January 21, 2015
It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest tennis players of all time went to school at tiny Nukku (pronounced “n’koo”), just outside Blackbutt.
Put simply, Roy Emerson won 12 Grand Slam tournament finals, 16 Men’s Doubles titles and eight Davis Cup titles. However, the full list of his international sporting achievements, as detailed by South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann at a special lunch held at Blackbutt Golf Club on Tuesday, extends for pages.
Roy, 79, and his wife Joy have been living in California for four decades, but they still have many family ties to Queensland.
The couple was invited back to the South Burnett by the Blackbutt and District Tourism and Heritage Association to officially open the “Roy Emerson Museum”, inside the old Nukku State School building, now known as “Nukku Nook”.
It was an opportunity for Roy to catch up with school friends, family members and recall old times.
Roy met Joy when he was 16 when they were both playing in age championships at Milton.
“Four years later we were married and we have never looked back,” he said.
Walking back into his old Nukku classroom, Roy couldn’t believe his eyes.
“I forgot how small it actually was,” he said. “Although you don’t need a big room for 17 students.”
After their visit to Nukku Nook, Roy and Joy visited the old Emerson family property, now owned by the Wilson brothers.
Roy said he had loved growing up on the farm.
He recalled walking through the frosted paddocks in bare feet and then standing in fresh piles of steaming cow manure to warm up, milk fights in the dairy with his sisters, and hiding in the mango tree from his mother.
Out back was the tennis court where he would practice, now covered with grass but with the court posts still standing.
The lunch at the Blackbutt Golf Club was organised by the South Burnett Regional Council.
The room – a world away from Wimbledon – was packed with almost 140 diners eager to meet the “Boy From Blackbutt”.
Roy shared reminiscences and jokes before, choking up, he admitted: “It’s so nice to return here to Blackbutt”.
Footnote: It’s unlikely that Roy Emerson will ever be forgotten by Blackbutt residents. The Heritage Association has launched a petition to rename part of the D’Aguilar Highway “Roy Emerson Way” and Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said he would allocate some of his discretionary funds towards a statue of Roy to be erected in the town.
- Related article: Tennis Legend To Visit South Burnett
At The Lunch
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