Former Queensland Reds player Peter Fleming lost everything in a bushfire that ravaged the area around his township of Einasleigh (380km west of Townsville) in North Queensland last year.
Amongst the lost possessions in the house fire was his prized rugby blazer representing his honours as an Australian Schoolboys forward to South Africa in 1969 and a 1972 appearance in the backrow for Queensland.
Member for Traeger Robbie Katter discovered these details chatting to Fleming on the porch at the famous Einasleigh Hotel when checking in on people in his electorate last year.
This set in motion a call to the Queensland Rugby Union who connected with supportive partner Ringers Western.
The culmination has been Katter being able to present the 73-year-old Fleming with a new blue blazer, with QRU emblem, courtesy of Ringers Western co-founder Matteo Salerno. A new honour cap, as Reds player #868, was also presented by current Reds lock Josh Canham at Parliament House in Brisbane this week.
"I met Peter in Einasleigh, a beautiful little place in the middle of nowhere, and he told me how he lost all of his worldly possessions," Katter said.
"He said, the one thing that really gets to me is losing my representative blazer. The QRU and Ringers Western came to the rescue and here we are today."
Fleming was delighted: "I'm very grateful. The house, car, quad bike, old jerseys, everything...it all went in the fire.
Fleming was unperturbed he'd be overdressed on his next visit to the Einasleigh races: "I'm right for Fashions on the Field."
Fleming was a boarder at Marist College Ashgrove when selected for the first Australian Schoolboys to tour and, remarkably, was billeted in Pretoria by the then-Prime Minister of South Africa John Vorster.
He played for Brothers in the 1972 first grade side beside internationals Chris Handy, David Dunworth, Dick Cocks and Jeff McLean.
