First published – Aug 12 2007.
It is Sunday in the early afternoon and I have set this time aside for a special reason.
The reason is it was my mate‟s birthday some weeks back on 23rd of June.
We didn‟t have a beer together or go out; we haven‟t done that since the year 2000.
My mate Tony Petrovic passed away on November 17th in the year 2000, he was 28.
Having just turned 28 myself has made me really understand how short his life was.
I think to myself should my life end now there would be so many goals unachieved, so many experiences not lived.
When Tony passed away I had only just turned 21 and even though I felt he had died young then it has really dawned on me this year as I look back from the same point in my life.
Tony you taught me many things my friend and I have not forgotten these things or forgotten you.
I never will.
I will write about the Tony I knew in this special blog so I can tell you all about a great man who you will unfortunately never get to meet.
Also for me it is a chance to finally put my memories and thoughts in to writing after all these years.
My memory is not that good and I don‟t want to forget these memories.
I first met Tony when I was sixteen.
At the time I was staying with my Mums ex boyfriend Steve in Canberra temporarily while I found myself a flat.
Steve‟s daughter Tracey was like a sister to me and she had just started seeing a guy and introduced me to him.
That was the first time I met Tony.
Tony was about 6 ft 3 or 4, a charismatic Croatian Australian lad that wore a lot of chunky rings and stuff.
You would think he would be intimidating to meet but he always had a huge cheesy smile on his face so you knew he was a good guy straight up and we were mates from the start.
I remember Tony brought around a set of surround speakers and amp to the house when he first came on the scene and I was in to all that hi fi stuff so I was like this dude is madd.
A few weeks after Tony and Tracey started dating I had found a flat and moved out.
As I was packing my stuff Tony came past and was on his way to get a steering wheel for a car, I had a madd momo one and no car to put it on so I gave it to Tony which he would never forget.
He was that sort of guy, if you did him a good turn it was never forgotten.
He was generous to, he gave Tracey a 4wd jeep thingy as a gift, it wasn‟t brand new or anything but it was a cool ride.
Tone and Trace didn‟t last that long but remained friends forever.
I only saw Tone occasionally for a while, the next time I really remember clearly was my 18th birthday.
Steve and Tracey decided I could have the party in there garage and backyard and Tony and his mates were on as security.
The party went off and we all got blind celebrating my birthday, Tony had me try some rachia (spelling is wrong) this crazy 80-90% alcohol shit wooooooo!
So anyway the one rule at my party was nobody goes in the house which everyone stuck by for the most part.
EXCEPT this guy with a crew cut tried to head inside to get himself a glass and Tony grabs him at the door and says “mate nobody in the house” and then sends him back outside.
All sweet.
Half an hour later this other lad rocks up with a similar crew cut to the guy I just mentioned and unaware of the no house rule he heads inside to get a glass.
Now Tony wasn‟t the type to ask questions so he just grabs this second guy thinking it‟s the first guy and is like “I told you” as he puts the guys head through a couple of walls and then sends him flying out the front door face first in to the metal railing.
Mistaken identity but Game over!
That was the second last time I saw Tony until 1999.
The last time we crossed paths prior to 99 was a funny story much like the one I just told you.
I owed this dealer a few bucks and he was on my case rocking up at my place for a beer and no doubt to ask for his cash again.
The dealer brought a six pack with him and we were sitting in Tracey‟s garage having a beer when Tony rocked up.
Tony had his mates backs no matter what and when he arrived he took me aside and asked me who this guy was.
I didn‟t mention the money but said aggh just a local dickhead Ive got some issues with.
Toney was like “so do you not want this guy here”?
So I said “ no not particularly”.
As we go back toward the garage this dealer lad is standing outside it watching some of our mates play basketball on this little half court we had.
Tony walks up and says give me a beer!
The dealer is like yeah but you can ask more politely then that and hands one over.
Tony skulls the beer in one hit throws the empty on the grass and just grabs another without asking.
As Tony goes to skull the second beer this dealer is like fuck bro you didn‟t even shake my hand and you wanna drink my fucken beers!
Tony puts out his hand to shake, it‟s his left hand and I already know why cause he need his right hand.
As they shake hands Tony starts rocking this guy with big right hits to the face and sends him in to a near by fence.
The dealer stumbled to his feet and ran out the gate calling for his mate who had the car keys.
Tony just looks at the dealers mate who just sits still frozen up and so the dealer runs off up the street as Tony takes a few steps after him.
After a few beers that was the last time I saw Tony until I was 19 years old, almost twenty.
Flash forward to 99 and I was doing pretty well, no where near at my peak but doing good in the weed game.
Me and a mate I had brought in for a start in the weed thing were renting a nice little apartment and basically clubbing nearly every bloody night and having a good time.
One night were out on the town when who should I run in to but my old mate Tone!
We had a drink together I grabbed his number.
So I ring Tony the next day and he comes over for a coffee and a chat.
Tone was proud of how I was doing as he had not seen me since I was a broke young kid trying to do school and pay rent at the same time.
He asked me how I was earning a crust.
I told him about my weed operation and he laughed.
It turned out among other things one of Tony‟s earns was wholesale weed!
It also turned out that he had been away for a while and was now back in Berra for good.
With Tony back in town he‟d be at the flat all the time hanging out, we did business together and half the time the big fella was there when we went clubbing too.
I have so many good memories from this period of my life it is amazing.
Clubs, after parties at Tony‟s house in Weston, after parties at my place and just spending time with my mate back in the day.
Tony was like an older brother to me and I feel I was like a younger brother to him too.
I spoke with him about my father, my childhood and being a man.
He always had good advice or a similar experience he had been through to tell me about.
His advice and stories always helped or at least gave me piece of mind or perspective.
I can remember this one time and will never forget it, we got back to my house after clubbing and there was about 25 people there one by one the weed and comedowns knocked everyone out except me and Tony and we sat amongst all the past out bodies talking about life until well after the sun came up.
I will never forget that conversation.
Clubbing with Tony was a different experience, the guy was a legend in Canberra, every club we went to with Tony we walked straight past the line and in the door.
Everyone would be trying to buy him drinks and he always had a crew of like 10 or 20 people in toe.
I had some sway around the place myself but not to much as I was only very young and just starting out in things but Tony had the “real” sway both because of his genuine and honest character and the fear people had of him due to stories they had heard or possibly things they had seen.
A good example of the respect level he had is that Tony said to me if you ever get stuck in a situation say you are my cousin.
I thought nothing of this as I was usually sweet but one night Im downstairs at a club called Jacksons and these two big dudes kind of request I head outside while all my mates drink upstairs.
So I head outside with them mainly because I didn‟t want to look like a pussy in front of all the other club heads when they coxed me out there.
Now I was only a skinny young kid so once we get out on the street things seemed pretty bad, the two dudes basically forced me toward a concrete wall and started to talk about my weed dealings around Berra.
I knew the act of jumping me was about to happen so I figured I needed to maybe hit one of these guys and get to the lads or something but then I remember what Tony said!
Things are still half civil and they pretend to chat as they walk me toward the wall so I just say do you guys know my cousin Tony Petrovic?
Wamo…straight away it is arms around my shoulder and they bought me drinks all night.
From then on those two and all there mates didn‟t even look at me and if they did make eye contact it was usually followed by an offer of a drink.
That was one of the few times Tony wasn‟t around when shit went down though, He was the sort of mate that had your back to the end.
Another night in Civic I had an altercation with this dude and Im basically strangling him with my left hand and lining him up with my right as we scuffle.
Next thing the guy is ripped from my grip by Tone picked up and dropped on to a soccer table and flogged sensless!
Another time I hooked up with this chick and her ex and mates were trying to get at me in a nightclub when Tony and another mate of ours rocked up.
I pointed out the guy to Tony and straight up him and our other mate marched this chicks ex in the loo for a flogging.
After a few hits I came in and realized I had pointed out the wrong guy so I said sorry to him and then I pointed out the right guy so Tone took the right guy in there and bam game over.
He had your back no compromise.
I don‟t want you to get the wrong impression of Tony though he was not an aggressive person he was a man of principles and when people went against his principles he reacted how he felt he needed to.
Around friends you would not meet a nicer guy I remember another one of our after Civic parties at another friend named Jakes house.
We were sitting on the floor in a big circle of like fifteen or so guys and girls passing the bong around.
I had brought a weed customer and sort of friend named Pete to the after party as I had run in to him in Civic that night.
Pete was a big lad and enjoyed a knuckle so when I said have you meet my mate Tony and Pete replied “maybe I probably bashed him in Civic one time” the whole room laughed and then went silent as we all looked at Tony for his reaction and he looked pissed off.
Pete realized he had dissed the wrong guy at this point and went a bit pale while looking down to the floor.
Tony let the whole room hang on the tension for a bit and then smiled and giggled shaking Petes hand sending the whole rooms in to fits of laughter.
I still enjoy telling that story to people over a beer.
For a long time after that Pete became Tony‟s gofer running errands for him and driving him around.
It would be Pete driving and Tony sat in the car beside me the night we took out the dealers and were caught by the pigs up at The Crest apartments.
I served time for it but that means little as Tony did not even live to see the final trial.
Not only did Tone have a mates back when it was crunch time out in the street but he also had your back in life.
I remember once as a youngster he came over to my house and just gave me six full grown weed plants that were just weeks away from harvesting.
A guy had owed him money and couldn‟t pay so he had taken these instead.
Tony didn‟t ask me for anything in return!
A month or so later I harvested and got a few thousand out of the plants Tone gave me.
I had a friend helping with the business and we took Tony to dinner at that revolving restaurant overlooking Canberra as a thank you gesture.
I probably should have done more.
Another good Tony memory I was just thinking of is this one night he rocks up at the apartment of me and my mate and just says get dressed warm we are going somewhere.
We did it but had no idea where Tone would take us.
It turned out he had a topless 4wd waiting out front and we went for a late night 4wd in the brindies.
How many mates do some shit like that for ya?
I have to say Tony was a good judge of character too even now some of the advice he gave me all those years ago is coming true.
Ironically the one piece of advice I didn‟t take from my friend Tony was not to trust this other really close mate I had and I should have.
Tony told me this guy was no friend of mine and in the end his colours would be seen.
This friend is the mate (V) I recently told you all had ripped me off and scammed my weed business like a coward during my gaol and parole period.
It turned out Tony was right.
Tony never liked V and despite this allowed him to run from the armed robbery we were convicted of without any retribution after the fact.
Tony and the boys wanted to fix him up for doing a runner during a job but I asked him not to go ahead with that and he let it slide.
Not because he is soft but because I asked him to as I felt V could be trusted and had run out of fear.
Just like the rest of us Tony did not mention V‟s name to police either.
The armed robbery was really just us squashing some up coming dealers in our area and I have already written about in a blog titled “The case and conviction that got me a 5yr sentence” so I wont touch on old ground.
I shared a cell with Tony the night we were caught for that, even while we got finger printed Tony was trying to sweet talk the female officers and they giggled when he did.
He was pretty good with the ladies I can remember when he had only been back in Berra a few weeks.
I went past his house one Sunday after a big weekend and this scantily clad lass opens the door and tells me he is in the room I go in and he has a chick in the bed with him.
Then the other chick climbs in to, one under each arm.
He told them to nick off and we smoked a mix, pimp shit Im telling ya.
So the clubbing and carrying on went in to the new millennium and during that time I moved in to a townhouse in Pearce and got rid of my mate who was helping me out with the weed business at the time.
I was starting to really have access to big dollars and began doing a lot less business with Tony as I began to source larger suppliers.
We still saw each other twice a week for business as I didn‟t want to sell out on the guy and once a week to catch up a mates.
My twenty first birthday hit around this time as did Tony‟s cousins birthday so we had a joint party at a bar Tony was involved with.
Afterwards we hit Civic and to be honest this is the last night out I can clearly remember having with my mate Tone.
Also around my birthday Tony gave me a proper premier league soccer ball as I was getting in to the soccer at the time.
As the year went on and I got busier we stopped catching up as much and we were only seeing each other for the business really plus I wasn‟t going out clubbing too much with this new girlfriend I had hooked up with round mid year so that cut that out.
Before I said I only ignored one piece of advice well it was two actually, he didn‟t like this chick either and said she was a gold digger.
If you have read my blog “How my ex shafted me of my cash and belongings” you would know he was right, she got me good.
Among the many things of mine that were lost because of my ex girl was the soccer ball Tony bought me that I mentioned earlier and the photos from my whole life.
The photos I will use for this story I had to borrow.
We still had our court appearances for the armed robbery charges and would have a drink afterwards, us boys and Tonys solicitor Jakamira.
Toward the end of 2000 I had not seen Tony for a while, weeks and its something I really regret.
I was so busy making my money and at the time I didn‟t care for much else.
I will say it now money is shit compared to real mates, that‟s real talk!
On the 17th of November I received a call from Tracey which I thought was a bit strange as I answered.
She told me Tony was dead, a call I will never forget.
I had to ask her to repeat what she said as it just didn‟t sound real, she did.
I don‟t remember to much of the next period of things as I was drunk or high all the time for a quite a while after that.
I guess I found reality hard to accept.
How could Tony be gone?
In tribute to the amazing effect he had on people his funeral held on November the 23rd 2000 had so many people there the church was packed and cars filled the streets.
At times they were even blocked off.
I could not understand much of what the priest said at the funeral as it was in Croatian but I still felt every word.
Tears were shed and his brothers carried his casket from the funeral to a waiting car and it was followed by a massive trail of cars to the cemetery where we saw it lowered in to the ground.
I threw sand in the burial hole and my sister through a flower in.
I was overcome by the whole thing and did not attend the gathering afterwards, in honesty I got way high and played music at home.
I did not visit Tony‟s grave for the next two years though I thought of him often and even though I kept planning to go for some reason I did not want to.
After my release from prison it had been almost five years and I went to see the grave which now had other graves around it to.
Tony was a good friend and he always looked out for me, had he not passed on I know my life would have been different.
This November will be 8 years since Tony passed away in his sleep and I still miss my mate.
I don‟t think about him as often as I once did but I have not forgotten him.
Much of the advice I got from Tony and the principles he lived by helped shape the man I am today.
I wish he lived to see what Im doing now, to meet my girl and my baby or hear the music I have made but he can not.
I will have a beer on the 17th of November and remember my mate Tony.
One of the truest people I ever met!