Tino Ceberano OAM

Biography

Tino Ceberano helped take karate from a small network of enthusiasts into Australian clubs, classrooms and international competition. Born in 1941, he came to Australian karate from Kauai in Hawaii, the Pacific island chain that is now a U.S. state, where he had developed his martial-arts skills. His school dates from 1966. He and Cherie Joyce Ceberano became the parents of singer Kate Ceberano.

Teaching took him well beyond the dojo. His school's retrospective describes demonstrations at community events, appearances on Roy Hampson's television program, and physical-education placements at Balwyn and Wattle Park high schools. It also remembers Cherie's participation in encouraging women to train alongside men. These were practical ways of bringing a relatively unfamiliar discipline to a wider public.

Alongside instruction, Tino helped build the organizations through which Australians competed. The official account accompanying his Medal of the Order of Australia records him as a founding member of the national karate organization in 1970 and a former national-team coach and referee. His work extended internationally: he served as chief referee for the World Union of Karate-Do Organisations in 1977 and as its vice-president from 1978 to 1982.

The same citation records his work with International Goju Karate from 1989. In 2019, Australia awarded him the OAM for service to karate—a formal recognition of decades spent teaching, coaching, refereeing and organizing the sport.

He married Cherie Joyce in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1963 and moved to Australia in 1966. An earlier biographical account dates his Marine enlistment and training to 1959.