VALE Olympian Robyn Woodhouse-Sillitoe

1 May 2026

VALE Olympian Robyn Woodhouse-Sillitoe

This week Australian pioneer high jumper Robyn Woodhouse-Sillitoesadly passed away in Wollongong. The Illawarra Blue Stars athlete was aged 82.

Robyn and Michele Mason-Brown took Australian high jumping to the world for a decade starting in the late 1950s. They were the first of three great high jumping eras. Robyn Woodhouse/Michele Mason-Brown/Helen Frith/Carolyn Wright (Tamsyn Manou’s mum), were followed by Chris Stanton/Katrina Morrow/Vanessa Ward/Alison Inverarity (in the late ‘70s to 90s), and the current group Nicola Olyslagers/Eleanor Patterson/Izzi Louison-Roe (in the 2020s).

Robyn Woodhouse’s journey in athletics started in Primary school. Aged 11, while at Mt. Keira Public School, as she was suffering from polio and her doctor recommended she start jumping in an effort to strengthen her muscles. That year she won the Illawarra Primary Schools title with a jump of 1.07m.

She made very quick progress in the high jump and by 1957, now aged just 14, Robyn Woodhouse was the second best high jumper in Australia and the 22nd best in the world. By 1959, aged 16, she had risen to 12th best in the world. At the 1960 Australian Championships, on the Horth Hobart grass track, she placed second with a clearance of 1.675 metres. Three weeks later in Brisbane, the Australian champion, Helen Frith, and bronze medallist Michele Mason, equalled the Australian record of 1.73m. Helen Frith would go on to compete at the 1960 Rome Olympics, placing sixth with a height of 1.65m. Post the Olympics, in October 1960 Robyn Woodhouse, now 17, would make a breakthrough, clearing an Australian and Oceania record of 1.74m. It also equalled the Commonwealth record. She closed the year ranked fifth in the world.

In March 1961, Michele Mason would reclaim the Australian record leaping 1.75 at a meet in Nowra ! It was also a Commonwealth record. Mason would rank number two in the world, while Woodhouse was a consistent sixth in the world with a best jump of 1.73m.

Excitement was building in Australia in 1962 with the British Empire and Commonwealth Games to be held in Perth in November. At the January Australian Championships in Adelaide, Carolyn Wright won the Australian title (1.73m) from Woodhouse (1.70) and Frith (1.675), with Mason not competing. But extraordinarily in February, competing in Auckland, Helen Frith and Robyn Woodhouse equalled the Australian record of 1.75m. At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games trials in October 1962 at Royal Park in Melbourne Mason won with a jump of 1.75m, while Woodhouse was second, also with 1.75m and Carolyn Wright third (1.65) and Helen Frith (1.65). Mason and Woodhouse had equalled the Australian record. In that era, four athletes per event could be selected for the Games and all four NSW athletes were named in the team for Perth.

At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Robyn Woodhouse was peerless. In the three-and-a-half hour high jump competition in 32 degrees temperatures, Woodhouse would dominate.She cleared every height, all nine, up to 1.75m without a miss to win the gold medal. But she was not finished, she then cleared 1.765m, then 1.78m, before missing three attempts at 1.79m. While still a teenager, Woodhouse’s 1.78m jump, her 12th of the competition, broke every record possible, Australian, Oceania, Games and Commonwealth Games records. She was now the third highest in history.

Australia and NSW swept the podium, with Helen Frith second (1.73m) and Michele Mason third (1.73m).

Robyn Woodhouse closed the year ranked second in the world.

In an Australian Women’s Weekly article in early 1963 we learnt more about Robyn Woodhouse.

After she left school she worked at a Wollongong foundation garment factory, and she described herself as ‘just a country girl at heart’.

‘’These’s not much time for anything else but work, sleep and jumping, jumping and jumping, but I couldn’t be happier,’’ she said.

One of her hobbies was colour photography.

In 1963 she won the Australian title, clearing 1.75m and was ranked third in the world.

After placing second at the Australian Championships in 1964, Woodhouse was selected for her Olympic début in Tokyo, where she placed 11th in the final with a height of 1.71m. Her NSW team mate, Michele Mason had raised the Australian record to 1.79m and would go on to win the silver medal at the Olympics with a height of 1.80m. Following the Games Mason also raised the Australian record to 1.835m and became the first Aussie over six feet.

Over the next three years, Woodhouse continued to remain amongst the elite high jumpers in the world. In 1965 she won the Australian title and cleared a best of 1.75m for eighth in the world, in 1966 she also cleared 1.75m for fourth in the world. She also travelled to Jamacia to compete at the Commonwealth Games winning bronze in the high jump with a height of 1.70m. In her final season, 1967, she won the Australian title, jumped a best of 1.725m and ranked 18th in the world.

In later years she was a supporter of the Australian Olympic movement, attending many events and functions. She passed away this week and is survived by husband Allen Stillitoe.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Images Robyn Woodhouse

Athletics career summary:

British Empire and Commonwealth Games: 1962 gold, 1966 bronze

Olympic Games: 1964 11th

Australian Championships: 3 x 1st, 3 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd; 7 consecutive podiums

NSW Titles: five – 1962, 1964-1967

Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth records: (7) =1.74m 29/10/60, =1.75m 17/2/82, =1.75m 9/9/62, =1.75m 14/10/62, =1.75m 26/11/62, 1.76m 26/11/62, 1.78m 26/11/62

British Empire and Commonwealth Games records: (5) =1.70m, =1.72m, =1.75m, =1.765m, =1.78m (all 26/11/1962)

Annual best/World Rankings:

1957 – 1625 22nd

1958 – 1.651 21st

1959 – 1.676 12th

1960 – 1.74 5th

1961 – 1.727 6th

1962 – 1.778 2nd

1963 – 1.75 5th

1964 – 1725 17th

1965 – 1.75 8th

1966 – 1.75 4th

1967 – 1.725 18th