[2] Although there was disappointment expressed at not being able to have to Paralympics in the 'Olympic' city of that year, the Tel Aviv organising committee worked hard to provide a positive experience for the athletes and their support staff.

[5] Despite the poor accommodation the athletes performed well, with world records falling and numerous Australian competitors taking home a swag of gold medals (see 'Medalists' table below).

[1][6] Sir Ludwig Guttman was a German and Jewish neurologist who worked with the disabled in the national spinal injuries center called the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England.

[7][11][2] Sir Ludwig Guttman visited the Melville Rehabilitation Centre and invited Australian athletes to compete in the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1957.

[20] Guttman selected Tel Aviv, Israel as the host city and the President of the Israeli Stoke Mandeville Committee Arieh Fink, stated that the Israeli Government was most enthusiastic about being selected, given that it coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the State of Israel, as well as the twentieth anniversary of the Stoke Mandeville Games.

[8] The athletes were responsible to raise the money required for the Games, their uniforms, equipment, travel, training and administration fees themselves and this was achieved through full-time work and a large amount of fundraising.

[18][8][5] Athletes fundraised through demonstration Games, donations, parties, street stalls, competitions, raffles, balls and anything they could do to raise funds to compete.

[19][1][4][2] Approximately twenty thousand spectators were present at the ceremony, which included an introduction and lap of honour, known as the 'wheel past' of competing athletes, a military band performance, and folk dancing accompanied by a girls choir.

[2][4] The Australian team doubled in size from 16 in 1964 to 32 in 1968, it consisted of 32 members in total, 23 men and 9 women (results, Australia at paralympics, remembering and reflecting).

: [1] Women – Pam Smith, Di Workman, Cherrie Ireland (née Loydstrom), Elaine Schreiber, Marion O'Brien, Daphne Hilton (née Ceeney), Elizabeth Edmondson, Lorraine Dodd, Sally Lamb Men – Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Bill Mather-Brown, Bruno Moretti, Frank Ponta, Gary Hooper, Vic Renalson, Kevin Munro, Roy Fowler, Kevin Bawden, Brian Chambers, Robert McIntyre, John Beattie, Peter Burt, Alan McLucas, Tony South, Alan Conn, Felix Blums, Jeff Simmonds, Don Watts, John Newton, John Martin, Noel Simmons The athletes were supported by a large, dedicated support staff, a mixture of experienced practitioners and fresh faces (results, NLA:)[21]

– Dr John Yeo (Team Leader), George Bedbrook(Senior Medical Officer), John 'Johnno' Johnston (Team Manager), Elizabeth Kosmala (née Richards)(Assistant Secretary), Mr Ashley Coops (Secretary), Mrs Aileen Coops (Attendant), Mr E. Kyle (Assistant Medical Officer), Miss D. Newton (Physiotherapist), Jan Hooper (Nurse), Kevin Betts (Attendant), M. Wilson (Attendant), William 'Bill' Gibbs (Sports Instructor), Jack McCafferty (Attendant), Miss Janet Tyler (nurse), Miss Nancy Joyce (nurse), Jan Hooper (Assistant Sports instructor, Baggage Marshall) and S.C. Chase (Assistant Baggage Marshall).

[22] Coombs also noted that the accommodation was very rough with the team being housed in an undercover car park, with one toilet and shower for 32 men and camp stretches with straw mattresses.

Australia represented by:[1][23] Men – Kevin Bawden, Felix Blums, Alan Conn, Roy Fowler, Alan McLucas, Tony South Women – Pam Smith, Di Workman [8] Archery was a strength of Australian athletes as three podium finishes were achieved in this sport, which saw a large number of athletes competing in these events.

[1] Alan Conn finished with a gold medal in the Men's Columbia Round Open, setting a new world record in the process with a score of 618.

[1] Fowler 13th 1907 Fowler 7th 714 Bawden 20th 536 Australia was represented by:[1] Men – Peter Burt, Brian Chambers, Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Gary Hooper, John Martin, Bill Mather-Brown, Robert McIntyre, Alan McLucas, Bruno Moretti, Kevin Munro, Frank Ponta, Vic Renalson, Noel Simmons Women – Lorraine Dodd, Daphne Hilton, Cherrie Loydstrom, Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber, Pam Smith, Di Workman [8] Athletics was Australia's most successful pursuit in Tel Aviv, finishing with a total of 19 medals made up of 7 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze.

[1] The Men's 4x40m Open Relay team was made up of Gary Hooper, Martin, Moretti and Munro who won a silver medal, only being beaten by a world record time set by the United States (results).

[1] South and Conn made their way to the gold-medal match against the US team of Geissinger and Kelderhouse, with the Australian pair coming up short and taking home the silver medal.

[1][21] Australia represented by:[1] Men – Felix Blums, Brian Chambers, Gary Hooper, Bill Mather-Brown, Alan McLucas, Frank Ponta, Jeff Simmonds, Don Watts Women – Lorraine Dodd, Elizabeth Edmondson, Daphne Hilton, Sally Lamb, Cherrie Loydstrom [8] Australia's females dominated the pool, with Lorraine Dodd and Elizabeth Edmondson setting five World Records between them at the Games.

[1] Great Britain, America and Germany all proved to be the most challenging teams for Australia as they topped the medal tally in Table Tennis along with the host nation, Israel.

[8][1] Hooper was successful in all five matches in his pool in the Men's Foil Individual event but did not progress past the second round of games as he was defeated by France, Italy and Great Britain.

[2][1] Australia won 15 Gold, 16 Silver and 7 Bronze, and was behind the United States of America, Great Britain and Israel on the medal tally but nonetheless achieved a very successful result in the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv.

In swimming Dodd competed in, won the gold medal and set a new world record in the Women's Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke 25m Class 2 Complete, all in the same day.

[1] The final standout athlete from the Games in the Australian team was Allan McLucas who competed in four different sports as well as won two medals.

After competition had finished, Daphne Hilton and other athletes attended a marketplace in Maccabi, Israel when gunfire broke out and the Army got involved.

There was a policy arranged by Israel with Britain to have Rhodesian athletes enter the country without their passports being checked to eliminate political issues associated with their participation in the Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv as their Olympic team were banned from the Olympics in Mexico in 1968 by Britain as a result of national racial and political issues that occurred at the time.

[20][2] There was also a policy in place in Israel at the time that required the German athletes and staff to complete a questionnaire regarding their political past and if and what category they had been denazified in, this was due to issues surrounding the Holocaust that occurred many years earlier.

[2] There were a number of political issues that were factored into the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv and, like those experienced by Kevin Coombs, some did affect the Australian team.

Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon and the Mayor of Tel Aviv, Mordechai Namir, were both in attendance for the ceremony to see trophies presented to athletes, as well as a display by dancers from three local kibbutzim.

[6] Following the Games, the Australian team visited a Kibbutz near Lake Tiberias where they were provided with lunch and received a small bottle of holy water each on their return (stoke to mandeville, NLA).

[26] Archer Pam McLeod née Smith and wheelchair sprinter Kevin Munro were joined by Libby Kosmala and team nurse Janet Tyler.