Almanac Life: The amazing tale of the Eagle and Hawk, his dad, his friend the former Giant and Docker, Tenacious Jack, the Archibald artist, my Dad and the Willie Wagtail. (Fathers’ Day – Part II)

 

Twelve months ago this week my Dad, Ray, passed away. He was 97 but he had lived at his home in Perth until the last couple of weeks of his life.

 

I have mentioned him before on these pages, most notably in the context of my piece Father’s Day which reflected on aspects of the premiership winning year of the West Coast Eagles in 2018. This was included in the 2018 Eagles Almanac– Friends, family, flags – published by Malarkey Publications, the creator and protector of this wonderful site, and edited by John Harms and Mandy Johnson.

 

Somewhat unexpectedly, that edition of the Almanac received a glowing review in the Perth Sunday Times newspaper by a famous journalist whom I had long admired. Tony Barrass wrote the piece Fanaticals – Eagle fans have their say on the flag that changed lives in The Sunday Times of January 13th, 2019. More on that later.

 

Twelve months ago, late in April 2024, I was called back to Perth. My dad had held off the worst effects of a fight with metastatic prostate cancer but had now been moved from home into palliative care. It was clear that he did not have much longer with us.

 

I spent a last weekend with him in Perth. It was Round 6 of the AFL which included a Western Derby, and the Eagles – universally written off – turned on a stunning performance and smashed the much-fancied Dockers by 37 points. Tom Barrass was outstanding and led all players with 11 marks on the night. The win, and our shared pleasure at how surprising and wonderful it had been, was one of the last things I talked about with my dad. So trivial. So important.

 

I offered to read him some of his favourite poems and he asked for one of the old favourites (that I had referenced in Father’s Day) – Horatio at the Bridge by Thomas Macaulay. With some difficulty I read the memorable lines;

 

Then out spake brave Horatius,

The Captain of the gate:

“To every man upon this earth

Death cometh soon or late.

And how can man die better

Than facing fearful odds,

For the ashes of his fathers,

And the temples of his Gods”

 

On one of those warm and sunny Perth autumn days last May, we farewelled Ray with words and music at his church, and at Karrakatta Cemetery.

 

The next day I went with my son Samuel to Dad’s home where he had lived for 60 years up until he had gone into palliative care. As we went up the front steps, a little willie wagtail jumped up and began fluttering and flittering around us. It came up onto the front verandah, stood on the steps and flew close to us. It followed us around, flying up and hovering near us. I had never seen such a bird in all the years I had lived or visited the house and certainly had never seen one behaving like this. When we came out of the house it was still there, and it jumped up on the bins and then onto the hood of a car as we went to leave. I was so amazed at this unprecedented behaviour that I began to feel there was some connection with my Dad, and took some photos of the little guy. It was still there the next day and for the days after until I headed back to Melbourne. My son saw it and we talked about it with my brother and his wife. I suggested it seemed like Dad was trying to tell us he was OK. In the circumstances of overwhelming grief, that perception offered a measure of comfort and solace. But having said it, I felt a bit silly. It was, after all, just a bird in a garden.

 

The willie wagtail at my father’s house

 

 

 

But when I got home I did some research about the willie wagtail and I was taken aback to read:

 

Willie Wagtails are at home not only in Australia but also in parts of New Guinea, where folklore believes that they are the ghost of relatives and bring good luck. Some Aboriginal tribes in Australia, on the other hand, are a little more apprehensive towards the chatty little bird. Believed to be a gossiper who eavesdropped around the camps, people would be cautious to tell any personal secrets in the presence of a Willie Wagtail. In the Kimberley in Western Australia, legend has it that the birds would tell the spirit of the dead if anyone spoke badly of them.

 

I also found this from Yankunytjatjara woman Ali Cobby Eckerman in her 2020 essay Grandmothers’ law should never be broken:

 

Many Aboriginal people know the willie wagtail bird as the messenger bird. This small black-and-white-feathered fantail is often known to bring news when loved ones have died. I saw it once relentlessly flying against a window- pane to gain attention, minutes before the phone call arrived, confirming a family member had died. I used to chase them away. My grandmother and her cousin-sisters would sing to them, inviting them to join us, laughing at my nervousness. I learned that these birds also bring good news, and are guardians.

 

So was this really a message from my Dad? It was nice to think so, but the travails of life soon took over once again and I put the strange event behind me. Until I started noticing other strange stories in the press.

 

In August 2024, a story by Kellie Balaam appeared in The West Australian about talented Perth artist and Archibald prize finalist Melissa Clements. She wrote this about Ms Clements’ Archibald entry:

 

Her tiny self-portrait painting titled My Grandfather Died Today captured Ms Clements on the day she found out her grandad passed away.

 

“On the day he passed I didn’t know but I knew he wasn’t well, I was painting when a willie wagtail came into my studio. I looked up and said ‘Is that you?’”

 

“It flew around my head three times then went outside.”

 

In Noongar culture, the willie wagtail represents a messenger and lets people know when a loved one will soon pass.

 

Ms Clements’ dad called minutes later to bear the sad news.

 

Given the first nations peoples’ tradition, presumably observed from the occurrence of many similar such happenings, I thought this was a stunning coincidence with my own recent experience with the wagtail.

 

And then, a couple of weeks ago, I returned to Perth after some time away to work, as executor, on my father’s estate. On the plane on the way home I read another story in The Sunday Times by Hannah Cross (13^th April 2025) about Jack Dunn, a 16-year-old boy from Padbury who had, whilst doing work experience in December 2002, got caught in a fire on a farm at Eneabba and suffered severe burns to 95% of his body. He had been treated by Dr Fiona Woods and her team at RPH who had just then come to notice for their amazing work treating survivors of the Bali bombing. Hannah described a fight for life by Jack which stunned his treaters and his family with its tenacity and courage. But in the end, sadly, he succumbed to an infection in January 2003.

 

Hannah Cross describes what happened next;

 

Soon after Mr Dunn was at the church grounds across the road from RPH when he pulled from his pocket one of many cards of encouragement given to Jack. On it was a picture of a willie wagtail.

 

“I opened up this card, and it was from a school teacher, and she said to Jack, ‘you’re as tenacious as a willie wagtail,” he said.

 

“We were sitting there, Helen and I, and then a wagtail landed on my toe as I was reading the card. And the willie wagtail’s never left us. I’d be driving along, pull up to a set of traffic lights, and a willie wagtail would land on my mirror. It’s never left me alone. And that was a lot of reassurance for me, that little wagtail.”

 

It became a symbol for Jack, his tenacious spirit and the enduring legacy his family has since carved out for him through Jack the Wagtail.

 

“Through Jack’s journey in hospital, we found out there was no money for burns research,” Mr Dunn said. It astounded him, so he and friend Glenn Buck, then-deputy principal at Marmion Primary School, got to work. “With the friendship of Glenn Buck and his tenacious spirit as well, we formed Jack the Wagtail,” Mr Dunn said.

 

The Jack the Wagtail Challenge is an obstacle course undertaken by the students, who fundraise for the Fiona Wood Foundation. They also learn about burns first aid and prevention through the year.

 

Two decades later, Jack the Wagtail is enshrined in the school’s charter, and every principal since has ensured Jack the Wagtail continues to soar.

 

“The day we started Jack the Wagtail . . . when (Fiona Wood) got up here to speak, a willie wagtail flew into the assembly, and (she) said, ‘Well, Jack’s here,’” Mr Buck said. “It blows me away that it’s still going.”

 

To date, the students have raised $270,000 for the Fiona Wood Foundation.

 

I sat back at 30,000 feet, stunned, and could not believe yet another story about willie wagtails appearing to relatives as, or soon after, a loved relative had passed away.

 

Not just any bird and not just any time. The same bird that had appeared often enough for indigenous people who were open to trying to make sense of the natural world around them, in Australia and New Guinea, to believe they connected them to those who had died.

 

Amazing. But there was more to come. Back to Tony Barrass.

 

Within the space of three weeks in 2018,  two members of the Barrass family received distinguished awards. Tom was the full-back for the West Coast Eagles and he received a premiership medal when the team won the 2018 AFL Grand Final. A few weeks later, Tom’s father Tony won the Arthur Lovekin prize for excellence in journalism.

 

Tony Barrass was one of the finest journalists to work on The West Australian and Sunday Times newspapers. Not just because he dug deeply into the stories he wrote but also because of the way he wrote them. When you read a story under his byline it was like being let into a secret that he was sharing with you personally and each word was carefully chosen to produce the story told the way he wanted.

 

I was an avid reader of the local newspapers when I was living and working in Perth, so was very familiar with Tony’s work.

 

Then he grabbed everyone’s attention, not just by writing about principles, but by living them. Tony received confidential information from within the tax office concerning notorious Perth businessman and racing identity, Laurie Connell, and wrote a story about the lack of proper security in the tax office. In March 1989 he was asked in court to reveal the source for his story and he refused. Tony chose to abide by the journalist’s sacred ethical creed and, even when threatened with contempt of court, chose to stay silent. In December he was jailed for seven days on the charge of contempt, becoming the first Australian journalist to be jailed for refusing to reveal a source.

 

Writing about it in Crikey in 2013, Tony reflected:

 

…it’s about fighting for the most important principle on which the very best journalism comfortably sits: trust. Relatively small word, bloody big meaning. It was hammered into me from an early age by my dad, Tom, a life member of the then Australian Journalists’ Association, that you always went about your job “without fear or favour” and you never, ever, gave up a source. The trust between reporter and contact was as sacrosanct as that between confessor and priest. The fear or favour bit was often hard, particularly if you practised your journalism in small cities where you tended to be well-connected after a few short years.

 

When the West Coast Eagles won the 2018 Grand Final and Tony’s son Tom received his medal, I  wrote that piece about the Eagles’s season and the grand final for the Footy Almanac. I called it Father’s Day because it celebrated the role that fatherhood played in the success of the 2018 Eagles and because it reflected events in my own family.

 

In his review, Tony Barrass was kind enough to say some very nice things about my contribution and I felt so thrilled and honoured to have been mentioned by someone I had so long admired as a wonderful writer and a man of great principle.

 

He wrote;

 

[John Gordon’s]  Father’s Day piece beautifully chronicles the sheer joy footy can bring to those who love the game — in his case, a daughter travelling in Italy, a ‘thrilled’ 92-year-old father in Perth whose ‘body is letting him down a bit’, and a loving son he sat next to at the ’G on ‘that wonderful, magical day’.

 

I will not spoil it, but here is a tip; The Eagles Almanac is worth the price of that piece alone.

 

Tony, himself, reflecting on the grand final, a day his partner (and Tom’s mum) Danielle Benda, said was one of the greatest of his life, also wrote his own moving tribute to his son’s achievement in The West Australian in 2018:

 

(“More than a game for family, friends after years of pain and pride”):

 

Tom’s story, in a way, is no different to anyone else’s. These are not extraordinary young men. They are just normal young men doing extraordinary things. Every parent wants to see their child succeed, be they tradie, truckie or tall timber down the backline. And every dad can only dream about their boy playing in a grand final at the ’G. And now he’s a premiership player, along with his wonderful teammates. It hasn’t happened overnight. Every single one of them has climbed a mountain of pain and faced many years of adversity, and as a reward will remember this until their last breath.

 

Who said it’s only a game?

 

Then, tragically, at just 58 years of age, Tony Barrass was struck with throat cancer and passed away in 2021. I, like everyone, was shocked at the news about a man who had always seemed so full of life and joy and hope, and my heart went out to Tony’s family – Danielle, Tom and his two siblings. Tom wrote movingly:

 

‘Rest In Peace to my beautiful father Tony Barrass. I do miss him, and I wish I had him to talk to and give me some fatherly advice. Because you do need that. There’s all these weird, crazy experiences and concepts that you just don’t know about before you have a kid and I’d love to pick his brains about some of them. There is only one man I trust to gracefully put into words the extent of my love and gratitude for my dad and his teachings, but unfortunately he has put down his pen’.

 

‘Love you and miss you mate’.

 

In 2022, showing a remarkable strength of character and, perhaps, a shot of inspiration to honour Tony’s legacy, Tom won the John Worsfold medal as the fairest and best player in the West Coast Eagles.

 

When I got along to Eagles captain’s runs in Melbourne, I would always notice Tom was one of the last onto the team bus, making sure that every request for a selfie or a signature was honoured despite team managers wanting to get everyone moving. When the team was honoured with a Wurundjeri welcome to country and smoking ceremony at North Port Oval, on their first visit to Melbourne in 2024, Tom and Jeremy McGovern were the first to have their boots off to respect the tradition of not treading heavily on the land until welcomed.

 

There was more pain in store, however, when, in May 2024, Tom’s very close friend, and former Giants and Dockers player Cam McCarthy, then age 29, was found unresponsive at a property south of Perth. Tom Barrass posted a wonderful tribute to Cam – whom he called his Universal Brother (UB) – on Instagram;

 

Last week, this earth lost a beautiful man named Cameron McCarthy. A man who wasn’t concerned with money or power, instead creativity and experience. A man who approached all things with energy and excitement, as if viewing them for the first time. A man whose presence will be sorely missed, but whose outlook and opinion can be heard any time we wish to listen. Enjoy the journey and lean in. Trust your intuition and have conviction, as that’s all you’ve really got in the end. Men like these are hard to come by; so full of love, kindness and laughter. But that’s why they’re so special, and the lessons they teach last a lifetime. I’m gonna miss you Universal Brother. Say Gday to the big fella for me and put in a good word please. Rest in Peace

 

Tom moved on from the Eagles in a trade to Hawthorn at the end of 2024. I was devastated at the loss of such an admired player but, with profound gratitude for all he had done for the Eagles over 10 years, I felt no enmity towards him in seeking to make a move east for his own career and in the interests of his family. I had, after all, done the same thing many years ago, albeit without the judgment of several hundred thousand fans weighing upon my decision!

 

Anyway, this week I decided that I would finally try and write something about Dad, and the encounter with the willie wagtail kept coming into my thoughts. I wanted to reference Father’s Day and Tony Barrass’ review of the Almanac, so I did an online search of Tony, which also brought up links to his son. One of these – an Instagram link – grabbed my attention immediately:

 

tombarrass;The Willie Wagtail (djiti djiti) are spiritual messenger birds in noongar culture. Follow @pta.listen.

 

I clicked straight away. The link was to an Instagram podcast post of Tom from about a month ago. What I saw and heard next, I could hardly believe. I was utterly stunned. Tom was talking in the video:

 

“When my dad died, all these willie  wagtails would come up to me in the backyard. Willie wagtail – bang – straight on my head. Straight there and  sit there for I don’t know 45 minutes and I’d just be there playing with this willie wagtail. “Is this my dad? Like what the f… is going on? Is this thing trying to tell me something right now?’ Anyway in one of them there’s this video; (cuts to video of Tom and a willie wagtail in his yard);   “Just wanna say what’s up and good morning to my  UB. It’s a beautiful day today and look at that my  UB’s out today. Just remember  “Stay real”.   

  

 I give a shout out to Cam McCarthy with the willie wagtail in my hand and Cam passes away in horrible circumstances, and guess what happens next day, next three days, willie wagtails everywhere. Willie wagtail on my hand holding it. On my head. And when I have a willie wagtail jump on me and look at me and peck my face, I’m playing with it as if it’s my best friend. Not just once but multiple days in a row, different willie wagtails. There’s something in this. I don’t know what it is but in this moment there’s something, there’s a sign and I certainly took a lot of comfort from that.”

 

Throughout this (have a look for yourself), the podcast is intercut with film of Tom with, as he describes, willie wagtails on his head and hands. Next to the video is his post:

 

tombarrass;The Willie Wagtail (djiti djiti) are spiritual messenger birds in noongar culture. Follow @pta.listen.

 

 

I had no idea that this had happened. But coming on top of my own experience with the djiti djiti the day after Dad’s funeral upon returning to his house for the first time, and after reading all of the other experiences set out above, I was completely blown away. They all had one thing in common – the death of someone very close and the sudden appearance (and, in some cases, reappearance) of willie wagtails when there had been none around before.

 

And the traditional and long standing cultural belief of the Noongar and other first nations’ people that this was exactly what you would expect to happen!

 

Yes, I do understand – other than being the most unlikely set of amazing coincidences – what acceptance of an explanation for all this means.

 

My Dad always used to say there are circles and patterns in life that will explain things if we only knew how to see and understand and interpret them.

 

He would have loved to have read this story. Perhaps he has.

 

Perhaps a little bird told him.

 

All images courtesy of John Gordon.

 

To read John Gordon’s original article ‘Fathers Day’ click HERE.

 

To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.

 

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