IEU pays tribute to pioneering sportsman, unionist, and teacher Peter Bevilacqua
The IEU is honouring the contributions of longtime education unionist Peter Bevilacqua, who passed away on 3 March at the age of 91 and was farewelled in Hobart in mid-March.
IEU Victoria Tasmania thanks Peter for his immense contributions to education and the union movement and extends its condolences to his family.
Peter served as Secretary of the Tasmanian Catholic Education Employees’ Association (TCEEA) for 12 years. The TCEEA was the original union representing employees in Tasmanian Catholic education and the precursor to the Independent Education Union Tasmania, which merged with the Victorian branch in 2011 to form the current IEU Victoria Tasmania.
In an era where employee empowerment was never a given, Peter’s efforts helped lay the bedrock for vastly improved worker’s rights.
At Peter’s memorial, he was remembered as “a kind, devoted father and friend, who led an exceptional life.”
A unique legacy
In sports-mad Australia, Peter is best known as the only recorded VFL/AFL footballer to have been born in Italy. A detailed account from Carlton Football Club historian Tony De Bolfo traces his single game for Carlton in 1953.
However, his son Simon, writing for The Hobart Mercury, provided deeper insight into his father’s philosophy on sport and life:
“He talked sport, not just scores and results; the philosophy, psychology and sociology of games. He preached from the Gospel according to Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. Dad believed sport could channel anger, hate, frustration and aggression into socially acceptable forms of competition governed by rules.
“He believed in sportsmanship. Sport was a metaphor for life that taught how to win and to lose; to train and prepare; to focus amid the storm; and to overcome setbacks.”
In the final week of his life, despite severe physical limitations, Peter attempted to write some notes. The two words he managed were Respect and Belief.
“There, in two words, was his philosophy – respect all around you and believe. He did not define what to believe nor limit what to respect. It was a prescription for life.
“His final words were akin to the Japanese death poems that have been written for centuries by Zen monks in the final days of their lives.
“Dad was a teacher.”
Image courtesy Joseph Bevilacqua / Blueseum
Early life and football career
Pietro Paolo Bevilacqua was born in San Marco in Lamis, Foggia, on Italy’s southeastern coast. On Christmas Day 1938, Peter and his siblings departed for Melbourne on the P&O liner Oronsay. En route, Peter befriended an English couple on the way and learned enough English to converse “reasonably well”!
He also recalled having “more fights than feeds” living in Carlton, admitting racist taunts had got to him as a child.
“I was probably nine at the time when a young bloke a few doors down who was three years older and a few stone heavier had a go at me. I went inside, but my mother took me to task, took me outside and made me put my fists up and say to the kid, ‘You whack me and you get one back’. He never troubled me again, but I think he was more scared of Mum than me.”
Peter attended St George’s Catholic Primary School in Carlton before earning a scholarship to St Joseph’s North Melbourne. He was a gifted student and athlete, excelling in multiple sports. He played two games for soccer club Juventus but his first love was Australian Rules football.
In 1952, after completing military service at Puckapunyal, Peter pursued teacher training while fulfilling a childhood dream—training with the Carlton Football Club.
“As kids, me and a few mates used to watch Carlton play every week. In the outer, there used to be a double gate at the north-east corner of the ground where a policeman sat on a horse. We’d open the gate for him to ride onto the ground at quarter-time, three-quarter time and at the end of the game.
“At three-quarter time we’d follow the horse out and hear Perc Bentley address the Carlton players because the cop knew that when the huddle broke up, we’d race off and open the gate for him.”
That September, Peter debuted for Carlton’s reserve team and was later named 19th man for the senior side’s round 18 game against North Melbourne. He played 40 minutes. He performed strongly in Carlton’s reserves finals campaign, winning trophies for Best First-Year Player and Best Player in the Finals. However, when the Victorian Education Department posted him to Traralgon—168km away—he couldn’t attend training and was released.
Teaching and coaching
In Traralgon, Peter met fellow teacher Christine Underwood, a migrant from Essex, England. They married in 1957, and he built a distinguished career as a teacher and football coach, leading teams in Gippsland, Yinnar, and Yarragon, winning the Rodda Medal for Best and Fairest in the La Trobe Valley Football League.
In 1960, Peter returned to Melbourne University to earn a Physical Education diploma and joined the Education Department’s new PE sector. He later worked as a Physical Education Advisor at the Essendon Football Club for a decade, during which the club won two premierships.
In late 1972, Peter moved to Tasmania to take a teaching role at Marist Regional College, Burnie. He became senior coach of Wynyard in 1977 and Tasmania’s Director of Coaching in 1978. By 1981, he was Deputy Principal at Marist College before returning to Hobart in 1987, where he became Secretary of the Tasmanian Catholic Education Employees Association.
In retirement, Peter lived a full life in Howrah, Hobart, with Christine, just two doors down from former Carlton vice-captain John Chick. He enjoyed playing tennis and doting on his four grandsons.
A strong advocate for a Tasmanian AFL team, he may have been pleased by the tribute from Brendon Gale, CEO of the incoming Tasmania Football Club:
“Mr Peter Bevilacqua was my former Economics teacher and school football coach at Marist College, Burnie, as well as a great friend of my family. Such an honourable, admired and respected man.”
Bevilacqua family / Blueseum