VALE Neidra Hill AM
Published Wed 31 Jul 2024
It is with heavy hearts we share the news of the passing of Neidra Hill AM.
Our thoughts are with her family, friends and everyone within the NSW Hockey community who had the pleasure of knowing Neidra.
Neidra was the President of the Metropolitan South West Hockey Association for 21 years, during this time she was a fundamental force within the Metropolitan South West Hockey community.
In 2017 her service and committment to her Hockey Association was recognised in the form of having a field named in her honour at Macarthur Hockey Complex.
In 2017 her service and committment to her Hockey Association was recognised in the form of having a field named in her honour at Macarthur Hockey Complex.
When announcing her passing Metropolitan South West Hockey Association said "In 1988, Neidra was a member of the 'Macarthur Area Joint Negotiation Committee', spearheading a group working towards negotiating with local councils and government towards building a synthetic hockey field for the region. Through this journey her, and other members of our hockey Association, took a road trip to hockey venues including Lithgow, Bathurst, Parkes, ACT, Albury and Wagga Wagga to ensure they designed the best synthetic field for our needs when building our first field.
Although she was a pioneer for hockey at Macarthur, she put her heart and sole into developing the skills of players at club level coaching numerous Macarthur Skylarks Hockey teams and running and organising school and holiday clinics.
Although she was a pioneer for hockey at Macarthur, she put her heart and sole into developing the skills of players at club level coaching numerous Macarthur Skylarks Hockey teams and running and organising school and holiday clinics.
Neidra was extremely active in helping to secure much needed funds and locations to build our first field and was President while we undertook to build our second and resurface our original sand-based field converting to water-base as well as our amenities block.
Neidra was involved in hockey for over 50 years, coaching, umpiring and dedicating her time and energy completing tasks to ensure our facilities were at their best condition. When things weren’t going well from when we started looking for funding (for 5 long years), Neidra always had faith that our goal would be reached and kept us going.
We could write books on Neidra's contributions, knowledge and commitment to our sport and our hockey community. We are entirely thankful for her work".
A list of some of Neidra's achievements and recognitions:
- President of the Association from 1989-2010
- 1993 Life member of Macarthur District Women's Hockey Association and Macarthur Hockey Association
- 1994 Camden Sports Person of the Year
- 2000 Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
- 2000 Australian Sports Medalist
- 2017 Field named in her honour at Macarthur Hockey Complex
The funeral service for Neidra hill will be held at St John's Church Camden on Saturday 10th August at 10:30AM. For those who prefer, a live stream to watch the service will also be set up at the Neidra Hill Centre at Cowpasture Reserve Softball Field. Wake celebrations to happen at Camden Valley Inn from 12:30PM to celebrate Neidra's life and share stories.
