Games end in blaze of colour

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 21

Games end in blaze of colour

From

ROD DEW

in Brisbane

A riot of colour, culture, happiness, smoke and streamers marked the closing ceremony of the twelfth Commonwealth Games in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre in Brisbane on Saturday.

Strong winds were again a nuisance, as they had been on the opening day nine days earlier, but this in no way dampened or restricted the festivities. Even the sky divers prevented from making an appearance on the opening day, landed safely, six of them in tri-plane formation.

They missed the target of streamers in the centre of the ground but did marvellously well to reach the stadium at all in the wind. However, the wind did result in a flight by a oneman hot-air balloon being abandoned. Dave Saunders, who had come from England to take part in the ceremony with his miniature one-man balloon, had to be content with the trial flight he made a few days earlier.

The star of the show was again the 13m-high model of the Games mascot. Matilda, the kangaroo. She metaphorically brought the house down when she trundled in. eyes winking, just as she had done in the more formal opening ceremony. She trundled in at the head of a series of floats from the Festival 'B2 procession, and later made a second appearance. On this occasion, she disgorged dozens of young children in kangaroo suits who ran around the track waving balloons. A Maori party from New Zealand was among the cultural groups who performed in the organised part of the ceremony, and they received a great reception from the capacity crowd of almost 60,000.

Their singing and skill with the pois obviously delighted all who saw them. Many of the performers from the cultural festival, held in conjunction with the games, took part in the ceremony. Among them were dance groups from Zim-

babwe and New Guinea, the latter wearing spectacular head dresses and grass skirts — there could be no doubts that this was a Commonwealth event.

In the early part of the programme, music was supplied by the Royal Tongan Police band, dressed in traditional clothing. Later, the combined Australian services band played a leading role, forming the games logo in the centre of the arena.

The most spectacular entry was that of the appearance from the tunnel underneath the running track of a 60m long dragon owned by the Australian Chinese Association. Red and blue smoke belched forth as the dragon head came out of the tunnel mouth, followed by an

apparently never-ending length of tail supported by dozens of members of the Malcolm Sue Kung Fu school of Brisbane.

The giant dragon, accompanied by some equally fearsome Chinese lions of varying sizes, performed the Chinese dragon dance which is supposed to bring good luck and chase away evil spirits.

The 45 teams at the games were each represented by a flag bearer and four others in a march past, reviewed by the Queen. Robin Tait, the New Zealand champion discus thrower, carried the New Zealand flag at the head. Behind him marched the team manager, Bruce Ullrich, and three gold medal winners, Craig Adair (cycling), John Woolley

(shooting), and. in her wheelchair, Neroli Fairhall (archery). Neroli Fairhall, as she had done in the opening ceremony, received her own special ovation from the crowd as she wheeled past. In perhaps the formal part of the ceremony, .the Commonwealth Games ceremony flag was lowered from the flag pole, folded and given to the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Cr W. C. R. Harvey, to deliver to the opening ceremony of the next Commonwealth Games, in Edinburgh in four years time. As this ceremony was taking place, hundreds of athletes descended from the stands to join the 5000 Games volunteers in the centre. From that moment the scene was bedlam. New Zealand athletes led the charge. The swimmer, Brett Austin, raced around the perimeter of the track waving a large New Zealand flag, and he was followed by the steeplechaser, Peter Renner, and hundreds of other athletes. Hands were joined, piggyback rides were

given and any semblance of order was lost. When it came time for the Queen and Prince Philip to depart, the crowds of athletes and volunteers presented a problem. Requests for them to open a path for the Royal car were ignored so the car pushed its way slowly in front of the official area.

The Queen and Prince Philip made their way through the madly cheering throngs, and seemed very pleased with the response. Instead of driving directly out the exit, they directed the driver on an unscheduled circuit of the track and received three thunderous cheers from everybody in the stadium for their efforts.

The enthusiastic reception for royalty was quite moving and remarkable for a country which has on occasions talked of becoming a republic. Thoughts of this were far away as the Queen and her consort left the arena, bringing to an end another highly successful Commonwealth Games.