00:01There were plenty of dignitaries but despite that it felt like a very intimate service
00:06despite there being around 2,000 people at the Sydney Opera House.
00:11Now the service started with a photo montage of photos of Professor Scalia when he was
00:16growing up in Launceston in Tasmania as a child, throughout high school, university
00:21and also with his colleagues and with the various organisations that he was associated with.
00:26The mourners were encouraged to laugh and clap during some of the speeches.
00:30Now we did hear from the Governor-General Samantha Mostyn, the New South Wales Premier Chris Minns
00:34and the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said Richard Scalia was one of the country's brightest stars.
00:40At one point we also read out notes from current and former cancer patients
00:45who said they've been personally touched by Professor Scalia's story.
00:49We also heard from his childhood best friend of 40 years growing up, Jim Finlay.
00:54They grew up together in Launceston in Tasmania and he recounted various childhood stories
01:00throughout high school and university, how he dabbled in sport which eventually became a devotion for him
01:07and also his questionable taste in fashion.
01:10We also heard from his wife, Dr Katie Nicholl and also his three children who recalled some very touching personal
01:17stories.
01:18Here's a little of what they said earlier.
01:20Rich had a massive problem convincing people he was a doctor with his...
01:25You've seen the photos, his bleach blonde hair, deep tan, yes tan, it was the 80s, good looks.
01:33So what he would do, he would make up another occupation because no one would believe him.
01:37So this one particular night we were out on the Gold Coast, walked up to these two lovely young ladies
01:42and introduced myself as Rich the Dolphin Trainer from SeaWorld.
01:50Well normally, normally that would be a pretty good ruse and would get conversations started
01:55but he picked the wrong target this particular night because these two young ladies were water skiers from SeaWorld Water
02:01Bar.
02:01And they said, we haven't seen you before Rich, what's going on?
02:06So they quickly disappeared off into the night, never to be seen again.
02:09It didn't matter to Rich who someone was, their background or even if it might embarrass his kids.
02:16He just had an amazing ability to walk up, say hi and start a conversation.
02:24I think Rich pretty much applied this approach to everything in his life.
02:29It was always worth having a go.
02:32Now Victoria, we know that Richard touched many lives, not just with the work,
02:36the extraordinary work that he did on melanoma, but also what he did with his experimental treatment with brain cancer.
02:43What was discussed today about the legacy that he'll be leaving?
02:48Well look, we heard a lot about Richard Scullier's legacy, not only his personal legacy that he leaves behind,
02:54that he had an infectious zest for life and that he treated everyone as a friend
02:59and that he was clever and funny as we heard from his friend and his wife,
03:04but also his work in the cancer research space.
03:06We heard that at one point he was a world's leading researcher in melanoma.
03:10Now in 2024, he won, jointly won Australian of the Year with Dr Georgina Long for his work applying immunotherapy
03:17to melanoma.
03:19But a year before that in 2023, he had himself been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer
03:24and decided to essentially become patient zero and apply his own immunotherapy work to his illness.
03:30Now it's unclear if his work in that space extended his life,
03:35but it gave hope, undoubtedly gave hope to countless other cancer patients out there.
03:39Now before he died, he released a statement where he recounted his work in this space,
03:46but explained that he wanted to be, at the end of the day, remembered as an everyday Aussie,
03:50who just gave it a crack.
03:53Victoria Pengilly at the Opera House, thank you so much.
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