The History of Australian Bodybuilding

[MuscleMecca Crew]

Bodybuilding in Australia has been in existence since the 1940s. The first significant national bodybuilding contest was held in Australia in 1947. And ever since then, bodybuilding has continued to thrive. Over the years, bodybuilding in Australia has evolved from being dominated by men to being open to female bodybuilders too.

Australia has been able to produce bodybuilders that can carve a name for themselves and their country in their niche for example Lee Priest.

Australia has also hosted some historically prestigious bodybuilding events like the IFBB Mr Olympia with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the winner.

Today, Australia has various governing bodies that promote and oversee competitions. Some of their contributions to the bodybuilding industry includes testing athletes for drugs and enforcing bans for anti-doping violations. And ever since, they've been doing tremendously well at it.

The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in Australia was the national bodybuilding competition. Promoters like Fred Vella played a high role in the introduction of annual events which would prompt the development of competitive bodybuilding in Australia.

During the early times of bodybuilding in Australia, only men dominated the bodybuilding scene however, not long after, females started to enter the bodybuilding scene, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. That was around the time that female bodybuilding became full-blown all over the world. Women then had greater appearances than men in bodybuilding competitions in Australia.

Male Australian bodybuilders notwithstanding, are performing excellently in the international space such as the NABBA Mr Universe. In 2013, Lee Priest, an Australian, won the overall Mr Universe title.

Female bodybuilders are also doing their best in the international space. However, due to the nature of female bodybuilding, not too much is known or said about Australian female bodybuilders.

But there was one Australian female bodybuilder whose accomplishment cannot be easily forgotten. Her name is Bev Francis and she participated in Ms Olympia during the 1980s and early 1990s. She was not allowed to display her full potential because the judges considered her too muscular. The story was explained in detail in the movie, Pumping Iron II: The Women.

In 1980, the IFBB Mr Olympia competition was held in Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. The competition was hosted by Paul Graham and it was won by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bodybuilding Governance in Australia​

Different competing organisations in Australia govern bodybuilding events. Some of them are closely related to a bigger International organisation.

The advent of Australian bodybuilding saw individual promoters produce events. Individual promoters will go out of their way to organize and produce bodybuilding events.

However, over time, these promoters came together to form alliances and affiliations with each other to create associations. An example of such alliances is the United Bodybuilders of Australia and Rocco Oppedisano's Pacific Bodybuilding. In Australia, different governing bodies are promoting competitions. Check them out below:

• AND
• IFBB
• INBA
• Musclemania
• NABBA
• WBFF
• WFF
• WNBF

The Mr Australia Contest​

The Australian Championships formerly known as the Mr Australia contest is a bodybuilding event that was organised for men and women by the World fitness federation of Australia(WFF). It includes different activities like fitness, bikini, figure and sports model competitions. The Australian championships serve as a qualifier for international bodybuilding events.

The Mr Australia contest started in 1947. From that time till 1958, it was organised by different promoters so it wasn't yet a regular event. However, it became a regular event in 1958. There were different promoters in each state and they were all mindful not to host more than one contest every year so that others can promote theirs too.

AMATEUR MR AUSTRALIA​
Year, Overall Winner​	State or Territory​
1947, Bob Human	South Australia
1951, Gordon Nutter	Victoria
1953, Edward Eric Merta	Victoria
1954, John Penman	New South Wales
1955, Les Griffiths	New South Wales
1956, Charlie Sharhan	New South Wales
1958, Joseph Ceasar	Victoria
1959, Tom Lardner	South Australia
1960, Victor Vella	New South Wales
1961, Victor Vella	New South Wales
1962, Victor Vella	New South Wales
1963, Les Griffiths	New South Wales
1964, Chim Leong	Victoria
1965, Les Spendlove	New South Wales
1966, Carlo Zumbo	New South Wales
1967, Victor Vella	New South Wales
1968, Carlo Zumbo	New South Wales
1969, Carlo Zumbo	New South Wales

1970, Carlo Zumbo	New South Wales
1971, Peter McCarthy	Victoria
1972, Frank Colombera	Western Australia
1973, Roger Walker	New South Wales
1974, Ted Matoush	New South Wales
1975, Roger Walker	New South Wales
1976, Billy Robertson	Western Australia
1977, Ivan Djirlic	New South Wales
1978, Graeme Lancefield	Victoria
1979, Peter Lindsay	Victoria
1980, Richard Jonker	Queensland
1981, Billy Knight	New South Wales
1982, Billy Knight	New South Wales
1983, Klem Ziegler	Tasmania
1984, Richard Hargreaves	New South Wales
1985, Gary Lewer	Victoria
1986, Sammy Ioannidis	Victoria
1987, Gary Lewer	Victoria
1988, Gary Lewer	Victoria
1989, Gary Lewer	Victoria

1990, Bruce Leong	Northern Territory
1991, Gary Tchernakoff	Western Australia
1992, Kevin O'Grady	New South Wales
1993, Grant Clemasha	Western Australia
1994, Grant Clemasha	Western Australia
1995, Grant Clemasha	Western Australia
1996, Colin Murphy	New South Wales
1997, Grant Mayo	New South Wales
1998, Charles Duca	New South Wales
1999, Tony Loiacono	Western Australia
2000, Nick Jones	Southern Australia
2001, Lee Newman	Queensland
2002, Nick Jones	South Australia
2003, Mark McEntyre	New South Wales
2004, Scott Burgess	Queensland
2005, Adam Fell	South Australia
2006, Charles Duca	New South Wales
2007, Darren Smith	Tasmania
2008, Justin Wessels	New South Wales
2009, Justin Wessells	New South Wales

2010, Justin Wessells	New South Wales
2011, Abraham Elzaibak	Victoria
2012, Frank Ciampino	Victoria
2013, Matt Smedly	South Australia
2014, Michael Dittmann	Victoria
2015, David Cutler	Queensland
2016, Milton DeFreitas	Western Australia
2017, Justin Wessells	New South Wales
2018, Paul Jayilan	Victoria
2019, Al pope	Victoria
2020,
2021,
2022, Cameron George	Queensland

Prominent Australian Bodybuilders​

Australia has been able to produce many amazing bodybuilders that have made a name for themselves both locally and internationally. Check out some of them below:

1. Aziz Shavershian​

Aziz Shavershian was born on 24 March 1989 and he died on 5 August 2011. He was also known as Zyzz, the father of aesthetics. Before Aziz died, he was a bodybuilder, a personal trainer and a model. He started posting his working out videos on youtube in 2007 and by 2008, he had already had thousands of followers.

He had a good life before his death. He had already published a book on bodybuilding, he owned a protein label called protein of the gods.

Although he didn't enter any bodybuilding competition, he's still regarded as one of the bodybuilders in Australia. He died due to a heart attack

1. Lee Priest​

Lee Priest is an Australian bodybuilder born on the 6th of July 1972. He is also known as the blond myth. He is the first man to host the Lee Priest Classic Australia in 2015. He competed and won in the Mr Australia competition at ages 16, 17,18 and 19.

Lee Priest was able to get his Pro Card at age 20 which made him one of the youngest bodybuilders to get a pro card. Also, he won the NABBA Mr Universe Title in 2013.

Lee has had so much achievement in the bodybuilding industry that you'd think impossible because of his height. Lee Priest's height is 5ft 4in. He is one of the shortest bodybuilders in the bodybuilding industry worldwide.

1. Harry Haureliuk​

Harry George Haureliuk was an Australian professional bodybuilder. He was born on 24 May 1947 and he died on 20 August 2017. He was the first Australian bodybuilder to be inducted into the International Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. No other bodybuilder under the INBA has been able to compete at that stage.

Harry competed in both local and international competitions. He won many competitions during his lifetime including the Mr Universe and Mr Olympia competitions. Harry is a six-time Olympia champion, four-time Mr universe, and two Mr World titles. He achieved all this just within a period of 15 years(1999-2013).

On top of all his awards, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in bodybuilding. Harry was the first competitor to compete in international bodybuilding shows for 15 years

Harry retired from bodybuilding in 2013 after he shifted his passion to powerlifting which was introduced to him by his old students.

1. Billy Simmonds​

Billy Simmonds is an Australian bodybuilder who is the winner of the 2009 INBBA Mr Universe title.

Going contrary to the popular belief that a bodybuilder has to eat more meat and dairy, Billy has proven that Vegan bodybuilding is possible.

In 2014, Billy Simmonds was classified among the natural bodybuilders in Australia, he was tested by the World Anti-Doping Authority.

On a final note;​

This article has explored information about bodybuilders in Australia, the history of bodybuilding, the amateur Australia competition and their winners.

Australia has been able to produce fine bodybuilders that made a mark in both local and international bodybuilding spaces. Australian bodybuilders have a lot of potential and the world is awaiting more contributions and impact from them.