Perth says goodbye to Eileen Bond in simply Red fashion

She was one of Australia’s first ‘It’ girls who partied and played with popes and politicians, but Red’s legacy will be her burning passion for life, love and, most importantly, her family.

Mourners in Perth with Eileen Bond’s flower-draped casket. Picture: NewsWire/Philip Gostelow

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Perth woke blanketed by grey on Monday. The rain poured and it was as if the sky was shedding a tear for Eileen “Red” Bond as she made her way past the pearly gates.

Yet, like clockwork, just after 9am as the 500 mourners, including former WA premier Richard Court, car dealer John Hughes, South Fremantle football legend Stephen Michael and former RBA board member John Poynton, filed into Fremantle’s St Patrick’s Basilica, the sun was beaming down on Red’s cortege.

For one final time, Perth’s original ‘It” girl glistened like her trademark flaming red hair and designer jewels with blooms of red, coral and hot pink roses standing out like a beacon among the black clad family members of one of Perth’s most infamous and beloved dynasties – the Bonds.

Red died following a stroke earlier this month, just a day after attending the local footy and enjoying one last lunch at Nedlands’ Chez Pierre restaurant wearing a brand new Balenciaga outfit for the occasion.

Eileen Bond’s red rose-festooned casket at St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle. Picture: Bowra & O’Dea

“I just know she’s painting heaven red right now,” close family friend Father Christian Fini told the congregation who had gathered to farewell the staunch Catholic, beloved community member and first wife of the equally colourful businessman, Alan Bond.

“Red is more than a nickname for Eileen, it is a powerful metaphor and symbol for her legacy as a much loved mother, grandmother, great grandmother, family member and dear friend to many,” he said.

“Whenever she would call me, as soon as I picked up the phone there would be no hello it was ‘Where are you? Do you need anything? Does the Parish need anything?’,” Father Fini said.

The priest spoke of meeting Red through her beloved brother, the late Father Don Hughes. She objected to her sibling’s vow of poverty and would “shove cash into his pockets and steal her dad’s clothes for him,” her son John Bond said.

John Bond giving the eulogy at his mother Eileen’s funeral. Picture: Bowra & O’Dea

His touching tribute to his mother also shared hilarious stories of how she was most loyal to her friends and family. The crowd were reminded that she enjoyed nothing more than helping people, French champagne, parties and the “f word”.

“Red’s life seems to me best summed up by words beginning with the letter F. If any of you immediately thought of a four-letter expletive she was known to utter, you should now say a Hail Mary,” he said to laughter. “F actually stands for faith, family, friends and fun.”

He regaled her nearest and dearest with tales of how she once collected youngest daughter, “her gift from God” now Perth’s leading realtor Jody Fewster, from school in her convertible with a donkey in the back seat.

Her famous parties are part of Perth folklore. One included shipping in sand from the beach into the backyard of their sprawling, and landlocked, mansion in the exclusive suburb of Dalkeith for a beach party where the Swan Lager flowed and the band played the Beach Boys.

Despite splitting from Mr Bond in the early 1990s, the two remained close. Their connection was strong from the start, being swept off her feet as a 17-year-old by a sign-writer with a motorbike. They quickly married after Mr Bond converted to Catholicism and by the time she was 21 they were living in a garage with three children trying to make ends meet.

“As soon as they could afford it Dad bought a speed boat called Unstoppable and he mastered bare foot skiing, even though it cost him a couple of toes, while Mum was a talented single-leg skier straight off the beach,” John added.

Eileen Bond. Picture: Sean Middleton

The good times rolled with the America’s Cup win where Red won the hearts of the American people as Australia II stole their sailing crown.

She also had a temper as fiery as her hair. Red once cut off the legs of Mr Bond’s suit pants and threw them out the window.

“When she had enough of his bad behaviour,” John said.

Her year of birth was notably absent from the funeral program – not even her two personal staff were privy to that information. Both were frequently banished from rooms when she was asked to state her date of birth.

“The house was always open, the fire was on, and the champagne was always flowing. She was everyone’s grandma, mother, aunty or just dear friend. Age was simply an irrelevant label to her,“ John said.

“She collected friends like Faberge eggs. Lunch with Red was survival of the fittest,” John said. One of those was former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who was saddened by the loss telling The Australian the pair were due to catch up for lunch next month.

Mass concluded with a photo tribute peppered with babies, baubles and a beaming Red in her happiest places – in the grandstands at the South Fremantle oval, where she was the No.1 ticket holder for more than 20 years, lunching at the Dorchester in London and toasting to life – a joy she always said “a gift from God.”

Red was farewelled by the public to the strains of John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads before the family gathered for a private committal.