Life Story of Joan Heather Easton

Joan Heather Easton Thompson was born on the 1 st of July 1921, in Tenterfield, New South Wales, over two hundred kilometres away from her parents’ hometown of Toowoomba. Her father was international rugby league legend and coach Duncan Thompson, who represented Queensland (1915-1925), New South Wales (1919-1922) and Australia (1920-1924) over his illustrious career. Born in 1895, Duncan was the fourth of Charles and Jane Elizabeth (née McLeod) Thompson’s nine children. He was educated at the local school in Warwick, and worked at the post office until 1911, when he joined the Australian Bank of Commerce and was transferred away from his family to Ipswich. In Ipswich, he began his rugby league career by playing for St Paul’s Church of England and the Starlight’s clubs, while at the same time competing in cricket and sprints recreationally. His main position, (the one that he was most known for in rugby) was the position of rugby halfback, where his prowess was demonstrated by representing Combined Country in 1913 and Queensland in 1915. At the beginning World War I, despite wanting to volunteer, Duncan’s parents prevented him from joining the war effort, which left him to focus on his rugby career. It was not until 1916 that he went to Queensland and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the age of 21. He sailed to England to assist the 49 th Infantry Battalion, (the Queensland Battalion) in 1917 and saw active service in both Belgium and France before receiving a non-fatal shot wound to the chest at the German Spring Offensive in 1918, which caused him to get discharged from the war effort. On his return home from the war, Duncan joined the Commonwealth Bank, as he was told that his injury would force him to retire from competitive sport. The bank gave him the placement of Ipswich once again, and once he had settled in and recovered from the war, Duncan joined a social cricket team and played professional rugby for the Starlight’s, before becoming the Queensland Captain and representing Australia in their match against New Zealand in 1919. Throughout all of this he met the love of his life and married wife Dorothy (Dossie) Agnes Easton at St Paul’s Anglican Church on the 12 th of October 1920. Joan was their first child, closely followed by a younger brother. At the time of her birth, Dossie was on a train to Warwick from Toowoomba and went into premature labour, two months before the baby was expected to be born. As Joan puts it, “Something inside [the baby] said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here!’” and so Dossie forced the conductor of the train to stop in the small town of Tenterfield in order to give birth. Duncan Thompson therefore missed his daughter’s delivery due to her unprecedented arrival, as he was representing Australia in a Test Match and had set sail for England. Joan weighed only 3.5 pounds, and her mother was told that she was not expected to live due to how early she had been delivered. But of course, Joan has always been spirited, and was a very strong baby who surpassed the doctors’ expectations, just as her father had done after he was shot in service. Joan’s life had a very interesting start, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.

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