Background
Ceeney was born in the New South Wales town of Harden-Murrumburrah on 7 January 1934, as the eldest of four children.
swimmer fencer athletics competitor
Ceeney was born in the New South Wales town of Harden-Murrumburrah on 7 January 1934, as the eldest of four children.
She was the first Australian woman to compete at the Paralympic Games. She became a paraplegic after a horse-riding accident in 1951 at the age of 17. She spent 9 months in Sydney"s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before returning to Murrumburrah.
Eight years after the accident, she moved to Sydney where she spent six months at the Cherrywood Rehabilitation Centre and then one year at Mountain Wilga Rehabilitation Hospital.
While living at the rehabilitation hospital, she developed her sporting ability and skills. She was selected as Australia"s only female athlete at the 1960 Rome Paralympics.
She worked as a shorthand typist until the birth of her twin girls, Nichole and Rachael, in 1970. She was at the Royal North Shore Hospital for six months before the delivery, and was the first person with paraplegia to give birth to twins in Australia.
A thesis was written about her pregnancy and birth.
She officially opened the athlete"s village at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics, and was part of the 2000 Paralympic torch relay. In August 2012, she donated a set of medals from the 1960 Games and three Australian team blazers to the Australian Paralympic Committee. Hilton was inducted into the New South Wales Hall of Champions in November 2014.
Sporting 1960 Summer Paralympics
Ceeney was the only Australian female competitor at the inaugural 1960 Rome Games.
1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
1964 Summer Paralympics
1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
1968 Summer Paralympics
She retired from Paralympic competition in 1968. 2002 World Wheelchair Games
In the 1990s, Ceeney came out of retirement and took up lawn bowls in the hope of gaining selection for the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.
The sport was taken off the program after the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics but Ceeney went on to compete at the 2002 World Wheelchair Games winning a silver and bronze medal in the pairs. She retired from lawn bowls in that year.
At these games, she was the only female member of Australia"s wheelchair basketball team