship.
Amy was a well-qualified and respected technical official particularly in track events serving as a judge, timekeeper and referee. She generously provided these skills at club meets, state and national championships over four decades. When Athletics Australia inaugurated its first mass participation event – the Australian Marathon in Sydney in 1983, officials from NSW were reluctant to assist. So Amy and a small group of her Victorian colleagues took a bus trip to Sydney to provide timing services for the race.
In 1971 Amy was appointed the competition manager of the new sports facility at Doncaster East Athletic Track, continuing to manage all VWAAA competitions at this venue until 1983.
When ESWAAC, of which she had been made a life member for her devoted service, folded in 1980, Amy transferred to the Waverley Women’s Club as an official and continued as a delegate to the VWAAA as she had been for her previous club since 1955. From 1976 to 1984 she was controller of officials for VWAAA and then the new VAA.
In December 1983, some former VWAAA officials inaugurated The Torch Club – a group charged with raising funds to assist countless grateful Victorian female (later also male) junior athletes to get to Australian championships. Amy was appointed its first treasurer.
Amy received the Merit Award and then Life Membership of the VWAAA and in 2008 was recognised in her local community when she received the Services to Sport Award at the Eastern Division Sports Star Awards.
When Athletics Australia established its four-tier Service Awards system in 2003 Amy, still active in her sport, was recognised as one of the initial recipients of the highest award – the Platinum Pin acknowledging more than 40 years of commitment to administration and officiating.
Amy was accorded the distinction as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Australia Day Honours List.
Amy Burow was a remarkable and active lady on many fronts, having worked as a gentleman’s tailor to support her extended family from the age of 16 years. She married during the Second World War, but unfortunately, due to her husband’s severe illness, she raised her two daughters as a single mother without any of the supports of today’s society, retiring from work at the age of 82 – having been employed by the same firm for the previous 42 years.
Into her 107th year, Amy remained an inspiration not only to her surviving peers and to those in athletics who have followed on behind. During the coronavirus lockdown she had set aside her passion for puzzles and board games to very capably knit more than a dozen blankets for patients in the treatment wards at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre – a pleasure she pursued until her passing.
Tenacity, application, leadership and integrity, especially during tough times, are skills that are required to overcome many proverbial hurdles to achieve successful enduring outcomes. Amy demonstrated such attributes, devoting much of her life to the progress and benefit of the sport of athletics.
The Australian Athletics Family extends its appreciation for Amy’s service and commitment along with its condolences to Amy’s Family.
Amy’s Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 11am at Simplicity Funerals, 748 Geelong Road, Ballarat. It will also be live streamed.
By Carole Haberle and Brian Roe for Athletics Australia
