By Jess Baker
Three weeks ago, as Brisbane was announced the host of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, a Stanthorpe local stumbled upon a weathered box of 1908 Olympic memorabilia in his home.
Local resident, rural firefighter, and OAM recipient James Massey had uncovered a handful of antique medals and a 1908 Olympic Judge badge that had belonged to his grandfather, Tom Merry.
Born in Birmingham in the late 1870s, Tom was an award-winning boxer, wrestler, weightlifter and boxing and wrestling Olympic Judge at the fourth Olympics in London.
He also served in World War I, during which time he was promoted to Major in the field in France and was mentioned six times in dispatches.
Tom went on to marry James’ grandmother Marjorie Styles, who was born in Melbourne.
Marjorie was the granddaughter of James William Styles, the first senator for Victoria and one of the six fathers of Federation.
Tom passed away in 1954, when James was just three years old, but James assured his legacy lives on.
“My mother gave (the medals and judge’s badge) to me,” James said.
“I actually took them down and showed two of my grandsons those medals, and for a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old, and with the Olympic games being on, I think they thought it was pretty cool.”
Tucked away with Tom’s Olympic Judge badge in a tiny tin box were wrestling, weightlifting, and boxing first-place medals from the Birmingham Athletics Club.
Tom had earned the awards in the early 1900s, both before and after the fourth Olympics in 1908.
“So he obviously was very, very much a fit, athletic man then,” James said.
“(He) must have still been a competitive person at that time.”
The tin box of memories now in James’ possession also has a story of its own.
The box had been passed from Tom, to his daughter – James’ mother – and then to James many years ago.
But in 1991, whilst in James’ possession, it was briefly thought to be lost forever.
“That tin box was inside a safe in our house when it burned down in 1991,” James said.
“All those little wooden boxes that his medals were in, all the glue melted and the boxes fell apart.”
Somehow, Tom’s medals and Olympic judge badge survived unscathed.
James said the treasured accolades would one day be passed down to his own children, then his children’s children, and so on.
As would a saying of Tom’s: “idiots pick fights, because you never know how good the other man is”.
James said sport had always been a big part of his life, and that of his family’s, and it really is no wonder why.
He said he was thrilled to hear the 2032 Olympics would be held in Brisbane, a short three-hour drive from Stanthorpe.
“For people from all over the world to come and experience our wine will be a wonderful thing,” James said.
