My father William (Bill) Alexander was born in Tumut at the foot of the Snowy Mountain’s, NSW and was the eldest of eight. They were all accomplished horsemen very early in life. After returning from the Battle Fields of World War1, my grandfather became a Snowy Mountain Drover, he taught his 5 sons and 3 daughters to ride.
My father joined the Army and became a Green Beret. During his time in the ADF he became a boxing champion Middle Weight Division where he held the title for three (3) years. In 1948 my father married my mother Helen they had two sons, myself Leslie and my brother Vincent. My father was a qualified Motor Mechanic and was a very methodical and meticulous person with everything he undertook. He had a great sense of humor, very quick witted and a man of strong character and morals.
RACING PIGEON FRATERNITY
Our family were very passionate about Pigeon Racing and as such were very successful at it. As a lad I did most of the cleaning & general care of the pigeons, Dad took care of the selection and mating process whilst Mum trained and tossed the birds whilst Dad worked. He was very keen on the Long-Distance races from circa 350 miles and beyond. He used to say “son the 500/600/700 mile plus races is where all the great legends are born”. Isn’t that still the truth even today!
RAIL TO ROAD
The Article/background of the CCF making the transition from Rail to Road transport is now posted (see attached) as it appeared in the July 1968 edition of The Pigeon Fancier magazine. My father was the driving force and Chief Designer of the transport units capable of transporting 10,000/12,000 pigeons safely and in comfort. The Transport Units were a great success and went on to serve our Federation for many years.
THE BILL ALEXANDER PERPETUAL TROPHY & MEMORIAL SHIELD SPONSORSHIP
Our President Steve Shears displayed excellent investigative skills recently when he tracked down and located the Bill Alexander Memorial Shield which had been missing for many years. This Memorial Shield is now undergoing restoration work.
ALEXANDER FAMILY SPONSORSHIP – LONGEST RACE OF THE SEASON.
Our family is grateful to our President Steve Shears, CCF Secretary Dave Gordon and the Executive of the CCF giving us the opportunity to “Sponsor the Longest Race of the Season 2025” from Renmark and hopefully to continue into the future.
The Alexander Family will donate cash prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place overall plus photographing & framing photos of the first 3 placegetters. Together let’s keep long distance pigeon racing alive, "You can sprint a stayer, but you can’t stay a Sprinter”. I believe, as did my father, that Four words sums up a:
THOROUGHBRED RACING PIGEON.
INTELLIGENCE-LOYALTY-COURAGE-ENDURANCE.
Les Alexander