Eddie Thomson immigrated to Australia in 1963 with little more than a five-year painter and decorator apprenticeship under his belt.
He met Zeta, fell in love and got married not long after arriving. Their partnership, now 60 years’ strong, folded the Irishman into Zeta’s Yorta Yorta Aboriginal family and paved the way for music, community and advocacy to shape his life.
Their suburban home was known for its open house parties – full of extended family and Australian Indigenous and Black American luminaries seeking welcome and connection in Melbourne the 1960s and 70s.
“In those days, the hotels, everything closed at six o’clock, of course. So the weekends were about barbecues and parties,” Eddie recalls. “We were on half an acre, and it was just a sea of people.
“You’d come to our place, come and have a laugh and a good time and hear a couple of nice little songs or whatever. It was a great way to meet people.
“That’s how the Jackson Five, with a then-14-year-old Michael Jackson, spent time with the family – They were lovely.” – and Eddie also remembers showing American world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier and his entourage around the Dandenongs before a party – staying in contact with Joe’s trainer for years to come.
“Lionel Rose was the same when he won the boxing title… our house just became one of these focal points. Jimmy Little came out to the house and just sat there on the couch and sang all night.”
Zeta’s sisters also sang at those parties. Their story – an aboriginal all-girl group invited to sing for American troops during the Vietnam War – inspired the 2012 movie The Sapphires. It was originally written as a play by Zeta and Eddie’s nephew, Tony.
“I remember Tony said to me, Uncle, I want to put this character in and it’s you. I said, Yeah, whatever, Tony. We really didn’t think anything was going to happen.”
“There’s a line in the Sapphires movie, the girls come up and say, We’re going to Uncle Eddie’s house, and of course it was a party happening,” he chuckles. “And towards the end of the movie, the Irish fella he goes to get permission from the father to get married [like I did], so it was okay.”
Family, community and contribution
Family has always been central to Eddie’s life. Growing up in Belfast, he was surrounded by cousins, aunts and uncles, regular gatherings, singing and “lots of laughter and craic.” That familiarity was there in Zeta’s family gatherings – and it’s a sense of belonging that has shaped a lifetime of community work and volunteering.
It wasn’t just the famous being hosted at those parties, but people who helped shape organisations, and an extended family that’s been instrumental in changing the health service, legal service, and education, particularly for Aboriginal people.
Eddie volunteered for a decade at Eastern Health’s Maroondah Hospital after retiring: “I think we did things that the staff would love to do but didn’t have the time,” he says. He’d get tea, coffee, blankets – and take the time to listen. “I’ve always known it doesn’t take a lot, and it can mean such a lot to the recipient.”
That skill for listening helped him connect with students when he was CEO of an Aboriginal college in Healesville. “A lot of our kids, they had problems and what have you, but it was probably the most rewarding job that I’ve ever had. All they needed quite often was just somebody to listen to them.”
Eddie’s now a healthcare consumer advocate with Care Connect, adding his voice to help strengthen our services. “As a consumer, I want you to be good at your job and productive, because selfishly I will get more out of it. You’ll be able to look after me better,” he says.
He values the opportunity to contribute and the commitment he sees in staff across Care Connect. “I’ve been listened to,” he says. “My decisions made me feel I was part of the change.”
Being part of change has been Eddie’s life story. He’s captured his experiences and memories in poetry and reflections – two books, with a third on the way – for his three children and ten grandchildren, preserving the people who’ve shaped him and the values that have guided him from Belfast to his adopted homeland.
Reflecting on his volunteering, he says: “The more I do, the more I see there is to do… So I don’t understand when people say, Oh, I’m bored. Not everybody wants to volunteer in a hospital, but there are a lot of other things. Believe me, you’ll get so much out of it.”
“By giving, you get more back,” he says.
Be part of the conversation like Eddie. We’d love to hear your story too. Get in touch at marketing@careconnect.org.au
Poem – Father and Son
I watch you sitting there, you haven’t said a word
Yet I can tell you are close,
Are you men of the land?
I think so and yet, your are typical of so many,
You sit in silence, and still the communication is there.
You, the son, are the more animated
Obvious is the joy in your face,
Because you are sharing this time with your father,
And you, the father, did you insist that your son share this evening with you?
Or did you have no choice?
The reason is not important,
The thing that matters is that the two of you are together
Cherish these moments for they are too few.