FOR MOST of his 70 years, John Egan knew little of the life of his father Alf Egan, whose 36th and final Carlton senior appearance came in the 1933 semi final involving tonight's opponent Geelong.
Having been raised in a loving environment by his maternal grandparents, John quietly got on with his own life and made a meaningful contribution to society through his personal and professional career.
It is only now that John has learned more about his long-gone dad, and by extension, his own identity. Not until recently did he discover kindred connections with the nation’s First Peoples as the son of Carlton’s first known Indigenous footballer, and for him it’s been an epiphany.
“This is awesome, mind-boggling and exciting at the same time,” John said. “My Indigenous history is a part of a history I never knew about.”
In the company of his wife Chris, son Paul and Paul’s partner Meghan, John recently completed his maiden visit to the old Carlton ground. There he saw Alf’s visage on the recently installed historic flip blocks, viewed the ground on which his father once played and proudly stood by Alf’s No.27 locker.
“I was a bit apprehensive walking into the Carlton Football Club to find out more about Dad, but it was great to turn the 1931 flip block to see his face,” John said.
“It’s just as hard to believe I’m here now talking about him - that he played for Carlton, that he played in a Grand Final and that he happens to be the club’s first Indigenous player - but it’s great to know these things.”
By way of background, John’s father Alfred George Egan, the son of renowned stockman and horse breaker Edward Egan, and Margaret Egan, née Farrell, was born into the Gunditjmara indigenous community at Wallacedale, near Condah, in Western Victoria, on 3 April 1910. It is recorded that Alf, one of seven Egan siblings, chased the leather for the local Wanderers team before heading to the big smoke to try his luck with Carlton.
As a ruckman who pushed forward, Alf made a real impression for the Blues in 36 senior matches from 1931-’33 - including the 1932 Grand Final in which he was considered amongst the best players afield - before furthering his career at Arden Street with another 15 games for North Melbourne through seasons 1934 and ’35.
A labourer by profession, Alf exchanged marital vows with Gwenyth May Cavenagh in Warrnambool in 1950 and John was born two years later - but other than a birth certificate carrying the names of his parents, John, an only child, had nothing more to go on.
“I’ve since found out that Dad died in 1962 and I was not quite 10 when that happened, so I didn’t really know him,” John said.
“Mum unfortunately had a nervous breakdown and ended up in an institution, and I can remember visiting her when I was six or seven. I’m presuming Mum and Dad had split up by then, because I can only remember being brought up by my grandparents.
“The one memory I have of Dad is of being at a park somewhere with him and Mum. I can remember seeing Dad put an elastic band around a rolled up a piece of newspaper which we kicked around the park.”
John’s early years were instead spent with his grandparents in Balnarring and later Crib Point where his grandfather capably served as the resident park ranger. On his grandfather’s passing, John and his grandmother relocated to the Box Hill home of John’s maternal aunt Ellen Smith – and as a collective they were the only family members John really knew.
Though the years passed by, John never experienced a real inkling to learn more about Alf or Gwenyth. It’s only now, through the support of the Indigenous community through the Healing Foundation’s “Bringing Them Home” website, that John has sought to fill in the gaps – and the results of those findings have truly redefined his life.
John has since discovered that Alf also fathered five children to a previous relationship - two daughters and three sons - one of them Ted Lovett OAM. In October 2016, in response to an article penned by this reporter pleading with any of Alf Egan’s descendants to make contact, Ted did so – and his own story appears later.
Not long ago, John and Ted met for the first time in Ballarat. They talked for more than four hours, during which time Ted played didgeridoo and showed off his Order of Australia Medal. It was there and then that John found the greatest of admiration for his stepbrother after learning first-hand of Ted’s incredibly traumatic life story.
“I had a very fortunate childhood, but in talking to Ted, he had completely the opposite upbringing. He had a very tough life, he was part of the stolen generation, ended up in orphanages and gaol, and was persecuted for no other reason than he was Aboriginal,” John said.
“Since then, Ted’s been awarded an OAM for his services to the Aboriginal community in south-west Victoria - but he had a really tough time with orphanages and gaol where I didn’t have any of that.
“We had a great time together and we’ll spend more time together in November when we head down to where him and the Gunditjmara mob are from.”
A senior business analyst with a leading stockbroking firm by profession, John never played football and only tunes in to the occasional game of footy on the box. However he did commit his energies to squash, table tennis and tennis – and furthered his love of the latter sport by becoming a tennis umpire of renown. It’s a matter of record that John officiated in Davis Cup ties and also as deputy referee with Peter Bellinger when the Women’s Federation Cup was staged at Melbourne Park.
John even took the chair as central umpire for the 1984 Australian Open Mens Singles Final between Sweden’s Mats Wilander and South Africa’s Kevin Curran.
The recent revelations about his father have afforded John Egan an inner peace – and he truly looks forward to learning more about his Indigenous heritage.
“It’s easy to sit here now and say ‘Gee, I wished I’d known about this earlier’, but back then there was never anything to trigger it,” John said.
“I had a birth certificate with Mum and Dad’s names on it, and it might have been a different if they were still living, but both were deceased so where was I going to go with that? Maybe all that changes when you become a bit older and smarter.
“To now know more of Alf, including his standing in the game is awesome, absolutely awesome. It’s mind-boggling for me to find out these things after all these years and I’m still trying to filter it.”
TED’S STORY
John Egan’s recently-discovered stepbrother Ted Lovett OAM is proud of the fact that their father Alf Egan is remembered as Carlton’s first Indigenous player and that he played League football before Doug Nicholls.
In October 2016, Ted graciously agreed to reflect on the life of a father he never really knew, his own incredible life journey, the great capacity to prevail through the greatest of adversity and the triumph of the spirit.
