Charles Stewart married Lucy Cooper, and they had four children including Billy. Charles had died when Billy was about eight years old, and the family were living at Terrara, on the south bank of the Shoalhaven River, when disaster struck. Billy and Jean, Billy’s sister, were on their way to school when the police arrived, on motorbike and sidecar, and collected them unannounced. They were part of the ‘Stolen Generation’. Billy was sent to Bomaderry Home and Jean to ‘Bimbadeen’ at Cootamundra for domestic training.

In about 1945, when Billy was 15, he was collected from Bomaderry by a farmer from Young, Bill Hartnett. Mr Hartnett had applied for a lad to be trained in rural work. Bill Hartnett had three sons, but Billy Stewart was treated as if he was one of the family.

Billy suffered from asthma, and it was decided that some training and workouts with Roy Richens would help Billy’s asthmatic condition. Roy Richens was a boxing trainer who had a gym at his home on the Old Monteagle Road, just out of Young. At this time the Police Boys’ Club was in rooms in the upstairs section of the Town Hall, so Roy Richens moved his training sessions there. The officer in charge of the police boys club Young at that time was Tom Crossley. Keith and Bill Shoard, Terry Stephens, Max Wall and Stan Richens were training there at the same time. Lester Sheather, who went on to represent Australia at the Olympic Games in Cardiff in 1958, also trained there. Stan Richens, Roy’s son, who fought under the name of Stan Hayes, was the Australian Middleweight Champion in 1958. Stan Richens was tragically killed in a vehicle accident in 1960.

Billy Stewart had 28 professional boxing matches between 1950 and 1959, with a three-year break(1953-1956), with sixteen wins, two draws, one no contest and nine losses. He had four matches at Sydney Stadium, six at Wagga Wagga, one at Harden and the balance at Young.

Billy knocked out George Sands, of the well known fighting Sands family, in George’s last professional fight at Wagga Wagga on the 1st November 1952. Of Billy’s four matches at Sydney Stadium, he won one against Billy Peters on a TKO under referee Vic Patrick on 23rd March 1953; they had already fought a draw earlier in March at Young. Previously at Sydney Stadium in 1951 against Brian Lynch he had to retire after an arm injury. He lost his two other bouts, at Sydney Stadium in 1953, to the well-credentialed Ace Chocolate and Darby Brown. (To be continued).

Sourced from a book published by Warwick and Pam Grace called,” The Billy Stewart Story”.