Bill Gibbins awarded the Member of the Order of Australia

We are extremely excited to announce that Bill Gibbins, the founder of The Jericho Cup and who without his passion, vision, determination and dedication The Jericho Cup would never have existed, was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to horse racing and to people with disability as well as his philanthropist generosity in Monday’s Queen’s birthday honours.

Some background on Bill – he is the founder of trucking company FCL which was sold to the LinFox group in 2006.

Bill has always been a committed philanthropist and just a small number of the organisations that he has donated his time and money to are below:

Bill is a patron and Life Member of The Rats of Tobruk. In 2007 Bill outbid a property developer to purchase and save the Albert Park headquarters of the surviving Rats of Tobruk, where their association had met for more than 50 years – just when the old veterans thought age might finally weary them and the years condemn.

Immediately after the auction he announced that the ‘Rats’ could stay on until the end of their glorious lives. As he told them at the time: “I thought I’d buy it and let you keep it going, because we owe you a debt that can’t possibly be repaid”.

He also said he would like it to continue to be used by other military organisations indefinitely. True to his word, the Association continues to have use of Tobruk House, rent free. The Association and in particular the surviving Rats, are very appreciative of his generosity.

In 2008, Bill was also awarded with Life Membership for his support of Riding for the Disabled Association of Australia https://www.rdav.asn.au/

Bill is also a big supporter of the Wheelchairs for Kids, https://wheelchairsforkids.org/ Bill’s fellow Old Paradian and Christian Brother Olly Pickett oversaw the voluntary manufacturing of wheelchairs for children who needed them. In 2009, the World Health Organization sought the support of any wheelchair manufacturer globally to develop a unit which could be adjusted manually to cope with the growing body of its young user.

“The organization that came up with something acceptable was Wheelchairs for Kids,” Bill said, “which in the years since has further developed those wheelchairs to a fantastic level of sophistication”.

Wheelchairs for Kids thrives because of donations. Last year they received an unexpected and transformational gift – a $2M property loan enabling them to purchase a brand-new workshop and headquarters located in Wangara, Western Australia.

Wheelchair for Kids are very grateful to Bill Gibbins, a generous long-time supporter of their project.

And now to The Jericho Cup - at Warrnambool Racecourse in December 2018, Bill proudly oversaw the inaugural running of a race he founded, The Jericho Cup – a $304,000 flat race which recreated that staged by Australia’s mounted troops in Palestine in a brief lull in hostilities during the First World War.

The original race, involving members of the Australian Light Horse, was run over three miles through the desert sands. Dubbed ‘The Jericho Cup’, line honours went to a horse named Bill the Bastard, arguably Australia’s greatest war horse.

Inspired by this story, in part because his wife Iolanda often jokingly referred to him as ‘Bill the Bastard’, Bill sought an opportunity to honour the courage and spirit of the mounted troops as the centenary of the event neared.

And so the Jericho Cup came into being - a race restricted to Australian and New Zealand horses to preserve the fighting spirit of the servicemen and their mounts, their sacrifices and bravery.

The photo below is of Bill and his wife Iolanda at the innaugral running of the 2018 Jericho Cup.