Bush Summit: In resourceful regions, country kids sport their mateship with pride

Australia’s coal, iron ore, gold, aluminium, and gas may be the live blood of regional Australia, but a sense of humour, straight talk and sport is what keeps the bush alive and thriving.

Adam Gilchrist in Perth on Monday. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Australia may have ridden on the sheep’s back and now be bankrolled by resources, but it’s galvanised by sport.

First the Ashes, then the Matildas … on Monday in Perth, cricket legend Adam Gilchrist had Perth’s movers, shakers and ­decision-makers captivated with stories on achieving his first 100.

It wasn’t in a stadium in front of thousands of adoring fans, it was as a kid growing up in regional Australia where he was wicket-keeping for his dad as a 14-year-old in a “first grade country final” and when he reached his first century in at another match in Wollongong.

“I had the opportunity to go back and have another bat and I was playing pretty well and I’m looking at all my teammates and they kept urging me to get out, get caught because we didn’t have a McDonald’s in Lismore – in the country, that was like the bright lights – but there was one across the road from the cricket ground we were playing at. I actually scored 100 that day and I was waving my bat around in the air, like you see them do know on TV, and turned around and I had no teammates. They were all at Maccas,” Gilchrist said.

“Gilly” was speaking with West Coast Eagles premiership player Will Schofield – also a “proud country kid” – and despite the biggest news hitting WA on Monday being the retirement of Eagles star ruckman Nic Naitanui, the crowd, including former AFL star and coach turned Clontarf chief executive Gerard Neesham, Wyllie Group managing director Melissa Wyllie and mining and farming industry leaders, ignored their phone alerts and cheered when Gilchrist and Schofield spoke about how growing up in the ­regions allowed them not only to harness their athletic skills but to pull themselves, and their mates, up from by the boot straps to pursue professional sporting careers.

Medical, resources and business were highlighted as pillars of the regions on Monday by WA Country Health chairman Neale Fong and Roy Hill chief executive Gerhard Veldsman, but Gilchrist said sport was one of the most important elements to life in the bush. “Sport is highly important. Whether it’s infrastructure or culture or the landscape, particularly in regional areas of Australia.

“We can all agree on what we’ve seen sport can do to unite a nation in the last couple of weeks and it’ll happen again on Wednesday night,” he added, referencing the Matildas semi-final battle against the Lionesses.

Another person to receive a Samantha Kerr-like reception was Pastoralists & Graziers Association of WA president Tony Seabrook.

He had abandoned his uniform of Stubbies and work boots for a tie on Monday and received a rolling round of applause for his calls for Australia to repel the voice to parliament, the need for country “kids” who may only have boarding school as an option for secondary school to have their education partially subsidised and for how mining was “stealing” truck drivers from the agriculture sector.