Charles Michael "Chilla" Porter (11 January 193615 August 2020) was an Australian athlete and political figure. He won a silver medal in the high jump at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He later served as general secretary of the

Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division) The Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division), branded as Liberal Western Australia, is the division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Western Australia. Founded in March 1949 as the Liberal and Country League of Western Austr ...

from 1978 to 1987.

Early life

Porter was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, the son of Charles Robert Porter who was a Queensland state Liberal MP between 1966 and 1980 and served in the ministry of

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

. He was educated at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Q ...

Athletics

Porter was a high jumper who utilized the

straddle technique The straddle technique was the dominant style in the high jump before the development of the Fosbury Flop. It is a successor of the Western roll, with which it is sometimes confused. Unlike the scissors or flop style of jump, where the jumper ...

, the dominant high jump technique before the Fosbury Flop emerged in the 1960s. At the age of 19, Porter competed for Australia in the high jump at the

held in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, finishing second and taking the silver medal with a leap height of 2.10m, more than 5 cm higher than his previous personal best. American

Charles Dumas Charles Everett "Charlie" Dumas (February 12, 1937 – January 5, 2004) was an American high jumper, the 1956 Olympic champion, and the first person to clear 7 ft.(2.13 m) While attending Compton College, near Los Angeles, D ...

won the gold medal, setting an Olympic record of 2.12m, higher than the previous Olympic best by 7 cm. The event was known for lasting more than five hours and continuing well into dusk in front of 60,000 fans at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

, and was the longest field event in Olympic history. The Australian media heavily covered the event, including the television station

GTV9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

, which had just recently begun transmitting. He also won silver medals in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, UK, with a height 2.03m, and in the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia with a height of 2.08m. Between 1955 and 1961, he won seven straight Australian high jump titles and held the national record for six years. He was the first Australian high jump athlete to clear the height of 2.10m.

Post-athletics career

Porter moved to

in the early 1960s where he married Nerida Chater. He worked for the

as a divisional field officer in the seats of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

and

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

. He subsequently became a senior field officer and then was appointed general secretary (equivalent to the modern position of state director) in 1978. After a series of electoral defeats he resigned in April 1987 and worked as director of a marketing agency. Porter returned to the Liberal Party as chair of the state campaign committee from 1994 to 1996. Porter was appointed chairman of the

Western Australian Institute of Sport The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. Previously, if elite athletes from Western Australian needed to train or ...

(WAIS) in 1995 by the state Liberal government. He held the position only until 1996 but was "instrumental in WAIS developing a new purpose-built facility at

Challenge Stadium Perth Superdrome, known as HBF Stadium under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. It is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Cl ...

". Over the same period, Porter was director of Controlled Marketing, a fundraising firm that managed fundraising for several charities in Western Australia, as well as fundraising for the Liberal Party. The company was criticized for the amount of money that was distributed to the charities after fundraising costs were deducted. In addition to fundraising, Controlled Marketing was also involved in pre-election push polling. Porter was inducted into the

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered ...

Hall of Fame in 2011.

Personal life and death

His son

Christian Porter Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Me ...

was the Liberal member for

Pearce Pearce may refer to: Places *Pearce, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb *Division of Pearce, an electoral division in Western Australia *Pearce, Arizona, United States, an unincorporated community *RAAF Base Pearce, the main Royal Australian Ai ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

. Porter died on 15 August 2020, after a long battle with cancer. He was 84.

References

External links

Olympic medal

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Chilla 1936 births 2020 deaths Australian male high jumpers Olympic silver medalists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes from Brisbane Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Liberal Party of Australia Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Queensland Australian Athletics Championships winners