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Speaker 1: What we most remember Cecil for at the Olympics is

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Speaker 1: what happened in one hundred meter individual freestyle. And this

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Speaker 1: was really quite an extraordinary story.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not convinced this would happen today when I

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Speaker 2: tell you, I'm Jen.

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Speaker 3: Kelly from the Herald Sun and this is in Black

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Speaker 3: and White, a podcast about some of Australia's forgotten characters.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to a special bonus two part episode of the show,

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Speaker 3: which we've squeezed in while we're all still on an

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Speaker 3: adrenaline high after the Paris Olympics. It's the story of

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Speaker 3: one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship in Olympic history,

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Speaker 3: but it's been almost forgotten. Our story is about Australian

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Speaker 3: swimmer Cecil Healey, who gave up his chance at glory

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Speaker 3: in extraordinary circumstances at the nineteen twelve Olympics and became

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Speaker 3: an instant national hero. He went on to prove his

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Speaker 3: great character on another front when he served his country

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Speaker 3: in the First World War. To tell us the story,

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Speaker 3: we're speaking again with military historian Matt McLaughlin, founder of

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Speaker 3: Matt McLachlin Battlefield Tours and host of the Living History podcast.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back to the podcast.

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Speaker 2: Matt, always a pleasure to be here, Jack.

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Speaker 3: Now, there were plenty of thrilling stories to come out

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Speaker 3: of the Olympics recently and great examples of sportsmanship, but

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Speaker 3: you'd be hard pressed to find a greater act of

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Speaker 3: sportsmanship in Olympic history than the one we're going to

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Speaker 3: hear about today.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly was an extraordinary active sportsmanship from a

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Speaker 1: bloke who just seemed to have all those qualities that

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Speaker 1: we love about Ossie blokes, you know, from sportsman to

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Speaker 1: great achiever in the community, and then this incredible act

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Speaker 1: of sportsmanship of service in the First World War.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the man we're talking about today summed up

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Speaker 2: all those qualities.

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Speaker 3: So where does Cecil Healey's story begin. Did he grow

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Speaker 3: up around the water?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a Sydney boy, so he always was close

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Speaker 1: to water. He was born in Darlinghurst in eighteen eighty

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Speaker 1: one and from everything I've read, from a fairly privileged background.

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Speaker 1: His dad was a barrister, He attended private schools, he

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Speaker 1: went to boarding school as a kid, so he grew

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Speaker 1: up in a pretty privileged environment in that latter part

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Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century. But he was always a Sydney boy,

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Speaker 1: so he was born here, he spent his formative years

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Speaker 1: in Sydney, and that is really an essential part of

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Speaker 1: his character, I think.

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Speaker 3: And we're going to hear a lot more about the

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Speaker 3: Olympics and one of the questions that came out of

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Speaker 3: the Olympics, as it does every time the Olympics roll around,

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Speaker 3: is why are Australians such good swimmers? So do you

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Speaker 3: have any insight into that? Why are we such good swimmers?

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Speaker 1: It's a fantastic question, and I think when we watched

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Speaker 1: the Olympics, particularly in the first week or so, when

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Speaker 1: Australia leads the medal tally with all the medals in

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Speaker 1: the pool, it's a question that you have to ask yourself.

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Speaker 2: It must be the fact that we just grow up

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Speaker 2: around water. That must be the thing.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just about every Australian who lives on the

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Speaker 1: coast spends many parts of their days down swimming in

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Speaker 1: the water. So I assume it's just our familiarity with

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Speaker 1: the water. And the story of cecil Heey I think

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Speaker 1: really sums that up because he was someone who spent

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Speaker 1: his whole life when he wasn't working at the beach,

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Speaker 1: basically swimming, surf, life saving, rowing, just a bit of

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Speaker 1: a water baby. So I think that I think that's

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Speaker 1: a fairly typical trait. And from the earliest days of

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Speaker 1: Australians being in Australia, we've we've enjoyed swimming in water sports.

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Speaker 1: So probably a sports historian has some sort of deep

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Speaker 1: insights into it, much more than me. But I certainly

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Speaker 1: think that must be part of the story.

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Speaker 3: And tell us about his earliest swimming successes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was interesting.

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Speaker 1: I think you'd sum up Cecil Healey by saying he

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Speaker 1: was the archetypal Ossie sportsman, particularly of this era.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've chatted lots of times. Jen.

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Speaker 1: When we look back on these chapters, we've got to

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Speaker 1: remember they're a different era. This is not the same

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Speaker 1: Australia that we know today. But I think Cecil really

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Speaker 1: summed up that era very very well, the idea that

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Speaker 1: sport was an absolutely essential component of what it meant

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Speaker 1: to be a good member of the community and a

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Speaker 1: strong man. And like so many of these stories I've

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Speaker 1: read about these men who would eventually go off and

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Speaker 1: serve in the First World War, he wasn't just good

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Speaker 1: at one sport.

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Speaker 2: He was good at dozens. You know.

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Speaker 1: He was a roer, he was a boxer, He played rugby,

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Speaker 1: he played tennis, he played cricket. But it was swimming

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Speaker 1: that he was most known for and that he was

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Speaker 1: certainly best at. And probably his physique was part of

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Speaker 1: the story. He was a short, stocky bloke, very muscly,

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Speaker 1: very fit, and he was just at home in the pool.

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Speaker 1: So from the earliest days he went to San Alisius

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Speaker 1: College in Sydney, and from the earliest days there he

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Speaker 1: demonstrated he had a real attitude in the pool and

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Speaker 1: started setting records all over the place and for the

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Speaker 1: first ten years really of the New century, wore the

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Speaker 1: champion Australian swimmer, broke a lot of records. It was

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Speaker 1: usually considered Australasian events back then, combined with New Zealand,

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Speaker 1: and he was absolutely the standout performer. He couldn't go

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Speaker 1: to the nineteen eight Olympics, sadly because he didn't have

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Speaker 1: the money to go. Back in the day, you had

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Speaker 1: to pay your own way or at least organize funding

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Speaker 1: to go, and so in nineteen oh eight he missed

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Speaker 1: the opportunity of going to the Olympics simply due to

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Speaker 1: that lack of funding, but he continued in Australia to

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Speaker 1: just to just achieve at every level in the pool.

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Speaker 2: Quite a remarkable sports person, So was.

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Speaker 3: He the national champion for a number of different events.

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Speaker 2: He was the national champion.

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Speaker 1: Freestyle was his sport and he was actually a champion

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Speaker 1: of the new type of swimming which came to be

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Speaker 1: known as the Australian crawl, which is now the standard

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Speaker 1: of freestyle that you see in the Olympics and every

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Speaker 1: competitive swim meet. The idea of taking a breath every

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Speaker 1: second stroke was considered quite inelegant.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people didn't like.

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Speaker 1: It because it was lotther of people thought it was

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Speaker 1: a quite a ugly way to move across the water.

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Speaker 1: But he was a champion of that and realized that

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Speaker 1: it was a very efficient way to swim, in a

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Speaker 1: very fast way to swim. So yes, he was the

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Speaker 1: Australasian champion. He missed out on a world record even

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Speaker 1: though he got a world record time, because there was

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Speaker 1: no world record official there to record the time. But

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Speaker 1: he was recognized not just in Australasia but at about

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Speaker 1: this time in the first decade of the New century,

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Speaker 1: as being something pretty special and everyone had their eye

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Speaker 1: on him.

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Speaker 3: So would he have been competing internationally before the nineteen

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Speaker 3: twelve Olympics, Yes.

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Speaker 2: He was. He took part in a number of international competitions.

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Speaker 1: The Australians as today were very good in the pool

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Speaker 1: and have a very strong Australian swimmers and again, as today,

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Speaker 1: our number one rival rivals with the Americans, and so

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Speaker 1: the Americans had a very strong swimming team. So there

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Speaker 1: was this rivalry between the Australians and the Americans for

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Speaker 1: several years, both at the Olympics and in other international

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Speaker 1: championships leading up to Olympic Games. So that rivalry was

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Speaker 1: a strong part of the motivation for people to go

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Speaker 1: and compete in these events, and it was certainly there

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Speaker 1: by nineteen twelve when Cecil got his chance to compete

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Speaker 1: in the Olympics.

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Speaker 3: Before we talk about the Olympics, what about with surfing?

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Speaker 3: Were there national competitions back then or was that just

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Speaker 3: more for fun?

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Speaker 1: I actually think it was more for public service in

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Speaker 1: a lot of ways. The idea of both surfing which

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Speaker 1: would later be introduced to Australia by a person we're

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Speaker 1: going to refer to, but also surf life saving. The

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Speaker 1: idea that of both swimming in the surf and boating

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Speaker 1: in the surf was a necessary part of the community

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Speaker 1: simply because so many people got into trouble in the water,

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Speaker 1: and it's something at Cecil Heay was well noted for

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Speaker 1: as well. So he moved to Manly in the Sydney

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Speaker 1: beachside suburb. And it's interesting because I spent twenty years

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Speaker 1: of my life in Manley when I first moved to Sydney,

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Speaker 1: and Manly is very well known because it has two

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Speaker 1: very big surf clubs at both the north and south ends,

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Speaker 1: so Queen's at the north end and South Stain at

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Speaker 1: the south end. But what most people over look is

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Speaker 1: there's actually a third one right in the middle, a

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Speaker 1: tiny little one called North Stain Surf Club, and that

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Speaker 1: was where Cecil Heay was a member. And so he

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Speaker 1: made quite a name for himself as a member of

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Speaker 1: that surf club. And the way he spoke about it,

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Speaker 1: he really championed the idea of surfing and surf rescue.

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Speaker 1: So when he referred to surfing, I think he was

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Speaker 1: more talking about either going out in a boat or

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Speaker 1: swimming in the surf to rescue people but anecdotally he

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Speaker 1: was involved in quite a few rescues himself as a

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Speaker 1: member of that club, and he championed the deregulation of swimming,

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Speaker 1: for example, so that people didn't have to wear the

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Speaker 1: constricting swimming costumes. And he was quite a well known

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Speaker 1: figure in Manly. A lot of the things I've read,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the newspapers from the time and in

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Speaker 1: the local area, suggest that he was a very good writer.

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Speaker 1: He wrote a lot of articles about the importance of

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Speaker 1: people being good in the surf, the importance of swimming.

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Speaker 1: He was a very good speaker. He was invited to

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Speaker 1: speak on a number of important topics of the time.

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Speaker 1: He spoke on behalf of the Liberal Party and a

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Speaker 1: number of functions. It was quite an upstanding member of

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Speaker 1: the community. Again, just one of those good blokes, great

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Speaker 1: at sport, strong civil responsibility and just an outstanding member

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Speaker 1: of his community.

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Speaker 3: So if you were a really good swimmer for Australia

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Speaker 3: in nineteen twelve and you were selected for the Olympics,

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Speaker 3: but then you said, well, actually I don't have enough

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Speaker 3: money to pay to go, would the Australian selection committee

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Speaker 3: say okay, well we'll just choose the second best swimmer

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Speaker 3: and send them instead.

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Speaker 1: That's a great question. I'm not sure of the specifics

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Speaker 1: of how that worked. I think there was also a

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Speaker 1: lot of private fundraising as well to send people off,

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Speaker 1: and you'd get a sponsor who would send you off.

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Speaker 1: It certainly isn't the gigantic business machine that we see today.

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Speaker 1: It was obviously Eon was an amateur swimmer, and that

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Speaker 1: was in the early days of the Olympics. That was

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Speaker 1: the key component that you had to be an amateur,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of the time people had to fund

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Speaker 1: their own way there. I'm surprised that he didn't have

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Speaker 1: the funds to go in nineteen oh eight because, as

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Speaker 1: we said, he seemed to come from a fairly privileged background. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I'm surprised that there was a money issue, but

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Speaker 1: it could have been more complicated than that. He also

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Speaker 1: was working as a journalist and doing a number of

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Speaker 1: other things, and so perhaps he couldn't get time off work.

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Speaker 1: There's probably a whole hoop of other things that come

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Speaker 1: into play. But for whatever reason, he wasn't able to

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Speaker 1: go in nineteen oh eight, but he certainly rectified that

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Speaker 1: by nineteen twelve.

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Speaker 3: Before we get to the Olympics. Matt Cecil competed against

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Speaker 3: another great swimmer before the Olympics, didn't he.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a really interesting part of his story.

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Speaker 1: That a man that I'm sure lots of people know

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Speaker 1: his surname, Frank bou Repair, who was a sportsman, a politician.

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Speaker 1: He served in the First World War as well, but

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Speaker 1: of course he started the famous tire company that still

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Speaker 1: bears his name, Bow Repairs.

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Speaker 2: And he was a.

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Speaker 1: Fairly standard type of character, very similar to Cecil. I

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Speaker 1: think he'd say in a number of ways that he

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Speaker 1: was down in Melbourne, he was out an upstanding member

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Speaker 1: of the community and a great sportsman. So he was

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Speaker 1: a competitor and a friend all through this period of Cecil.

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Speaker 2: Heay.

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Speaker 1: So it's fascinating the parallel lives that they led in

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Speaker 1: so many ways, because Frank himself would go off and

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Speaker 1: serve in the Second World War and then come back

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Speaker 1: and found that tire empire that still carries his name today.

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Speaker 3: Take us forward to the nineteen twelve Olympics. Somehow Cecil

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Speaker 3: has managed to get the time off work and raise

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Speaker 3: the funds to get there. Tell us about what's happened there.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was looking forward to the swimming in Stockholm in

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Speaker 1: nineteen twelve, because you had a very strong Australian team

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Speaker 1: led by Cecil, but also a very strong American team

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Speaker 1: led by Duke Kahanamoku. The Duke, as he was known,

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Speaker 1: the man who would eventually introduce surfing to Australia. So

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Speaker 1: he's an interesting character in his own right, apparently a

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Speaker 1: great bloke. Everyone loved him, got on very well with him.

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Speaker 1: There's a statue of him not far from Manly where

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Speaker 1: Cecil did his thing in the surf as well. So

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Speaker 1: Duke was also a great swimmer, and these were he

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Speaker 1: was considered the favorite. Cecil was probably the second favorite,

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Speaker 1: and there was a great rivalry. There was a lot

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Speaker 1: of talk in the papers about who would win the medals.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think by this stage, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're talking just over one hundred years ag. I think

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Speaker 1: the modern Olympics had attained some of the levels that

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Speaker 1: we see today that it was a source of national pride.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was congratulating the athletes, sending them on their way,

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Speaker 1: and there was a lot of reporting on the events

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Speaker 1: that were coming up, and this was going to be

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Speaker 1: seen as the big showdown the Australians and the Americans

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Speaker 1: had been back and forth in the world records. There

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Speaker 1: had been occasional swim meets where multiple world records were

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Speaker 1: broken in the heats and then in the final, so

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Speaker 1: there was a really strong level of competition and everyone

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Speaker 1: was very excited to see what would happen in the

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Speaker 1: pool in Stockholm. So as far as Cecil is concerned,

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Speaker 1: his big win, the gold medal win, came in the

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Speaker 1: relay where they managed to hold off the Americans. And

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Speaker 1: again it's funny how we've seen these comparisons in recent

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Speaker 1: years as well, the Australians and the Americans juking it out,

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Speaker 1: particularly the relay squads, and the Australians were triumphant and

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Speaker 1: won the gold medal in the four by one hundred relay,

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Speaker 1: which was a great achievement against the very strong American team.

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Speaker 1: But what we most remember Cecil for at the Olympics

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Speaker 1: is what happened in the one hundred meter individual freestyle.

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Speaker 1: And this was really quite an extraordinary story, and I'm

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Speaker 1: not convinced this would happen today when I tell you

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Speaker 1: what this story was.

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Speaker 3: We'll be back soon to hear what happened to Cecil next.

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Speaker 3: So stay with us.

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Speaker 1: Cecil was the second favorite. The Duke was the outright favorite.

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Speaker 1: It seemed that he was unstoppable. Cecil and his Australian

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Speaker 1: colleagues participated in the first the first heat, and were successful.

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Speaker 1: Cecil and another Australian qualified for the final by the

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Speaker 1: time the Americans came to do their heat. In the

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Speaker 1: most extraordinary of circumstances, their manager got the times wrong

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Speaker 1: for the heats. The Americans arrived late and did not

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Speaker 1: have time to compete, and therefore we're disqualified from the final,

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Speaker 1: which was a situation that basically almost guaranteed that Cecil

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Speaker 1: would now win the gold medal because his greatest competitor, Duke,

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Speaker 1: who was now not going to swim in the final,

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Speaker 1: and Cecil really had the gold medal all to himself.

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Speaker 1: But in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship, Cecil protested loudly

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Speaker 1: that the Americans should be allowed to be included in

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Speaker 1: the final. They should be allowed to swim, and he

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Speaker 1: and a number of other athletes protested to the officials

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Speaker 1: that it wasn't fair and argued that the Americans were

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Speaker 1: a key component of the competition and that any results

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Speaker 1: that didn't include the Americans would not be worthwhile, and

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Speaker 1: eventually convinced the officials to hold the swing heat again,

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Speaker 1: and the Americans did turn up and they did qualify

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Speaker 1: for the final. And so now the big showdown between

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Speaker 1: Duke and Cecil in the final was coming to pass,

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Speaker 1: and extraordinary, as you would imagine, it happened. Cecil came second,

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Speaker 1: he won the silver medal. The Duke got up and

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Speaker 1: won the gold medal. So by that incredible act of sportsmanship,

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Speaker 1: Cecil herely cost himself the gold medal, the second gold

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Speaker 1: medal of the Games, and went home from that event

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Speaker 1: with the silver. But he was never upset about it.

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Speaker 1: He said it was the right thing. The best man won.

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Speaker 1: He should have been swimming. It was a technical error

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Speaker 1: that prevented him from qualifying in the first place, and

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Speaker 1: the best man won. So just an incredible act of

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Speaker 1: sportsmanship and the measure of the man, I mean, just

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Speaker 1: incredible that he would give up effectively a gold medal

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Speaker 1: that was in the bag so that his arch rival

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Speaker 1: could compete and then eventually beat him in the final.

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Speaker 3: And Matt, you can only imagine that if Cecil had

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Speaker 3: a just swum without Duke in the race, it really

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Speaker 3: would have seemed quite a hollow victory, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right. I think Cecil knew that.

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Speaker 1: I think everyone who was there knew that. And Duke

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Speaker 1: summed it up afterwards by saying that Cecil was the

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Speaker 1: true Olympic hero.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's right. And I just love that.

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Speaker 1: I just love the fierce competitiveness, but also the camaraderie.

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Speaker 1: You know, they had such a respect for each other.

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Speaker 1: I hope that's still the case today with professional sports people.

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Speaker 1: I think it is, but you know it's These are

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Speaker 1: just wonderful stories about really wonderful people who were doing

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Speaker 1: some pretty extraordinary things.

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Speaker 3: The other nice PostScript to the story is that Cecil

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Speaker 3: didn't go home from the nineteen twelve Olympics without a

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Speaker 3: gold medal.

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Speaker 1: That's right, because they were successful in the relay. So

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Speaker 1: his tally was gold and silver from the nineteen to

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Speaker 1: twelve Olympics, and he came home quite a hero. Everyone

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Speaker 1: knew the story of him, of his incredible active sportsmanship,

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Speaker 1: and he was quite celebrated when he got back to

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Speaker 1: Australia as this Olympic hero, as I think he should

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Speaker 1: have been. It was quite an extraordinary act. He was

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Speaker 1: incredible sportsman. Not as good as the Duke when it

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Speaker 1: all came down to it in the one hundred meters,

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Speaker 1: but what a sportsman and what an active sportsmanship.

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Speaker 3: And really sometimes we do remember these acts more. These

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Speaker 3: acts of great sportsmanship are sometimes more memorable than the

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Speaker 3: gold medal winners themselves.

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Speaker 1: I think that's a great point. Medals won of Olympic

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Speaker 1: Games are fairly quickly forgotten in the big scheme of things,

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Speaker 1: but it's these moments of humanity that stand out. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's why people still like the Olympics. You know,

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Speaker 1: we always remember the stories from the Olympics of the

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Speaker 1: injured marathon runner getting up and desperately trying to finish

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Speaker 1: the race, and you know, these are the things that

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Speaker 1: bring a tear to the eye about the Olympics and

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Speaker 1: its acts like Cecil's active sportsmanship in that swimming race

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Speaker 1: that we remember.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 1: I think that's the reason we're talking about him today,

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Speaker 1: more than one hundred years after the fact, is because

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Speaker 1: of these things, not just because of the medals he

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Speaker 1: brought home.

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Speaker 3: And then tell us a bit more about Duke, because

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Speaker 3: there's a bit more to his story that you alluded to. Earlier.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so a really interesting guy Hawaiian and a champion surfer,

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Speaker 1: not just a great swimmer, a champion surfer. But he

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Speaker 1: introduced surfing to Australia and obviously it took off in

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Speaker 1: a very big way in Australia. Australia is very well

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Speaker 1: suited to surfing. But he introduced surfing to Australia during

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Speaker 1: a tour of the northern beaches of Sydney and so

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Speaker 1: at Fairlight there's a statue of him on the rocks

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Speaker 1: looking out over the water. So yeah, just again a

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Speaker 1: great sports been, a really great bloke. He was very

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Speaker 1: well liked and he's very well respected even today as

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Speaker 1: the father of swimming, of surfing, of a lot of

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Speaker 1: these water sports that so many Australians still hold dear

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Speaker 1: So when.

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Speaker 3: Did he introduce surfing to Australia.

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Speaker 1: Well, surfing as we know it today in terms of

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Speaker 1: standing on a board in the waves, he introduced during

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Speaker 1: a tour of Australia in nineteen fourteen, actually during the

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Speaker 1: First World War. So this is regarded really as the

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Speaker 1: time that surfing was introduced to Australia. And so the

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Speaker 1: Duke was in Australia and he wanted to demonstrate this thing,

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Speaker 1: and he bought a piece of pine from a local

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Speaker 1: hardware shop and fashioned it into a surfboard. That was

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Speaker 1: the first surfboard in Australia and so rather improvised. And

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Speaker 1: then I think he astounded a crowd at Freshwater Beach

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Speaker 1: in Sydney by standing on what I assume many people

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Speaker 1: thought was an ironing board and riding the waves. But

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Speaker 1: once that occurred, there was no turning back. And so

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Speaker 1: from that moment onwards, surfing took off in Australia in

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Speaker 1: a very big way. Australia was very well suited to surfing,

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Speaker 1: as indeed Hawaii was and California, and surfing took off

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Speaker 1: in a very very big way in Australia. But it's

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Speaker 1: considered that in December nineteen forty, when the Duke went

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Speaker 1: on his homemade surfboard at Freshwater Beach in Sydney, that

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Speaker 1: that was the introduction of surfing to Australia. And of

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Speaker 1: course we've never looked.

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Speaker 3: Back for listeners in Melbourne. So where is that beach

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Speaker 3: in relation to the CBD of Sydney, So it's not

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Speaker 3: too far out of Sydney proper.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right. It's in the northern beaches.

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Speaker 1: So if you catch a ferry over to Manley and

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Speaker 1: had a couple of beaches to the north, you'll get

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Speaker 1: to freshwater. So interestingly, not very far from where Cecil

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00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 1: was swimming in the surf, so quite extraordinary. I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure if Cecil was there. I'm sure he was to

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00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,399
Speaker 1: watch the surfing exhibition. He knew Duke very well from

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00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,399
Speaker 1: the Olympics, and I haven't seen anything about that, but

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Speaker 1: I assume that, given it was only a few minutes

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Speaker 1: from where he lived, and the fact that he knew

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00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,200
Speaker 1: the Duke so well, I assume that Cecil was there

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Speaker 1: to watch this display of surfing.

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Speaker 3: Of course, and then probably took up surfing on a

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Speaker 3: nining board.

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Speaker 2: You would imagine he would have loved it. He absolutely

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Speaker 2: would have loved it, knowing Cecil Healing.

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Speaker 3: We'll leave part one there for now, but come back

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Speaker 3: tomorrow for part two of the story of Cecil Healing.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. This has been in Black and White,

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Speaker 3: a podcast about some of Australia's forgotten characters, written and

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00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 3: hosted by me Jen Kelly, edited by Harry Hughes, and

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Speaker 3: produced by John Tyburton. You can find all the stories

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00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 3: and photos associated with our episodes at Heroldsun dot com

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Speaker 3: Any comments or questions please email me at in black

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Speaker 3: and white at Heroldsun dot com dot au. Any clarifications

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Speaker 3: or updates will appear in the show notes for each episode,

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