Queensland Rugby is reflecting on the life and career of state and national hooker Edward Tasman Bonis (QRU No 383), who was inducted into Rugby Australia’s Hall of Fame on Friday.
Queensland first choice hooker for 20-years, Eddie switched Rugby codes after showing promise in schoolboy Rugby league, connecting with Brisbane's YMCA Union team.
From Queensland’s Revivalist 1929 season, to the years following World War II, Eddie appeared in 47 State matches and 21 Tests, both record breaking.
In Queensland’s maroon, he faced New South Wales 29 times, Zealand four times, as well as Great Britain and, in 1936, he played in the State’s first match against Victoria.
In Wallabies gold, Eddie faced New Zealand an incredible twelve times and South Africa six times over his 1929-1938 career.
The peak of his Queensland career came when he became the State’s 43rd captain, against New South Wales in the first post-war inter-State match in 1945, scoring a try to win 19-14.
He was first-choice Wallabies hooker for a decade, but the 1933 tour of South Africa cemented his legacy, with South African media labelling him ‘the prince of hookers’.
Beyond his technical abilities, Eddie’s value to Australian teams was most apparent on long tours, when his strength and enthusiasm remained unabated for weeks on end.
After he played his final match for Queensland in 1948, Eddie remained involved in Rugby as a coach, selector, mentor and President of Souths Rugby, Brisbane.
When Eddie joined Rugby in the 1920s, the code was flat-lining.
When he passed away in 1984, Queensland boasted the finest Rugby side in the world.
His induction into the QRU Hall of Fame (2013), Queensland Sport Hall of Fame (2015) and now the Rugby Australia Hall of Fame, aptly reflects the uniquely influential position he holds in the playing and administrative history of our Union.
