Labor legend Bill Hayden will be laid to rest on Friday 3 November in Ipswich. His funeral service will be held at St Mary’s Church, Ipswich, the same the church that hosted Hayden’s baptism into the Catholic Church at the age of 85 in 2018.
A dedicated policeman in his younger years, Hayden found himself pounding the beat in Redbank and then Ipswich. He saw it first and foremost as an opportunity to do good, testament to the character of a man who devoted his life to service. And he certainly made his mark as a copper. Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding told the story of Hayden on a horse when she offered condolence in council.
She said, “He made an impression on his new community – particularly when he rode his police horse into the public bar of the Kerwick Hotel in Redbank and climbed the bar pole before a crowd of cheering patrons.”
Clearly a man built for a wider stage, soon he began to walk onto one of the biggest, national politics. He won the seat of Oxley, then covering much of Ipswich, and would represent the constituency for 27 years. A few years later, he stepped up to the front bench.
He served as treasurer under Gough Whitlam, offering a steady hand in what turned out to be turbulent times. And when Whitlam stepped down, Hayden stepped up, becoming opposition leader. He would never get to serve as prime minister though, and Federal MP for Blair Shayne Neumann hailed him on his passing as “one of the greatest Prime Ministers we never had!”. He came close in 1980, but internal party shenanigans saw him ejected before he could have another tilt. He wasn’t lost to Labor though, as he served in the government that followed as foreign minister.
A life of service saw its pinnacle in 1989 when he took the job as governor-general of Australia, although he was a staunch republican. He served until his retirement in 1996, when he moved out to Bryden with his wife of 63 years, Dallas.
Neumann summed up a figure who will be remembered fondly. He said, “He was a great Queenslander and a great Australian who changed our party and our country for the better.” For her part, Mayor Harding said, “He was a modest man with enormous ambition for Australia and our nation is far better for his life.”
