After a six-hour drive, I motored into Rockhampton with only 20 minutes to spare. At 7.30pm, there was to be a paraliturgy in St Joseph's Cathedral celebrating the life of Michael Hayes, who had been a priest for 61 years. I headed straight for the drive-through, picked up a burger, and found a bench in the park opposite the cathedral.
I was approached by four young Aboriginal people. They had come in from the Woorabinda community, and were just hanging out in the park. We talked. I told them I had come for a funeral. They immediately expressed sympathy. I said, 'You might have known him, Father Mick Hayes?'
'He, that tall grey one? He knew me when I was a little fella.' Another said, 'He knew my family when I was just a little baby.' This is typical of the pastoral legend of Mick.
In the church a few minutes later, Fr Grove Johnson reflected that Mick was admired by all the priests of the diocese and loved for his fair dinkum integrity.
He blossomed once he started organising the youth dances back in the '60s. Then Bishop Frank Rush asked him to reconcile the Aborigines and those of us who were descendants of migrants. 'It was as if we owned the place and they were the strangers. It is so good to see so many of you the Aboriginal people here tonight to honour him.'
Then came the tribute from Carol Willie, a respected Aboriginal elder.
'Fr Mick gave our parents back their respect and their hope in their land where it had all been taken from them. He gave it to them and then they were able to give it to us. And just look at us now!
'He told our parents they were as good as anyone. He told us we were worthy. He believed in us. We had lots of meetings and decided that better houses, better jobs and better education were the key. We laughed at our parents and said it would never happen. Now we have houses, jobs and education.
'Fr Mick organised the dances and the basketball, telling us we were just like anyone else. He would come to our homes and we were ashamed but he did not care about the state of the house. He just looked at us and asked, "What are you doing? What are your plans?"
'We came to church and he