The Australian Hockey Association was constituted in 1925. Australia joined the International Hockey Federation in 1938, and competed in the Olympics for the first time in the 1956 Melbourne Games.
Many Anglo-Indians migrated to Australia after the independence and partition of India in 1947. The Pearce brothers, Eric, Julian, Mel and Gordon Pearce, migrated from Lucknow to Perth after independence, and have all represented Australia in the Olympics. Eric played in 1956, '60 and '64, Gordon played in 1956 and '60, Mel played in 1956, and Julian played in 1960 and '64. Eric's daughter Colleen continued the tradition, representing Australia in the women's competition in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
As of 2003, Australia has 94,000 hockey players registered in 850 hockey clubs. Hockey is played in 25% of the nation's schools. Australia has a total of 160 artificial surfaces for hockey! Each state has a talent pool of 30 players training in an academy or state sports institute. The best from these train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Perth.
Australia's men's hockey team has won the World Cup in hockey (1986), the Champions Trophy seven times (1983-85, 1989-90, 1993, 1999) and the Commonwealth Games the two times it was held (1998, 2002).
However, when it comes to the Olympics, the Australian men's hockey team suffers from the Curse of the Kookaburras. Between 1964 and 2000, Australia has been to the Olympic hockey semi-finals 8 times in 9 attempts, but has yet to win the Olympic gold. During that period, Australia won 3 silver medals (1968, 1976, 1992), 3 bronze medals (1964, 1996, 2000), and 2 fourth-place finishes (1984, 1988). For a nation that has produced world and Olympic champions in swimming, athletics, tennis, rugby and cricket, Australia has never won the Olympic hockey gold medal.
Australia was the first country to score more than 5 goals against India. The 1975 World Cup champions India, who had never conceded more than two goals to any country for 48 years, were thrashed 6-1 by Australia in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. This remains India's worst-ever defeat in the Olympics.
In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Australia was in devastating form, having conquered both India and Pakistan. However, in the Olympic hockey final, Kiwi goalkeeper Trevor Manning put up a sterling display, thwarting Australia's every move. He saved scorching penalty corner drives from Australia's James Irvine and Ian Cooke. In the dying moments of the fnal, Cooke's shot cracked Manning's kneecap, but the gallant goalkeeper stood his ground, and New Zealand triumphed by a solitary goal. New Zealand have never made it to the semi-finals of any Olympic tournament either before or after their Montreal Miracle.
Craig Davis of Australia has the unique record of having participated in the first 12 Champions Trophy tournaments. Mark Hager of Australia is the highest all-time goal-scorer in the Champions Trophy with a total of 32 goals.
Richard Charlesworth played 227 games for Australia during a 16-year international career, of which 130 games were as captain of the team. Medical doctor, first class cricketer, and Member of Parliament, this hockey genius represented Australia in 4 Olympics and 4 World Cups. Of all the highlights of Charlesworth's career, none stands out as much as his wonderful effort at the 1986 World Cup in London, where he captained his team, nicknamed Charlie's Angels, to Australia's only World Cup victory. Richard was the leading goal-scorer of the tournament, and was voted as the Player of the Tournament.
After his playing career, Charlesworth had a very successful stint as the coach of the Australian women's hockey team. The Hockeyroos under Charlesworth shattered the Holland-Germany duopoly in women's hockey, which had shared between them the first 7 Women's World Cups from 1974 (Mandelieu, France) to 1990 (Sydney, Australia). Charlesworth coached the Hockeyroos to two Olympic golds (1996, 2000), two World Cup titles (1994, 1998), 5 consecutive Champions Trophy titles and the Commonwealth Games title (1998) in a seven year stint.
The Australian Hockeyroos are the only women's team to have won the Grand Slam. The Australian women won the World Cup in Dublin in 1994, the Champions Trophy in Mar del Plata in 1995 and the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. They again repeated this feat by winning the World Cup in Utrecht in 1998, the Champions Trophy in Brisbane in 1999 and the Olympic gold medal in Sydney in 2000.