Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of a person who has died.
Beside a boxing ring in Redfern, an image of a glove-clad Tony Mundine sits alongside a bouquet of purple and yellow flowers.
The photograph belongs to the Elouera Tony Mundine Gym, where Mundine provided mentorship after retiring from a stellar 15-year career. He is, famously, the only Australian boxer to have held national titles across four different weight divisions.
Tony Mundine passed away on 30 August, aged 75. Raised in the regional New South Wales town of Baryulgil, where his family worked in an asbestos mine, Mundine moved to Redfern at the age of 18 in hopes of a career in rugby.
However, shortly after joining the Redfern All Blacks rugby team, he was spotted for his potential in boxing.
“You got to have spirit,” said Mundine in a 1972 interview with The Bulletin, who at the time attributed his own prowess to his determination to raise his economic status.
But in raising himself, Mundine also intended to raise Redfern’s First Nations community, opening the Elouera Gym in 1984 with the Aboriginal Housing Company. The gym has not only acted as an important community space for First Nations youth, but also directs its proceeds to support affordable housing for the local neighbourhood.
The gym would also be where Tony would train his son and successor Anthony Mundine.
“My dream was to run a gym that could be the centre not just for Aboriginies [sic] but all inner-city people,” said Tony Mundine in a 2017 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Alex Tui, the gym’s manager from 1990, a Tongan man and Redfern resident, told the South Sydney Herald that while Redfern is made up of various First Nations and non-Indigenous groups, “The gym is one of the things that unifies the people in this community”.
“He [Tony] has inspired a lot of young people here…” added Tui, “As long as this is going to be on, he will be well remembered for sure”.
