Thomas the goose died on February 6th 2018 aged 40 years. Thomas was famous throughout New Zealand; he became a symbol for diversity and different families across the world.
In 1990 a white swan named Thomas met a black swan named Henrietta who flew in to Waimanu Lagoon, an estuary on the coast of New Zealand. Thomas and Henrietta formed a bond and nested together for 18 years. However, in 1998 a young female swan entered the lagoon and was often seen with Henrietta. Before long, to everyone's shock the female swan laid an egg. For 18 years everyone had assumed Henrietta the black swan was a female swan, but it turns out she was male. Thomas and the black swan has been in a happy gay relationship for 18 years. Henrietta was renamed Henry and the new female swan was named Henrietta.
Thomas became jealous of the female swan Henrietta, and showed aggressive behaviour towards the couple. But everything changed when their chicks were born; Thomas took to the babies and joined the family, helping them to grow. Henry and Henrietta went on to have 68 cygnets over the next 6 years and Thomas stayed with them, helping to raise the swans, teaching them to fly and taking care of them when their parents did not.
Thomas became famous and tourists came from across the world to watch him help the cygnets to grow and follow Henry and Henrietta around.
In 2009 Henry the black swan died of old age and Henrietta found a new partner. After a while Thomas found a new female partner and had 10 chicks of his own. His eyesight began to fail and by 2013 Thomas was blind; he was moved to a bird sanctuary where he was cared for for the rest of his life.
A memorial was held for Thomas the goose and it was decided to bury him next to Henry the black swan. An epitaph by New Zealand performer Pinky Agnew has been written on a plaque in tribute to Thomas:
Here lies Thomas, the great-hearted goose,
Nestled near Henry in their final roost,
Here where they raised young and found sanctuary,
Somewhere above us these great souls fly free.
What do you see in the picture?
What do you notice about the animals (similarities, differences)
Explain the story
- Why do you think Thomas the goose became famous?
- What does this story demonstrate about families? (families can be different, families can change)
- What does Thomas's fame show about how people around the world view different families?
- Some people say Thomas is bisexual; what does this mean? (definition from Stonewall 'Getting started' toolkit: "Bisexual is a word to describe someone who falls in love with, or wants to have a relationship or partnership with someone of the same gender as them or with someone of a different gender to them. A bisexual person might say that the gender of the person they fall in love with doesn’t matter to them.")
- Why does the epitaph call Thomas 'great-hearted'?
- What can we learn from Thomas the goose?
- What can we learn from New Zealand and their reaction to Thomas the goose?
- Why is this story about No Outsiders?
No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools by Andrew Moffat
Reclaiming radical ideas in schools: Preparing young children for life in modern Britain by Andrew Moffat
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