Body of Constable Glen Humphris escorted to NSW border after Eastern Freeway tragedy
After an emotional ceremony at the Victoria-NSW border, the hearse carrying the body of slain Victoria Police Constable Glen Humphris arrived in Newcastle.
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The silver hearse eased on to the lonely highway at breakfast time, early enough to travel without any hint of undignified haste.
Behind it were three marked patrol cars and a black SUV, red and blue lights flashing in the grille. Ahead was the Hume Freeway, a grey ribbon of road joining Australia’s two great cities.
The procession had just left the outer suburbs behind when it went under an overpass at Wallan East. Waiting there was a man with his two young children, peering down the road towards the city, the empty office towers poking through the mist.
The little family group stood still and silent as the cars passed below. All that the living can offer the dead is respect and here it was.
All along the way, police waited at each intersection and every overhead bridge. As the hearse passed, they saluted. Again and again it went like this, all the way to the border. A touching thing that never lost its power.
This was Constable Glen Humphris’s last ride and 19,000 workmates in the dark blue uniform were determined to farewell him the right way. He had come south from Newcastle before joining the Victoria Police. Now he was going home.
There is comfort and dignity in ritual and symbolism. Humans have attached these things to death in every culture since time began. We want to come to terms with the only certainty in life: that it ends, sometimes suddenly and tragically.
That’s how it was for Glen Humphris and three other Victorian police killed when a semi-trailer careered into them beside the Eastern Freeway on April 22. It was as unexpected as a lightning strike.
The hearse and its entourage paused at Avenel, then went on until it reached Wodonga.
Rivers have made natural borders throughout history, so they have come to symbolise the passage between life and death in many religions. In the classics, to die is to cross the River Styx from the land of the living to the land of the dead.
When Glen Humphris’s mortal remains crossed the Murray an hour before noon yesterday, there was another ritual to observe. There, in a grassy park on the northern bank of the ancient river, Victoria’s chief commissioner Graham Ashton stood to attention with four of his senior officers.
Facing them were five senior NSW officers, led by that force’s deputy chief, Jeff Foy. In the middle was a Victorian officer cradling Glen Humphris’s police hat, ready to be handed over.
Minutes later it was done. Soon the speeches were, too. Officers stood at attention before standing down. So did dozens of locals drawn to bear witness. The air was cold and the sky was grey but there was little wind and no rain.
The hearse moved off on the final leg of its day-long journey towards the dead policeman’s hometown of Gosford. It was escorted by five police motorcycles and a car carrying his partner, Todd Robinson. The only sound apart from the crunch of tyres on gravel was a crow calling in the distance.
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