Harry says children should be an 'upgrade' of their parents

The Duke of Sussex has combined two of his passions - mental health campaigning and sport - to kick off the second day of a brief Australia visit.

Prince Harry spoke passionately about his own experiences of becoming a dad - and trying to "upgrade" the parenting he had experienced as a child.

He then joined players from Australian Rules Football (AFL) team the Western Bulldogs for a quick lesson in how to play a game that dominates the Melbourne sports scene.

The Duke's wife, Meghan, was not at the event and has no scheduled public appearances on Wednesday - with a spokesperson for the Sussexes not responding to a BBC query about her plans.

The couple - no longer working royals and visiting in a private capacity - are combining visits to charitable causes with commercial ventures.

It is understood Meghan is exploring the Australian expansion of her As Ever lifestyle brand during the trip.

Later on Wednesday, the Duke will be in the capital, Canberra.

In Melbourne, Harry was special guest at the launch of a report into the mental health of fathers of young children, produced by the charity Movember.

After introducing himself with a "G'day everyone" and a brief reference to the Bulldogs' promising start to the season, the Duke talked openly about his own mental health after becoming a dad - with references to his father, King Charles III.

"The world around us has changed massively, so there is no version of where parenting is going to be the same as we experienced," he said.

"I see parenting evolving all the time. From my perspective, our kids are our upgrades.

"That's not how I was taught, but that was my take on it. Not to say I was an upgrade of my dad or that my kids are an upgrade of me.

"That's the approach that I take, to know that with the world the way that it goes, the kids that we bring up in today's world need to be an upgrade."

"Even if you had the best upbringing in the world, the best parenting in the world, there's still room for improvement," he added.

He also reiterated the importance of dads reaching out for help if they were struggling.

"For so many years it has been seen as a weakness to stick your hands up. I find it's the opposite. The more grief I get for talking about it , the more I want to stand up and talk about it. I know if I go quiet about it – what does that say to everyone else?"

Movember's Global Director of Research, Dr Zac Seidler, said it was "great" to have Harry help launch research that found one in five dads felt extremely isolated after having a child and that three in five fathers were not asked how they were going during the 12 months after having a baby.

"He's really passionate about this, it matters to him, and he told us real stories that he had experienced, stuff that he'd spoken about with his wife, with his therapist.

"He really just wanted to get to the heart of it and talk about advocating for change.

"Our report found was that over 70% of the guys that we spoke to said that they don't want to father like their fathers did, and I think Harry was just talking about this seismic intergenerational shift that we're all experiencing."

"We want to do things differently," Seidler added. "We want to learn from our fathers, whether it's mistakes or otherwise and really lean into what it means to be a dad today."

Nathan Appo, the first Indigenous Australian to be on the global board of Movember, said Harry was using his platform to "promote and empower people around the world and do the right things".

"It's hard not to be drawn to people like that," he added.

Appo, a Mamu man from Far North Queensland, acknowledged that many problems faced by First Nation Australians could be traced to the impact of British colonialism - something carried out in the name of the Duke's ancestors, more 250 years ago.

"As you travel around the world, connecting with Indigenous people to understand their history and what our people face regularly, the barriers that we face... and how that impacts on health is really important," he told the BBC.

"Building your knowledge to give you a good understanding of how you can change policy for the better is really important, and I think Harry is someone who does that."

Also in the audience were entertainers Lachlan Gillespie and John Pearce, best known for Australian children's entertainment sensation The Wiggles.

"I think what's important is he's here talking about men's health," Gillespie said.

"The Wiggles have always talked to children for 35 years that it's been going. And only more recently have we started a podcast to kind of reach-out-and-talk to parents, because we're all in the same boat."

The Duke, a keen rugby player in his youth, also tried has hand at AFL under the watchful eye of Bulldogs player Adam Treloar.

"It was cool to meet him," Treloar told the BBC

"He went alright, he was very keen on learning. I don't think we had enough time to really teach him, but he was super keen, asking how we hold the footy and where the laces go.

"It was pretty normal. We had a great conversation. One of the teammates that was with me has four pubs and was talking about his pubs and maybe coming down for a beer if he has some spare time, which obviously he doesn't, but it just seemed really genuine and authentic."