John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the sad and premature passing of one of our greatest ever sporting legends. It is rather difficult to do this after my friends the member for Hasluck and the member for Bass so vividly demonstrated what Lionel Rose did for our generation in bringing us together. He was born and raised in Jacksons Track, south-east of Melbourne, one of the few remaining untouched Aboriginal communities at the time. Lionel grew up in the most difficult of circumstances. He learned to box from his father, Roy, who was an amateur fighter. Initially, when he could not afford gloves, he wrapped his hands in rags and he boxed in a ring made of fencing wire stretched between trees. There was no such thing as rope-a-dope for Lionel. He was given his first gloves at the age of 10 by a press photographer.

Lionel commenced organised training at the age of 15 under a local trainer, Frank Oakes; Lionel would later marry his daughter Jenny. Soon after, he won the Australian amateur flyweight title. He turned professional in 1964 after missing out on selection for the 1964 Olympic Games. He moved to Melbourne and lived with Jack and Shirley Rennie. Jack became his trainer and they worked out every day in their backyard gym. Interestingly, Harry Hopman was a great friend of Jack Rennie and a great fan of boxing. He took two young Australian tennis players who were living and training with him at the time to see Lionel do his farewell spar before he went to Los Angeles to defend his title: Phil Dent and I got to meet Lionel at that time. We were so impressed with his gentleness and with his incredible modesty. He was already a world champion at 19.

He built up a flawless record in Australia and New Zealand, leading to winning the Australian bantamweight title in October 1966. He continued to win belts, including a famous knockout win against Rocky Gattellari at Sydney Stadium. He then challenged the legendary national hero Fighting Harada for the world bantamweight title on 26 February 1968 in Tokyo. He was an enormous underdog; he was said to be too young to fight at this level. He made history by becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to win a world championship. He defeated Harada in 15 gruelling rounds.

This win made Rose an instant national hero and an icon among Aboriginal Australians. He was welcomed back to Melbourne by 250,000 fans to celebrate his great success. Rose defended his title again in Tokyo and in California, where the disappointed local crowds started a riot; the referee needed hospitalisation and over a dozen spectators were also treated. He retired in 1971, with a brief but unsuccessful comeback attempt in 1975.

Lionel Rose became the first Indigenous Australian to be awarded Australian of the Year in 1968, the same year he was awarded an MBE. In 2003, he was an inaugural inductee into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame. He was featured on an Australia Post stamp two years later and also awarded the Ella Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sport. Lionel went on to have a musical career. In 1970 he released two hit ballads: I Thank You and Please Remember Me. The song I Thank You was a nationwide hit, more recently used by the comedians Roy and HG as a substitute for the Australian national anthem during their sporting broadcasts.

After retiring from boxing Lionel remained an inspiration for Indigenous Australians. In 1996 Lionel gave his world title belt to a six-year-old Indigenous boy, Tjandamurra O'Shane, who was the innocent victim of a horrific schoolyard attack, suffering burns to 70 per cent of his body. Lionel hoped the belt would give O'Shane hope for a speedy recovery. In 2008 O'Shane completed year 12 and graduated from Woree State High School, providing a great joy for Lionel, who had suffered a stroke earlier that year.

An award-winning film of his life, a documentary called Lionel, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2008. The film explored his rise and his struggle with the dimensions of being a mythic sporting figure, showing the contrast between hero and the man. The film is not just a tribute to an icon but an honest portrayal of a complex and conflicted human being. The filmmaker added the by-line: 'Lionel's imperfections may be larger than life, but so is his heart.'

Lionel Rose was an inspiration to his people, many of whom experience great hopelessness in white society. Lionel showed that anything is possible, that a poor young Indigenous boy could rise to be a world champion and become a national hero. It is a beautiful irony that, on the same day that Lionel passed, Daniel Geale, another young Australian with Indigenous heritage, won the IBF middleweight championship in Germany, becoming only the fourth Australian born boxer to win a title on foreign soil.

Legendary trainer Johnny Lewis said:

I think Lionel Rose showed indigenous Australians that they could achieve anything if they worked hard, but he was an inspiration for all Australians.

Even current boxing champion Anthony Mundine, one not normally renowned for sharing the limelight, described Lionel Rose as the best Australian fighter ever. Lionel also became a symbol of the political discourse of the time, as debate on racial equality and Indigenous rights was the defining issue of the day. He turned professional the same year as the Freedom Ride and won his world title one year after the 1967 referendum.

It is interesting that Lionel found his fame in the manly art of self-defence, yet he displayed the most extraordinary level of gentleness. I grew up with a girl called Evonne Goolagong. Evonne showed the same extraordinary gentleness, as did Cathy Freeman later on. All three shared an incredible physical grace. In Lionel's case it belied his speed and also belied the power with which he hit. This unusual mix of manliness and gentleness produced in Lionel Rose, our champion, a gentle man. Thank you.

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