Silva Award

Mike Hubbert awarded for Services to Orienteering

Mike Hubbert has made significant contributions to Australian orienteering at the national level over three periods. The first period was in 1969-70 when orienteering began its path towards becoming a national sport in Australia. Mike was the event secretary for the Upper Beaconsfield event in August 1969 that began this path, and competed in the event, finishing eighth out of 33 starters. In early 1970, he was involved with Tom Andrews, David Hogg and Ron Frederick in establishing the Victorian Orienteering Association and the Orienteering Federation of Australia. Had he not been heading overseas shortly after the inaugural meeting of those bodies, he would have been the logical choice for Secretary.

Returning to Australia around the end of 1972, Mike resumed an active role in Victorian orienteering. His second period of involvement at the national level began in June 1975 when he was elected Secretary of the Orienteering Federation of Australia, holding that position until 1981. That period covered the years when state associations were being established throughout Australia and were affiliating with the OFA. One of Mike’s challenges, on behalf of the OFA Executive, was liaising with all of the state associations, which was managed largely through a series of OFA Council Bulletins. During that period, he worked with the OFA President, David Hogg, in starting work on the first OFA Development Plan. In 1976, he was Australia’s first non-competing manager for a World Championships team, when the Championships were held in Scotland.

It was Mike’s initiative earlier that year that started action on the bid to host the 1985 World Orienteering Championships in Australia. He worked with Tom Andrews, Ted Wester and Alex Tarr to develop the bid documentation and, in July 1980, attended the IOF Congress in Germany when the bid was accepted. The hosting of WOC85 proved to be one of the most important events in the development of Australian orienteering.

Mike’s third period of significant contribution began in mid-2004 when he took over the role of Editor of the Australian Orienteer from Ian Baker. Continuing to work with Peter Cusworth, Mike maintained the high quality of the magazine in a role which has continued to the present time.

Throughout Mike’s orienteering career, spanning more than 50 years, he has also been an important contributor at the state association and club level. As a member of Victoria’s first specialist orienteering club, Red Kangaroos, in December 1974 he organised an evening event at Blackburn Lake in the east of Melbourne that was to set the pattern for Melbourne’s series of park/street orienteering events. He was the cartographer for the first coloured map used for an Australian Championships in Victoria (Tallarook State Forest in 1975). These are just a couple of further examples of Mike’s ongoing commitment to orienteering in Australia at all levels.