The Australian Olympic Committee was formed on 1 January 1895 with the nation making their debut at the first Olympics in Athens with Teddy Flack being the first representative of the nation.[1][2] This was the nation's third appearance at an Winter Olympics. It was also the 15th overall Olympics that Australia had sent a delegation in.[3] The 1956 Winter Olympics was held at Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy and took place from the 26 January to 6 February: a total of 821 athletes competed from 32 nations.[4] The Australian delegation consist of eight athletes, five in the alpine skiing, two in the figure skating and one in the speedskating.[5]