Steve and Lynette Waugh, Rodger and Beverley Waugh, other members of the Waugh family, ladies and gentlemen. When Steve retired as captain of Australia and retired from Test cricket, there was a wave of emotion and celebration and expression of gratitude that even for a sports-loving nation such as Australia was quite rare and something that left no doubt a great impression on Steve and his family and also many others in the community. And I wondered at the time, and I've had occasion as I've read through this book, to think again why was it that Steve evoked within the Australian community such feelings and such attitudes.
It was of course as all of these things are a combination. There was a recognition of the remarkable achievements of the way in which he had led, what many would argue as the greatest cricket team Australia has had - I won't attempt to adjudicate on that issue, I simply make the observation that his leadership lifted Australian cricket and strengthened Australian cricket in a quite special way. And he, as have predecessor and following captains made an enormous contribution as the captain of the Australian cricket team. I think that was part of it. I think another element of it was that Steve's life and his participation in cricket and his playing of cricket marked him as a person of extraordinary application and resilience.
As the book recounts and so many of us remember following his remarkable cricketing career, he did suffer a lot of disappointment. There were occasions when he suffered severe reversals. He had to change his technique. He had to draw on greater reserves of concentration and resilience. The special thing was that he was able to do so and he was able to fight his way back.
I think another feature of the reason for such public affection and esteem for Steve was that he had genuine love of the game - not just when he was participating and when he was participating successfully, but he has an enormous respect for the traditions of the game. And he had an enormous respect for the particular tradition of Australian cricket - it wasn't just cricket but it was cricket as played and as loved and as embraced by Australians. And nothing epitomised that affection more than of course his great love for the baggy green and insistence on wearing what must be the most tattered, soiled, battered but certainly well revered baggy green in all of the recorded history of Australian cricket. And not surprisingly it appears on the dustcover of this remarkable book.
And I think the fourth thing that people respected in Steve and liked about him was that despite his extraordinary success and despite all of the accolades that came his way, he was to use that quintessential Australian expression, he was a great family man. And that's illustrated here today, surrounded by his wife and children, and I was very touched as many of you will be by the extract from the book which appears at the front, when he says of all my achievements nothing matches the feeling of returning home to my family and the sight of you guys running up the hallway trying to be the first to jump into my arms. Any of us know that that still is more important than any success that might come our way, and Steve said it for all of us, whatever our pursuits, callings, backgrounds and preoccupations may be.
There are some wonderful human touches and some wonderful reminders of the character of the man. I was particularly struck as having as a young boy gone through precisely the same experience as the reference to his mother picking up the ringing phone on Saturday morning and saying, 'oh what a shame I'll tell the boys', meaning that the game had been washed out because it was too wet to play. I was struck by his great discipline and foresight when he committed that $15,000 he received from the first three-year loyalty contract from PBL to the block of land on which he subsequently built his family home.
I've been privileged over the years to witness some great sporting events. I don't think any was greater, for not only the skill that he displayed, but also the timing and the emotion and the sense of personal involvement of over 40,000 people than his wonderful century achieved the last over, the last ball of the final Test against England in January of 2003. It was a wonderful day and I know that as I've gone around talking to people since, it must really have been 80,000 present rather than 41,000 because in different ways everybody claimed to be part of that. And doesn't that always happen with great sporting events in our country that you find over the years that there were in fact more people claiming to have been there than in reality were there, and that is a measure of the importance of the event.
Steve Waugh has been a wonderful ambassador for the game. His commitment to helping the less privileged in our community, the work he's done with the series of trusts on the subcontinent, the reverence in which his name is spoken, with which his name is spoken on the subcontinent is a tribute to all of that.
He loves writing and that is obvious from reading his book. And to have some of his manuscripts on display, it's hard going doing it by long hand but he joins a lot of honoured company, one of the greatest recent biographies of Winston Churchill by Roy Jenkins was written long hand and it's an honoured custom amongst many people.
I also want finally to say that Steve in his 12 months as Australian of the Year, wonderfully represented not only the career that he had given to Australia, but also he represented the aspirations of our community in so many ways. I'm delighted to launch this biography... this autobiography, I'm sure it will do well, it's a good read. It's not only a good read for cricket lovers, but it's also a good read for people who wish to either receive insights into the success of somebody who grew up in a close family environment, somebody who wasn't born with all of the comforts of life, certainly not, but he was born into a family that cared for him. He married his childhood sweetheart, they have a wonderful family and the gathering here today is testimony to not only the affection in which Steve Waugh is held by his immediate family, but also the regard in which he is held by the Australian community.
With no offence to any other sports in this country, there is something very special about being the captain of the Australian cricket team. It is the pinnacle of sporting esteem in Australia and Steve Waugh held that position with enormous success and enormous application and distinction. I thank him again for that and I wish him, his family and this book every success for the future, and have great pleasure launching it.
Thank you.
[ends]