WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Ric Charlesworth 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.480 Can I everyone welcome to conversations. Now, I have to 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:05.840 admit I am in awe of our next guest. Now 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.560 he's a bit younger than I am, but I've been 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:10.080 able to follow his career over the years and it's 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:14.760 been truly stellar. He graduated as a doctor, worked in 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.400 the medical profession, played cricket for West Australia, played hockey 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:25.440 for Australia, coached Australia to ultimate glory in hockey, served 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.720 in politics as a politician for ten years, and truly 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.760 inspiring man. Rick Charlesworth joins us Rick, how are you. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.160 Very very good? Thanks Cortin What are you doing these days? 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.480 I mean, I've kind imagined all the things you've done. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:41.680 How do you keep yourself occupied? 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.680 Well, I call myself semi retired, but I've just had 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.360 a couple of weeks working very hard for as I 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.640 said to you earlier, the forces of good against evil 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:58.800 in the election. But I'm like semi retired, I'm not 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.520 sort of particularly in last the last few years I've 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.280 had a full time job. I've been I've been working 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:09.440 in China, so that was very interesting. And indeed, last 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.360 year in August I went to the Olympics in Paris 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:14.680 with the Chinese team. 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.080 So that was something that I didn't expect. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:19.800 Yeah, we'll talk about that. But that didn't end well 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.760 for the Australians because it should beat the Australians in 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.560 the quarter final. I wondered how that felt, sort of 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.600 what were your emotions? Are you working for China? 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.880 It was it was very well, you know, yes, you've 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:40.160 got a job and you're involved in in the caper 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.040 and so you but I woke up that day going 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.280 to the quarterfinal knowing that whatever happened, I was going 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.720 to feel rotten because if China won, that would be nice, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.520 but Australia would have lost, and if Australia won, that 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.440 would have been I would have felt disappointed for the Chinese, 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:55.800 you know. 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.560 So it's it gets like that. 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:04.200 Yeah, I hadn't you know, I'd always previously been involved 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.080 with Australia of course, so it was pretty single minded 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:12.200 your approach. But you know, the Chinese girls were wonderfully talented, 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:17.040 very hard working and a lovely, lovely group to work 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:17.519 with you. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:19.360 So you get attached. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.080 You're assistant coach to Allison and what was it like 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.360 as an assistant coach A fantastic. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:28.480 I mean at my age, it was the perfect place 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.359 to be because it's like all care and no responsibility. 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.360 I remember I remember speaking to Neil Craig about his 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.560 time with the Crows when Blight he was the captain. 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.600 I was the coach and he said to me, well, 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.560 when you drive out the out of the ground after 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.560 training or you know, at the end of the day, 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.720 he said, you just switch on to the family and 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.920 what's going on there and whatever else might be in 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.480 your life. But if you're the head coach, it's twenty 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.880 four to seven, the phone rings, there's something going on 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.080 all the time, the media of chasing you. You know, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:07.160 it's a different life. So being assistant coach was much 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.880 easier at that respect. And you know, I mean Alison 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.360 I got the job accidentally. I was during COVID. Allison 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.600 and I were talking on the phone and she said, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.520 I've got this job in China. Where don't you come 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.040 and help? And I signed up for six months. I 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:27.919 said a bit, this will be interesting thing to do. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.120 And we spent a lot of time in Europe. And 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.960 you know, because the Chinese team, they couldn't get around easily. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.400 Every time they want to go to another country. They 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:41.680 have to sit in China. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.640 For two weeks to get special visas. You know. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.600 It was hard. So, you know, we we built a 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:49.320 pretty good team. I think we did three or four 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.400 things that made a difference. We picked the best team. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:54.800 It probably wasn't happening before we got there. You know, 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:56.560 we had players in the end from seven or eight 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.280 different provinces rather than just two or three ained the 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.080 blessed and they were training. They used to train two hard, 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.320 long sessions, dulled, you know, not sharp and vibrant as 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:08.320 you need to be in sport. 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:08.800 As you know. 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.920 We gave them some consistent messages, you know, and we 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.320 played lots of international games, so they were very good players, 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.440 but they only played in China. They didn't have the 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.719 international experience, you know. And we were we were about fourteenth. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:24.640 In the world. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.359 Then well we went very close to winning the gold medal. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.159 You lost her in a penalty shootout to to Holland 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:32.520 I think. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.919 Was in the final. Yeah. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.479 Is that in the Chinese culture? Is that regarded as 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.040 a failure or no? 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.640 No, no, that was that was a success that they 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.120 were hopeful to get to the main games. They but 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.839 but you know, they weren't. They were pretty realistic. 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.520 They're there. It's an extraordinary country China. 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:02.120 We misinterpreted, I think dramatically in Australia, and you know, 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.440 they have done remarkable things of the country. They've raised 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.880 seven hundred million people out of poverty in fifty years. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.960 Just think of that number, seven hundred minion. You know, 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.440 there's more people in Beijing than there are in Australia. 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.760 You know, it's eighty times the size of Australia. Just 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.080 the scale of the thing is extraordinary. You know, it's 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.040 a good place to be, wonderful for training. I mean, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.200 if you're at the training base in Shanghai or Beijing 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.000 or Guanzhou. We went to all of them. You know, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:33.480 it's the as times ten. 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.240 It makes you wonder, though, when you say things like 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.400 that about the belligerent rhetoric that some of our politicians 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.920 have had towards China, what did you think of that? 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.520 I think it's nutty and I think you know, the 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.039 labor government, for instance, has turned that around. 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.599 This this is their biggest trading partner. 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.720 They haven't been involved in They've had some border skirmishes, 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:57.960 they've never sudden any wars in the last hundred years 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.560 they've been invaded by the Japanese. They've turned their country 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.120 around the way, which is remarkable. 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.520 I was there in the nineties and it was all bicycles. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.440 I was there sort of for the Beijing Olympics, sort 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.440 of fifteen years later. I thought, gee, this country's moving now. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.560 What they've done is staggering. I mean, the country works, 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.520 you know. I've got friends who have who live there, 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.880 have got children in Beijing. They said this is the 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:24.120 safest city in the world. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:24.520 You know. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:26.920 Only the only people have got guns are the coppers, 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.280 you know. And you know, catch the subway at three 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:35.000 o'clock in the morning, and it's adderly and organized. The 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.760 infrastructure is incredible. There's wind farms as far as the 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.400 eye can see that, the sky is blue. 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.560 They're turning around their pollution. They've done marvelous things. You know. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.200 They produced three times more renewable energy than any other 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.719 country in the world. You know, and all the electric 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:57.200 cars that you see now being available being produced there. 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.480 That No, it's a good story. 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.600 And they want to trade in the world and they 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.880 see East Asia. Was there Baliwick, and you know, the 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.600 USA is ten thousand kilometers away. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.400 It's not their business anyway. 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.400 Well, I'm fascinated. But but it's about you, not China, 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.480 I guess. But if I asked the question, why are 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.600 you such a high achiever when there must have been 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.640 a family influence? Tell us about your mum and dad. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:31.240 Yeah, well I grew up in the least leafy western suburbs, 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.640 the western suburbs in Perth, of course, you know that 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.040 like the eastern suburbs in the in the east, the 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:39.600 leafy western suburbs of Perth. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:44.440 We were fortunately my father and my mother were both dentists. 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.360 My dad, my dad opened the batting for Western Australia 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.360 for a short period of time, but just after the war. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.320 But of course his best years were during the war, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.160 and he liked people of his generation missed out I suppose, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.520 but he he was. He was a very good cricketer 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.760 and his profession was dentistry and in those days. He 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.239 stopped playing when he was in the early thirties because 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.320 he had to sort of support the family and run 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:12.080 his business. 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.720 You know. Mum had we had four Mum had four children, and. 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.840 She practiced in dad's practice during the war when he 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:20.640 was in the army. 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.680 But then she looked after the children we had. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.400 I had a very fortunate upbringing, you know, but the 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.000 expectation was that you were going to achieve and do well, 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:33.439 and we had every opportunity. 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:33.720 You know. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.520 I played sport all the time and I was encouraged 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:39.520 to study at school. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:39.880 You know. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.560 I was actually a rover with the local under fourteen 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:48.079 football team Best and Fairest one year, and of course 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.480 the ruckman in our team won the Brownlow medal. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:53.840 Who was that played for? 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:01.199 Yeah, but I played I think mossi Ye fancied my sister, 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:02.960 So that's one of the reasons I was getting the game. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.400 You know, he's a few years older than me. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.559 But yeah, I actually I did play cricket with Mike 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.839 Fitzpatrick though at university for a while. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.599 So look, we need to take a break. This is 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:14.400 this is going to have to be done in about 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:19.079 four or five parts. Rick Charlesworth is my guest today, 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.520 folks back shortly my guest on conversations is Rick Charlesworth. 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.079 So many things that he's done. But I was intrigued 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.760 in the just before the break, you're talking about your 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.280 dad and your dad served during World War Two? Did 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.240 you ever find out where? 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.559 And I think he went as far as Rottenest when 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:40.959 it went to going overseas, you know, yeah, well that 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.120 there were lots of prisoners over there, and you know 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.360 he was providing the dental service, you know, so he 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:47.040 didn't he didn't. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.040 He wasn't in the infantry or anything. He was obviously 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:51.400 in the medical corps. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.480 So I didn't right this down. I was a prison camp. 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.160 Yeah, yeah, yeah, they had had prisoners there that they 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.720 had collected us. I know, they collected them off German 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.520 ships and different places, and there were Italians and Germans 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:06.199 and Japanese. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:06.920 Yeah. 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.400 So were you one of these kids at school that's 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.800 good at everything, actually good at it? You know what 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.240 I mean by that? You've seen these guys who dominate 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.000 and girls who start. 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.120 I was, you know, yeah, like high school I was. 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:26.320 I went to christ Church, which is one of the 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.760 private schools in the western suburbs of Perth, you know, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.080 and I was captain of the cricket team and captain 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.040 of the hockey team. I didn't I stopped playing footy 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.719 while I was at high school because I couldn't do. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:38.520 That and hockey. 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.920 And you know, I don't think I was afraid, but 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.800 I used to get annoyed because I was a busy 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.760 you know, on baller and you grab the ball out 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.719 of a pack and some go with shirt front, you 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:51.439 you know, and I just thought, I don't know that 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.760 I want to keep being involved in this, do you 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.920 know what I mean? It was like you get a 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:00.000 couple of concussions and you're thinking, well, in those days, kincashion, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.360 there was a loss of consciousness and couldn't remember what 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.560 had happened. That was the old definition. Medically now it's 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.040 a bit more than that. But I suppose I didn't 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.520 enjoy that much. I thought that was, you know, undesirable. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.760 So you know I went for the game which was 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.280 skill and speed and guile, which was the hockey. And 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.120 of course in the summer I played cricket. 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:25.040 And why hockey? Was there a mentor there? 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:25.720 Yeah? 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.320 It was. It was unique. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.480 You know, hockey wasn't played in primary school, but we 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.520 had an old teacher, a Welshman who used to play, 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.800 used to developed a hockey team because we had no 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.320 other schools to play against. So we used to play 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:44.720 against the girls schools, you know, PLC, MLCs and Hilda's 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:46.640 all of the girls schools. 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.560 That were in the area who were the high school girls. 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.560 We were still at primary school and they had the 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.319 most perfect fields you could imagine grass fields, and we 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.120 weren't allowed to wear our football boats. We had to 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.000 play bare feet because we want to dig up the grass. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.360 But they were It was the perfect match. We were 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.959 sort of fifteen year old girls and ten twelve year 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.960 old boys. We were really well suited, you know, and 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.679 we used to play sort of twenty sixties a year. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.400 We'd all get in his teacher's car and go to 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.120 the We drive after school to the to where we 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.480 were playing, and it was fantastic training, you know, it 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:30.600 was special in environment. Indeed, another guy who played with 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:34.160 me in the Olympics in Munich had learned his hockey 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:34.680 with Thorpe. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.200 He too, Oh, mister Thorpe. It was our mentor there. 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:39.360 It was always a mentor. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was the year seven teacher. 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.920 He was a strict teacher, but I loved him, and 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:51.280 you know, I enjoyed the classes, and of course. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:51.680 Loved the hockey. 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.000 I started playing when I was in year three, you know, 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.800 and so I played all the way through primary school 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.320 and then joined the local club. And the local club 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.640 a couple of internationals who were going to the Olympics. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.840 You know, you were you were interacting with. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.319 These people, and the expectation was that, yeah, maybe one 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:09.640 day that could happen to me. 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:10.080 You know. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.640 It was seeing people in your local environment doing it, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.400 you know. I mean in nineteen sixty Herb Elliot won 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.200 gold medal at the Olympics and the guy who the 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.880 guy who ran the local bank down the road who 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.959 worked in the National Bank was John Winter, who'd won 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.800 the high jump in London in forty eight. You know, 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.040 so there's you know, there were expectations that this was 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:35.880 this could be done. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.680 But you're balancing a cricket career as well. You're obviously 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.240 a very good cricketer, So how did you do that? 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.000 I you know, cricket was summer. Hockey was winter was easy. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.800 They were the days and it was the same everywhere. 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:50.160 You know. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.079 There were you know, in my hockey club was Ross 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.840 Edwards and Graham Mackenzie. They were both first division players 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:00.080 and ross Edwards played for. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.720 Western Australia, you know, so that was the thing. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.800 Barry Shephard, you know, who was the captain of the 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.840 Australia West Astralian cricket team he was in our hockey 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.360 club and the club's name was Clermont Cricketers. You know, 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.960 during the during the winter they played together at hockey. 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.600 And then of course there was some of their cricketers. 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.720 So that was the environment. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.880 It was, I suppose unique and different, but it was 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.840 where I was, you know, so I was, yeah. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.800 There's hockey a Western Australian thing, is it? So that's 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.000 where they had the institute of sport they do and 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.120 especially aligned with that West Australia. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:39.840 Well yeah, but it was what happened. 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.400 Of course, the historical things really quite interesting. I mean 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.520 the center of hockey in the world was the subcontinent. 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.920 The Indians and the Pakistanis dominated the game. The British 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.160 took it there and taught them as they did with 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.600 you know, soccer all over the world when they built railways. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.400 But they took the game across to India and the 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.000 Indian and the packers. Indian were much much better than them, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.120 and they developed the game. They introduced new technology that 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.280 changed the shape of the stick. So for the first 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.960 part of the last century they were the dominant. They 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.360 won the gold medal at the Olympics eight eight Olympics 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:14.800 in a row. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.200 That's how good their domination was. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.360 And when partition occurred in India, and of course lots 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.600 of Anglo Indians left India and lots of Indians left, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.400 they got on boats and they went all over the well. 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.400 But one of the first places they landed, of course, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.360 across the Indian Ocean in Perth. And they went to 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.680 other parts of Australia and they had an influence, but 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.720 in lots of them landed in Perth. There was a family, 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.960 the Pierce brothers, five brothers who all played for Australia, 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:47.320 who came from India. And in Perth, we you know 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.120 where the sand rapers. We've got a sand plane. So 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.920 when it rains in the winter, the fields are perfect. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.600 They're not muddy like they are in the East. And 0:15:55.680 --> 0:16:00.200 so you could play hockey really well. You had fast pictures, 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:06.080 fast grounds, and those people played for Australia. They developed 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:12.000 a culture, the game grew and so Western Australia, for 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.600 you know, way up until the eighties dominated the game. Now, 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.920 of course you've got synthetic pictures, you've got quality pictures 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:24.080 all over the country and the games played on synthetic pictures. 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.600 But you know, the culture here remains. And you know, 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.600 when in nineteen eighty four I was in the Parliament. 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:31.280 We. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.120 Diversified the Australian Institute of Sports for the first time. 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.440 We said, well, we need to have particular sports in. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.160 Particular places, and of course cycling and cricket, for instance, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.600 went to Adelaide, and hockey was based in Perth where 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.600 they had the best pictures, facilities and a really strong 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.080 local competition, you know, and other states would argue that 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.640 it should be there now, but that's a historical event 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.320 and the facilities of course here are now. And then 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.320 they're just we've got a money from the state government 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.760 for a massive new training center, you know, over one 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.680 hundred million dollars, and so I think it's going to 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.040 stay here for a while, but they're building something truly international. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.480 You played two undred twenty seven games for Australia. When 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:18.880 did you first have that ambition? 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.600 Look, I was playing in an environment where I was, 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.199 you know, training with and seeing these people who were 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.040 going off to the Olympics. And in nineteen sixty eight, 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.760 I'm sixteen years old and I watched the Olympics. You 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.439 just it used to be at the end of the 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.439 night they would show clips from Mexico, you know, and 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:42.920 it would be a fifteen or twenty minute piece and that, 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.880 you know, and some of our athletes did very well 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:50.480 in Mexico. We won the eight hundred meters. I'm trying 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.920 to remember the guy's name. I'm having a senior moment now. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.520 And rafter Bell, Ralph de Bell won the eight hundred 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:01.240 and you know, we had Peter Norman came sickon in 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.239 the two hundred and the famous salute. But then at 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.200 the end of the session they always have a little 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.800 bit of the hockey and the hockey team beat India 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.240 for the first time in the semi final and lost 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.960 in the final to Pakistan because India had become two 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.720 countries by then, and so you know, they run the 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:20.679 silver medal and some of those people I used to 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:22.560 know and train with, and I thought, God, in four 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.280 years time maybe, or in eight years time, I could 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:25.640 be there. 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.720 You know. Four years later I. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.040 Was first of five. 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:29.919 Yeah. 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.639 Rick Charlesworth is my guest on Conversations. We need to 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.879 take a break, bake shortly, folks. Welcome back to Conversations everybody. 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.359 If you've just tuned in, I'm chatting with Vic Charlesworth, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.320 as I said right at the start, of a man 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.280 who I've always been in awe of, even though he's 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.760 a bit younger than me, not a lot younger, just 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:50.440 a bit younger. The thing that intrigues me about you, Rick, 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.640 and indeed other doctors or medical students that I've worked with. 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.560 You're able to complete your medical degree, which is a 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.160 significant time assuming i'd say arduous course, at the same 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:07.280 time as having these elite sporting careers. How on earth 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:08.960 did you do it? Can I are you one of 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.760 these really smart people you know that just don't have 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:12.280 to study? 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:14.440 No, no, no, I don't know. 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.840 That's pretty freakish. There's not many people like that. I 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.320 had to study, and you know, there's a fair bit 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:26.080 of memory work required in getting a medical degree. But 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.080 you know, I was a good student, and the world 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.160 was a different place then. But I graduated in nineteen 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.840 sixty nine. So I started university in nineteen seventy and 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.320 it wasn't so difficult to get into medicine in those 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.120 days as it is now, although there was a there 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:42.800 was a filter. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:45.240 So we started. 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.480 There were two hundred and sixty of us that started 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:53.440 medicine in the first year UWA, and now that I mean, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.399 I think there's only about one hundred each year that 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.560 go through, so you know, but nowadays, of course you're 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.480 filtered through the ATAR results and all of the other 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.480 tests and hurdles that young people have to And I've 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:12.040 got I've got three children in medicine, so you know, 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.800 I know how it works. One who's presently a student, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.639 but that's for later on, I imagine. So there were 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:20.960 two hundred and sixty of us that started, but the 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.200 trick was only six you would go into second year, 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.240 so you had to you had to basically your first 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.320 year was the filter in those days, you know, so 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.320 you had to get a's and b's or you didn't 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.240 get into second year. That's how it worked. And a 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.080