16 July 2021, Swan Hill Catholic Church, Victoria, Australia
The title is a play on words to honour the family ancestry of Thomas Francis Meagher’s speech ‘Meagher of the Sword’ (Dublin, 1846) and my father’s one true love, the Mallee. The speech was to be delivered to a full church of 200 people. However the evening prior saw a Victorian lockdown announced. Only ten people were able to attend in person.
We are here to honour Bill Maher, born 3rd May 1941 in Swan Hill, The second child to Thomas Francis Maher and his wife Theresa, brother to Bernie, Garry, Peter and Jimmy, The husband of Lesley, The father to Myself, Michelle, Phillip and Hayden, father in law for David, Greg, Kelly and Amanda. Grandfather to Michael, Bridie, Archer, Percy, Elroy, Barnaby, Ruby, Cleo and Matilda.
This is an opportunity to pay tribute to Bill. We are joined together for this one time to share what we know about Bill, and it is a privilege to be able to lean on each other for a single day, being supported in the common thread of knowing this man.
Bill was a Man of the Mallee. We all know one. They don’t talk much, in between hard work, they stand around in the shade, contemplate conservative politics, whistle at a dog, lean on some machinery, swish away the flies and observe the horizon. A man not out for extensive conversations yet he was willing to toil, hammer, weld, thread, drive, tinker, lift, push, pull, dig, lug, wait, fix, wrench, sort, move = many vital farm tasks that generate content. Nothing is wasted in the Mallee, the resourcefulness is ingrained.
He was a man that was born into the love of his life, the Mallee. A life long relationship with a land, that offers more than the occasional dust storm. It began for Bill with a pioneering spirit, clearing Mallee scrub by hand, bare back horse rides to the dirt floor Pira Primary School, where at lunch times he fed the horse before himself and killed snakes at the classroom door. He earned his stripes with learning the Mallee landscape, a country that does not produce “easy” whereby you couldn’t shy away from enduring all the challenges, a land that looked impossible to farm to anyone who doesn’t understand how to calculate its seasons and soil. He took it from teams of Clydesdales pulling stump jump ploughs to GPS tractors and headers.
This Man of the Mallee was resourceful. To the point of being an unqualified mechanical engineer. He knew how to make things for his beloved country. No CAD drawings, just a plan inside his head of what was needed, some tools and materials and away he would go.
Amongst his curated objects were trailers, field bins, incinerator, sheds, ploughs, gates, fences, tanks
Any Man of the Mallee welcomes rain. They watch the sky daily for it. A network of channels and dams drip fed what rain could be collected. And Bill’s leadership, as with so many key community initiatives, paved the way for the Mallee pipeline. Those tanks and taps networked across the Mallee we see today are just part of his legacy. Strangely as a Man of the Mallee who yearned for and thrived when water was abundant, he was not big on swimming, which meant he had only one pair of togs for his whole life. Once he outgrew them, his swimming days were over.
Farming lived with him 24/7 and a comfy chair for a nap, a black tea and a bit of cake gave him the occasional spell from it. The ultimate treat would be a steaming plate of well cooked tripe. His love for the Mallee gave him the greatest return on his sweat, time and energy. This meant he always seemed to be doing something, somewhere.
Up the shed
On the tractor
In the Ute
Down the paddock
Working on the truck
Rounding up the sheep
On the header
Driving the truck
Loading up the truck
Getting a load to the Saleyards
At the silo
Fixing a plough
Bogging the tractor
Out the back paddock
Digging a hole
Fixing the driveway
Welding up a new idea
At the dam
Near the gate
Sorting out a vehicle
Marking lambs
Transporting grain
Spraying crops
Baling wool
Dipping the sheep
Sewing a crop
Checking the rain gauge
Fixing a fence
For a farmer, he had his ways of talking. He would do any Aussie proud with
“Wig Whom for a Gooses Bridle”
“Same age as my tongue, a little older than my teeth”
“3 on the tree”
“4 on the floor”
“out whoop whoop”
“pull the wool over your eyes”
“burn a hole in your pocket”
“hit the frog and toad”
“don’t know him from a bar of soap”
“put a sock in it”
“ya got buckleys”
“wrap your laughing gear around that”
“flat out like a lizard drinking water”
“that’s the way the cookie crumbles”
“carrying on like a pork chop”
“fair crack of the whip”
“hold ya horses”
“not the sharpest tool in the shed”
“See you later alligator”
“fitter than a Mallee Bull"
"go easy"
“call me whatever you like, just dont call me late for dinner”
For a Dad he also nailed the obligatory Dad jokes on cue.
● "I'm so good at sleeping, I can do it with my eyes closed!"
● "How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it."
● What time did the man go to the dentist? Tooth hurt-y.
● "Why did Johnny get fired from the banana factory? He kept throwing away the bent ones."
● "What did the zero say to the eight?" "That belt looks good on you.
● Kid: I'm hungry. Dad: Hi hungry, I'm Dad!
When he did venture beyond the farm gate he would drive some style of Holden (or perhaps a mustard Ute) to go play footy, or perhaps tennis in his younger days, fight fires (where every time I witnessed him silently gather himself at the call of someone else’s emergency, take the esky of water and go without any resistance or complaining towards an unknown danger so as to help others in need and return covered in soot and dust without a word to say), fly planes, put kids on a bus, check the mail in Nyah West, go to a meeting, usually as Chair, anywhere or any time.
Also beyond the farm gate, this Man of the Mallee took action with kindness and effort to show the world what he cared about. For his community and the Mallee he sought ways to make it better, so others could benefit. He gained personal fulfilment by being prepared to be a leader who aimed to have the best for what he cared about the most. There are many here who know these benefits, and I encourage you to share these rich achievements, on this day, so they are not lost. Let me share some examples
The highest leadership you could have is to be a leader of your Mallee. As Mayor, he represented the Mallee in China, France and Japan. He heavily invested time, energy and money to take any opportunity to promote the Mallee as Councillor and Mayor. His ambitions went beyond the Mallee boundaries, where he stretched his leadership up to a state political level, as a national party and independent candidate for the region and studying at Churchill University, Gippsland.
Dad knew how important rail transport was to the Mallee. He had significant conversations to save the swan hill train line from closure. By going to Melbourne to meet with the then Labor Transport Minister, whom he referred to as Snappy Tom, @ 1987, whereby he overturned plans to close the Swan Hill line. You know the train lines weren’t just transport to Bill. Dad loved flying, his pilot’s licence and involvement at the Mid Murray Flying Club took him over the Mallee and interstate, he used the trainline to navigate, moreso than a map, which was fine until flood waters covered the tracks. The saved vline service still runs in and out of the Mallee.
So lets celebrate this Man of the Mallee. He shaped his life around it and for it. I encourage you to share your own stories of what you know of this Man from the Mallee. Talk about the Mallee’s hidden blueprint on it’s men, express the care for this place in the world, muster as much kindness as you can so as to show off your love for where you belong.
So Dad as a Man of the Mallee, who mastered this world with passion and strength, it is fitting you will be returned to its soil where The Mallee will have the man.
