‘He lives on in our hearts’: Family pays tribute to miner

Wife speaks a year on from Moranbah mining tragedy.

THE widow of fallen Moranbah miner Bradley Hardwick admits she screams and cries in agony each time she hears about another mining death.

Lisa Hardwick has spoken publicly for the first time about the pain she continues to endure a year on from her husband's death at Moranbah North mine.

Mrs Hardwick said the grief from her husband's sudden death had made simple tasks, such as dropping her children to school, a challenge.

"That shock and sadness is still felt on a daily basis," she said.

"As a mum who is now raising our two beautiful children alone, I have had very real fears of dying with my own couple of health scares last year.

"We very much live in survival mode, and initially that was the focus, just get through each day the best you can."

A year ago today, Mr Hardwick died at Moranbah North mine when a grader he was driving and a personnel carrier with 10 colleagues aboard, collided on February 20 last year.

Mine worker Bradley Hardwick, who died at Moranbah North mine on February 20, 2019.

Mrs Hardwick said the couple's two children, Isabella, 11, and Cooper, 9, give her the strength to continue on.

Isabella, who used to tell her dad "I never want to let you go" while hugging him, still wears his shirts.

For Cooper, it is his dad's jokes that he misses the most, adding that their father "lives on in our hearts".

The Hardwicks have created a permanent shelf next to the family dining room that holds memories of the family patriarch and Mrs Hardwick wears her husband's wedding ring every day.

Today from 6pm, the family will hold a gathering at the Black Nugget Hotel to remember Mr Hardwick, affectionately known to friends as "Hector the Collector".

At Anglo American's Moranbah North mine, his passing will be marked at the beginning of every shift.

Since his death, four other Queensland miners have lost their lives on the job in what has become one of the most deadly periods in the state's mining history.

Mrs Hardwick said her only hope for the industry was for the mining deaths to stop completely.

"The other fatalities that have occurred this past 12 months and longer are just horrendous … I usually hear about them from a family member or friend," she said.

"This is when I scream and cry 'not again' and fall in a heap on the floor."

Mrs Hardwick thanked friends, family, work colleagues, Gryphon Psychology, Anglo employees, local Moranbah businesses, the CFMEU and the first responders for their support over the past year.

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