60 years strong for Tomics

IT was over 60 years ago at the then Volkering's Café, that a 16-year-old Mansfield girl Rita Newton met the love of her life, a good looking 18-year-old Tom (Dragoslav) Tomic. However, he's lucky to be here for their special 60th anniversary, following an attack by a swarm of bees late last year. Tom, as he was to be known instead of his Serbian (former Yugoslavian) name, moved to the district to work for the Country Roads Board (CRB) at Mirimbah before being transferred to Mansfield, where he met his future bride. Tom's journey to Australia began in war-torn Europe. As a 12-year-old boy along with his mother and 16-year-old brother Ziverad, they were amongst the first families from behind the "Iron Curtain" to leave in 1953. His father Zivko, who in 1941 enlisted in the Yugoslav army, was taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans during World War II. After the war, he became displaced when unable to find his family, which meant Tom grew up in the former Yugoslavia without any contact for several years. Zivko Tomic emigrated to Australia, where the Blair family employed him on a farm at Bullioh near Corryong and, with their help and government officials, finally located his family to organise and pay for their passage by ship to Melbourne. "My dad didn't want to go back and fought tooth and nail to make sure that we got out of Europe to come to Australia," said Tom. Rita's time in Mansfield began at the age of four with her father's transfer to be the sanitary contractor for the local shire, from Yarram in Gippsland. She has spent most of her life here, attending primary school and working at Gaffney's Garage, which Norm Pickering later took over. Later she worked for the Mansfield Shire in home help and various cleaning roles for more than 30 years. Her family experienced the sad loss of her older brother, who was killed in an accident on Tolmie Road, coming home from the annual sports day several years ago. Despite their different backgrounds, Tom and Rita were attracted to one another from the start. Tom jokes that he used to be called a "good looking rooster" in his early days. Although Rita was engaged to Tom when she was 18, her father insisted that she wait until her 21st birthday before marrying Tom, who was then 23. She recalls those early courting days, she said "Tom travelled a lot with the CRB for work and use to write letters because there was no telephone then." Rita pulls out a large wad of letters that she has kept that remain special to her many years later. Another form of correspondence in the absence of telephone communications was regular telegrams, which she kept. For Tom, English was his second language, so he worked hard to overcome the language barrier and teach himself the language of his new homeland. In those early days, he consciously decided to mix with "all Australian males" and not just with other Europeans. Tom and Rita exchanged their wedding vows at the Mansfield Church of England, St John's, on December 28, 1963. "I remember 1963 was also the year that the Geelong Cats won the flag," said Tom, who must have been introduced to Australian Rules Football by his mates. Rita said of the wedding day, "Canon RJ Brown married us and we were his last couple." Their 60th anniversary has undoubtedly attracted a lot of attention, with Rita and Tom receiving seven letters of congratulations, including one from Buckingham Palace with a photo of King Charles and Camilla, the Governor General, the prime minister, the state premier and local politicians Dr Helen Haines and Cindy McLeish. Obviously, Tom and Rita share a love of country life, including a stint in "share farming" near Corryong, where their first child was born. With a two-year-old son in tow, Tom said, "We then came back to Mansfield and no job in the mid-60s". The couple have been hard workers all their lives, and Tom took up whatever work he could find especially farm work. "I could turn my hand to anything," said Tom. Tom found work, which led to buying their first home in Chenery St. "It was 80 years old when we bought it and it still had the old hessian walls with the wallpaper," according to Rita. Three other township homes followed, and two more children were born. Rita said, "We have two boys and a girl, Shane lives in Queensland, Lee in Shepparton and Judith, who runs the Mansfield High Country Caravan Park, and one grandson in Mansfield." Their home of 18 years in Monkey Gully Rd incorporated the children's names into the property name "Shajulee". "We built the house and garden from scratch," said Rita. She proudly shows off a photo book, which includes many "Open Garden" events held over many years. More recently, they downsized to a home on Cambridge Drive, surrounded by an attractive garden. Tom still runs a few head of sheep on acreage in Dead Horse Lane, and Rita enjoys her Thursday craft sessions in town. The Tomics are very low-key about the significant anniversary. They will celebrate a special weekend away in February thanks to a present from their children. Rita said they are not big travellers, enjoy their hobbies, and share a love of gardening. Reflecting on their many years together, they agreed, "The way to stay married is to get along and work together." And what about the incident with the bee hives? Tom owes his life to a quick-thinking wife, who rang the local paramedics who said, "...if she hadn't, he would not have made it."

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