Shepparton boxer and plumber in floods chat with Prince William

The pair found themselves among only five people who chatted with Prince William on Zoom after he asked to talk to people about recent floods in Australia.

They were chosen after spending several days during the Shepparton floods in October last year taking food staples into flooded residents by canoe and then later dragging a punt through floodwater to get to them.

The fact they were chosen was so unbelievable to the pair that they thought someone was pranking them.

“I thought someone was having us on until we saw him,” Mr Arthur said.

“Why would the prince want to talk to two Shepp rats?”

Both men said the conversation was pretty casual and the prince was down-to-earth.

The pair set themselves up for the chat in front of a computer at the kitchen table at home.

They even cracked open a beer for the chat.

“It was like a normal conversation. We were at home and it was like talking to one of our mates,” Mr Cleave said.

“It was very easy and chill.

“He (Prince William) ran the conversation.”

The pair said the prince wanted to chat about the floods and what it was like at the town and how it was now.

The whole Zoom call with the prince himself was about 45 minutes, with the Shepparton pair chatting for about 15 minutes of that.

They were joined by a person from Orange in NSW, one from South Australia and another from the Kimberley in Western Australia.

“He (Prince William) said he gets more out of a simple Zoom call talking to people on the ground, than a visit,” Mr Arthur said.

The small number of people on the call also surprised the pair.

Mr Cleave said Greater Shepparton City Council nominated about six residents for the call, and they expected to be among 20 to 50 people taking part.

Mr Cleave and Mr Arthur’s nomination came after the News wrote a story about the pair during the floods.

Then on the day, Mr Cleave, who owns Shepparton Boxing Gym, and Mr Arthur, who is a roof plumber and part-owner of Admoor Plumbing, were told they would be representing all of Victoria.

“We talked about what happened in Shepparton when the floods were going on and how people were helping each other out,” Mr Cleave said.

“And he (Prince William) wanted to see how everyone was going after the floods.”

The pair admitted they were not monarchists, but said the chance to take part in this particular call was hard to knock back.

“We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say we spoke to the future king,” Mr Cleave said.

“I don’t really follow the royal family and didn’t realise it was that big of a deal until everyone said it was,” Mr Arthur said.

While neither of the men’s houses flooded, it was what they did to help other residents whose homes were hit by floodwater that led to them being chosen for the call.

Mr Cleave said they originally set out in a kayak on the Sunday after the Goulburn River flooded large parts of Shepparton.

He said initially it involved them going for a look around the flooded streets in The Boulevard Estate and taking bread and milk to people they knew there.

“Then word got out and we were going in and out for a few days,” Mr Cleave said.

“We did it just to have a look at first, but then we thought we can help a lot of people,” Mr Arthur said.

By the second day, the pair decided to use a small punt that Mr Arthur had so they could carry more items in.

Initially they had an electric motor but it went flat after 10 minutes.

The pair improvised and got their punt into the Goulburn River to float down into the estate loaded with food.

To get back out again, however, they jumped into the floodwater and dragged the punt with them.

“We spent three days walking through floodwater,” Mr Arthur said.

While the idea initially started with Mr Cleave and Mr Arthur, three of their mates got on board after the first day, with Kaiden Richards, Nicholas Hand and Michael Hand also lending a hand.

People also started donating money and goods to be taken in, including Conti’s Dairy, which donated the milk.