Hilbert Van Dijk (24 September 1918 – 10 November 2001) was a Dutch-born Australian fencer. He was the son of Hilbert “Arie” Van Dijk (1908–1944) of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He captained the team

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains ...

at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

. Six-foot tall, and left-handed, Van Dijk was rated as among the six best epee fencers in Holland. Within a few weeks of his arrival in Australia, he joined the Swords Club and won the New South Wales foils and epee championships. On the foundation of the Australian Fencing Association in 1949, he entered the first championships and won the first national titles in foils and epee. He won that title a second time as well as being New South Wales foils champion twice and New South Wales epee champion in five consecutive years from 1049–53. In the 1950s he was a member of the All Nations Fencing Club in Sydney. He became a member of the New South Wales Olympic Council. In August 1953, Van Dijk married Mahdi Browning of Hunters Hill, New South Wales. A niece of the novelist Daphne du Maurier the wedding took place at

St Stephen's Uniting Church St Stephen's Uniting Church is a heritage-listed Uniting Church located at 197 Macquarie Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Developed initially as St Ste ...

Macquarie Street, Sydney Macquarie Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Street extends from Hyde Park at its southern end to the Sydney Opera House at its northern end. Apart from connecting these two m ...

. Mahdi was a direct descendant of the English poet

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

and was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Neil Browning of Hunters Hill. Following the 1956 games Van Dijk joined Richard James Vandyke in the Real Estate company Vandyke and Vandyke at 32-34 The Boulevarde,

Strathfield, New South Wales Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A sma ...

. He used his business partners spelling of his surname for the company rather than his own. He and his wife Mahdi had two children, Marguerite (1958-1992) and Hil, and lived for many years in Strathfield. His son Hil Van Dijk is an artist and is again based in Sydney.Artist Hil Van Dijk is a finalist in this years Blake Prize
Retrieved 27 August, 2021.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dijk, Hilbert 1918 births 2001 deaths Australian male fencers Olympic fencers for Australia Fencers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Australian real estate businesspeople Dutch emigrants to Australia