Margaret Greenham remembers her dear old dad and field officer – Eddie Taske – who was once the face of the Queensland Housing Commission in Carina. Eddie worked from 1950 to 1974 and died in 1999, aged 91.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for Carina field officer Eddie Taske to walk a couple of kilometres to help a tenant in need.
His daughter Margaret, who grew up in a Carina Housing Commission house, clearly recalls her dad heading off to help someone - usually in the dark. “Off he'd go if someone came down and needed help. That was what he was there for,” she said. “Many a time he would be called on for support, guidance and advice. He had no car and would always walk.”
The problems he solved were wide-ranging: a broken tap, a fence that needed mending, a neighbourly dispute.
Starting as a cleaner and general handyman at the Victoria Park camp, it wasn't long before Eddie made a reputation as the friendly Mr Fix-it. The family then moved to Carina and Eddie took on a new role: peacekeeper, house inspector and rent collector. Eddie was the personal link between the Housing Commission and the tenants of Carina for 24 years.
“Because he was always interested in them as people, or individuals, and he respected them, people grew to truly love him. He was straight and fair and couldn't stand fools easily,” Margaret said.
“Even after rents began being paid at Post Offices, people would still bring him their complaints, and Dad, being Dad, would always go in to bat for them.”
A block of units in Carina was named after Eddie as a tribute to a well-respected man for the genuine interest he showed to all tenants. His daughter believes the special honour would have made Eddie Taske very happy. “The smile on his face would have been like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.”
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