Tony Magrathea

Tony Magrathea is middle aged and arthritic, a gardener and lover of the good life. That’s the Felicity Kendal sort of good life, not the life lived by the billionaires in this country. ‘

An almost at the top rugby career ended with a broken back that wasnt properly diagnosed for 25 years and he now suffers chronic arthritis’, which makes his gardening efforts a bit slower than they should be.

He came to Australia from England with his parents in the 1960's and went to the same school as rugby league player Ray Brown and TV reporter/commentator Stan Grant. Later sports life had him playing with David Campese until the back problem.

After that, it was 25 years in the public service working with Defence, Taxation and the Bureau of Statistics, followed by love at first sight and settling down with the woman in his life.

He writes for fun and calls himself “the ideas man”. Some would say his ideas stink but that could just be flatulence.

He started studying again in his 40s so that he could play word games with town planners and local councils, and have the cheek to actually know what he was talking about. He took up studying for the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning as much for the knowledge the course offered as for the BURP after his name.

The picture is of homo floresiensis, a part of his studies. She is the proof that not everything is known and not everything you see should be treated as gospel. Homo floresiensis was a small creature, part of our family tree, but only about 14,000 years old. She shouldn't be, but is.

Tony has a bit of a history as a protester. About 20 years ago, a former house mate joined ASIO and was shocked to find he already had a file on him from when he was protesting about the invasion and occupation of West Papua.

An old rugby mate gave him his favourite protest memorabilia — a lifetime ban from all McDonalds worldwide. A protest had gone wrong, a large window was broken and Tony offered to pay his old rugby mate for the damage caused. The ban worldwide was what he got for his troubles.

Most of the political parties can’t stomach his word play. He is banned from most Liberal Party pages for daring to mention facts and from ALP pages for refusing to spell their name the American way, and for daring to mention facts and their manifesto, which bans sale of state assets.

Tony joined the Scottish National Party after meeting Alex Salmond in Inverness, that was the first and last time he joined any political organisation. He does not belong to any party and probably never will.

His grandkids come from his daughter and step daughter and both can trace Aboriginal heritage. His daughter also has First Fleeter blood, so for a ten pound pom who didnt actually have to pay, the history of this country runs in his family.

You can read more by Tony Magrathea on his blog tonymagrathea.blog.com or follow him on Twitter @dickiebeachholdie.