Description

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The author's family heritage is traced back to convict stock with the mother's side Irish and the father's English. Tasi was born on a remote Bass Strait Island at the end of the great depression and before the initiation of World War Two, virtually living off the land with little schooling. Mother nature and necessity was his education. On horseback with a gun in hand, trapping, fishing and hunting, while mainly dairy farming with his father and two elder siblings was the norm. Amidst the conveniences of today, Tasi never experienced electricity or even riding in a car, and all this within the first ten years of his life. The author was always going to be a soldier with his families' military history detailing ten members, which involved service in World War One and World War Two. He was the only member that joined during peace time though his military service, which covered almost twenty-six years, included overseas involvement in the warring campaign of The Malayan Emergency and two tours of Viet Nam. Tasi's post-military service included involvement in the 100th anniversary (2018) of the battles on the Western Front with a presentation to the Mayor of Montbrehain, France (the village reclaimed in General Monash's last conflict of World War One utilising the Australian Imperial Forces), Dawn Services at both Gallipoli, Turkey and Villers Bretonneux, France, which upon invitation, included a wreath-laying ceremony at Menin Gate, Ypres Belgium on behalf of Australia. Interlaced within this is the author's rugby career over forty years, in both service and civilian capacity. The book details the many stories of his involvement as a player, captain, and captain/coach of local and representative military rugby in both the northern and southern hemispheres. This then transpired into a tenure of involvement within Queensland Rugby Union. Insightfully at another layer Tasi also shares the creation and his Australian involvement with the development of the Veterans and Golden Oldies Rugby movement up to an international level. The travelling experience of the author covers six continents with much of it being rugby-related though also covers numerous other sporting experiences. It involves some of the world's great and renowned sporting identities with Tasi being entertained by some. This book is factual, historical, political, sporting, humorous and sad, which reaches out to an age group from the 1930s into the twenty-first century.