'Fierce protector' remembered in touching miner memorial
Heartbreaking service: 'I cannot believe that you are not here by my side - but I know you will always be with me in spirit'.
Coffs Harbour
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TO MANY, Bradley Alistair Hardwick was known as 'Hector the Collector'.
The 47-year-old father of two has been remembered as a loving father and brother, a cheeky ratbag, caring friend - and an avid collector of cars and bikes
Through a tearful laugh at his memorial service yesterday, his wife Lisa asked "What am I to do with all your cars?".
But Mr Hardwick was also remembered as a collector of loved ones; someone who could talk to anyone and was a fierce protector of the people he loved.
There was standing room only as almost 1000 mourners gathered to say farewell the mine worker who tragically lost his life at Moranbah North Mine last month when a grader he was driving, and a personnel carrier carrying 10 colleagues, collided.
Hundreds from the mining community replaced traditional black with the blue shirts of the CFMEU's Moranbah North Lodge for the service.
Mr Hardwick had been living in Moranbah with his wife Lisa, his son and his daughter.
Yesterday's heartfelt service focused on what Mr Hardwick brought to those closest to him.
Mr Hardwick's wife, Lisa, took a deep breath before she spoke to mourners about her late husband.
She said he shared his happiness with everyone he met and had passed on his passions for cars and motorbikes with his children.
"Your endless love for our babies and I will never be forgotten," she said.
"I cannot believe that you are not here by my side. but I know you will always be with me in spirit.
"Your smile and infectious laugh was the best medicine in the world.
"Your strength lives on through me. Thank you for giving this to me because I'm really going to need it."
His sister Vanessa Quinlivian said he was a man who had a beautiful dichotomy, caring and tough, mechanical and creative.
She said his love for motoring often blended into how he talked about people, often raising her eyebrows when he "confused women with cars ... by calling them a good unit."
Mum Judy Hardwick shared stories of her son's adventures, surviving snake bites and school yard soccer injuries.
When thunder interrupted her, she simply looked up and said "that's you mate".
She will remember her son for always hugging and kissing her goodbye before leaving for work.
"You'll always be my baby, I love you, but still I want to box you around the ears for what you've done to me," she said.
His friend Mark Barnes described a friendship filled with 'Starsky & Hutch' type adventures.
"I brought the rat bag out of him," he said.
As the service ended, hundreds formed a line that carved through the hall to pay their respects as pallbearers carried Mr Hardwick's coffin to the hearse.
As the hearse drove away Mrs Hardwick called after it, saying her heartbreaking final farewell.
"I'll always love you."
Originally published as 'Fierce protector' remembered in touching miner memorial
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