Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A funeral mass was held for William Joseph McMaster at the Holy Family Church at Maryknoll on 16 October 2009, under celebrant Father Tim O’Toole. Father O’Toole was gracious enough to allow me to speak at the funeral, but I will come back to that in a moment. Bill’s family chose to write on his order of service this:

That man is a successWho has lived well,Laughed often and loved muchWho has gained the respect of men and womenAnd the love of children;Who has filled his niche andAccomplished his task;Who leaves the world better than he found it,Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beautyOr failed to express it;Who looked for the best in others andGave the best he had.

This guy was a friend of mine, a father, a husband, a leader, a community representative and a councillor and shire president of the Shire of Pakenham, with a rascal streak that was always expressed through his marvellous humour. He was a soldier, a rear gunner in the Air Force by choice and survived—obviously, or he would not have lived such a long life. He was an engineer, a fitter and turner, a welder, a businessman and a benefactor. Maree Dore in her beautiful oration about her father explained his deep and abiding Labor roots, about the split in the Labor Party and why they moved from Melbourne to Maryknoll after this enormous split. She said how the Catholic Church was so important to him that he went to Father Pooley and said, ‘I want to bring my family from Melbourne to come to this Catholic commune.’ Father Pooley thought about it for many days before he allowed this man to come up and live in the commune which is Maryknoll. I call it a commune because that is what it was. It is an integral part of the history of our community.

As I was sitting there and Marie talked about these issues I thought: ‘Goodness gracious, Russell, you are about to speak and you are a protestant Liberal. This is going to be rather difficult.’ But it was not difficult because he was an easy man to speak about. He came to council because he was needed as a running mate in those days for another councillor who wanted to continue his time on the council. Little did they know, in all their expertise and wonder—and this is only a rumour—that this man was so well thought of in his community that he won the election campaign, ousting the person for whom he was meant to be the running mate. I spoke of one of the jousts Bill had on the council with a former mayor and very important person in our local community: councillor Kel Anderson. Councillor Anderson was having a blue with Bill McMaster over sealing a road in Maryknoll. Anderson eventually turned to Bill McMaster and said, and I mentioned this in the address:

I know all about Maryknoll. I know about what you are trying to do, Councillor. But I can tell you about your community. I know that there is no sin up there, there is no sex and by the way there going to be no sealed road.

The beauty of this man was not only his family and all that they have done but the great legacy he has left through his family. His daughter Julia sent me a note. It reads:

Just a note to say Thank you so much for your lovely words at Dad’s funeral. It was so nice to have someone speak of what a wonderful community man Dad was and speak candidly of his larger than life personality. Dad always spoke very fondly of you and how much he enjoyed his time with the Shire of Pakenham. I know he was very proud that you had gone on so far with your career, so it meant a lot to our family to hear you speak so well of him.

He was easy to speak well of. Julia’s note went on:

Thankyou for helping to make a sad day very special. Best wishes, Julia Taylor (McMaster) and the entire McMaster clan.

Bill McMaster was a larger-than-life figure. He was shy in himself in one way but was always there to lend a hand to his community and his family. He loved his children, his grandchildren and all of those women that he loved to go and help in his community of Maryknoll and beyond. What a marvellous life he led. What a wonderful legacy he has given to us. He was always very shy when it came to his presentations at council but we, as a community, are very proud of him, his life and his family.