Breaking down Dave from MAFS Australia’s tattoos, from mum tribute to age he first got inked

Dave Hand is already shaping up to be the golden groom of MAFS Australia, in part due to his gentle giant nature but also because we (the world) just love a muscle-clad golden retriever who is covered in tattoos.

Dave and his bride Jamie Marinos are single-handedly reforging my faith in love, but much like Eliot Donovan, I’m shallow and would much prefer to talk about Dave’s impressive tattoo-covered biceps. He’s spoken a bit about his ink on the show, revealing that he is judged almost every single day and that some people can find him intimidating – I’m sure his 6 ft 7 stature also doesn’t help.

So here’s what we know about Dave’s tattoos and the meaning behind them.

Dave from MAFS Australia got his first tattoo at 16

For scientific purposes, I have combed through Dave’s Instagram to become concernedly familiar with his tattoos. He’s practically covered head to toe but Dave is yet to fill the space on his left leg and It would definitely fit a cheesy tribute to Jamie.

Dave’s ink journey began at the age of 16, which is strange because in Australia you have to be 18 to get tattooed.

“I just kept going,” he said. “If something bad happened, I’d get one. If something good happened, I’d get one.”

Throwback pictures show a barely inked but equally as hot Dave

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If Dave got his first tattoo when he was 16 then that was sometime in 2005. His Instagram only goes back to 2013, but even then, Dave’s body was starkly bare. By the look of one Instagram snap, he had stars on his left bicep, portraiture on his ribs, and the start of a sleeve on his right arm. He’d also made a start on his leg tattoo.

By 2015 Dave had started on his chest piece while adding further ink to his stomach area and starting on his signature neck tatt. Come 2018 he’d started on his back tattoos which included lettering and what appeared to be snakes connecting to his neck tattoo.

By 2019/2020, Dave was looking like the man we know and love today.

Some of his tattoos have meanings, others are just sick

People have a lot of opinions when it comes to tattoos, with some thinking that they should bear deep meanings and others looking at their skin like a doodle book. I’m with the latter, personally.

According to Dave, some of his tattoos do have personal meanings with his “Good Life” knuckle tatts being a nod to an undisclosed moment in his life.

“I think about the time and place it was when I got it,” he said. “Life has good moments and life has bad moments. It’s all intertwined into a story, I guess.”

On his right ear, Dave has a black rose tattoo he got when he was living overseas and on his left one, he’s got a similar rose in tribute to his mum.

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“It was Valentine’s Day at the time so I just got it for my mum,” he said.

Dave has also got a few tattoos that “looked cool” and I’m guessing that includes the neck ink. Other tattoos that don’t strike me as having personal connections include the tigers, snakes and dragons, but you never know.

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