Page 2051 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 21 June 2011
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his humility, he kept his simplicity. I think that is one of the things that endear him to us all the most. He was always just Jim.
Where is Jim now? Somebody said, “Where is Jim now?” I have got this vision of Jim. I can imagine Jim getting to the pearly gates and not demanding entry but sussing the place out. He was always looking for the angles. Eventually, I am sure, he would be introduced to the Lord and he might sit down at the right hand of God. After conversation had progressed through his life and what God had in plan, I can hear Jim saying to the Lord: “Now, mate, this water into wine thing, have you thought of the franchising opportunities and where we could take this? There are a few debts the church has got but if we could market this properly, divine wine could catch on here.” And I can just see his head ticking it over, thinking: “How do I approach it? What is the angle you take with the Big Man? What is the approach here? I cannot be a prop. I cannot barge this one through and try to get it over the line. But I will talk him up to it.” If you have ever been buttered up by Jim Murphy—it is a wonderful thing to be buttered up by Jim Murphy—you should always have it in your heads as an honour.
On behalf of my wife, Robyn, and my daughters, Amy and Lorena, and my son, David, we would like to say thank you for all you did for us in a personal sense. My daughters, on their 18th birthday, got a nice bottle of 1986 wine that Jim had out the back. He said: “They are 18 today. Here is a bottle of 18-year-old wine.” We have got a bottle for David, which is lovely, which we will drink when he is 21. And I think it is that personal touch of the man who was fully human, of a man who was fully alive, that will be remembered.
No matter what he tried, he gave it 100 per cent. He never accepted defeat. He was always looking for a new angle. He could always turn a silver lining out of however grey the clouds were. I think that is the thing that we love him for.
The last dinner I had with Jim was on Ash Wednesday actually. Five of us met. I think, oddly enough, all of us were Catholic. We all ordered fish and we all ordered lemon squash. So my last meal with Jim Murphy was not a big steak and a glass of wine, it was fish and lemon squash, which again is indicative of the guy. So I was lucky to be at that last dinner.
The last footy game I saw with him was the Doggies game, the Bulldogs game, on the Friday night before he died. He looked great. He was there in his overcoat. He sat in the chair. They cleared the way for him so that he could just sit and watch the Raiders. And I think the Raiders gave him the send-off he deserved. The last game he saw of his beloved Raiders was a big win, and that is a great thing too.
I will finish where I started. Margaret, AJ, Damien, I would just like to say thank you for sharing him. He had so much that he wanted to do, he had so much to give. What truly, particularly to you, Margaret, enabled him to be the man that he was was the love, the support, the kindness and the generosity that you gave him. I know you know it, but it needs to be said: he was always grateful for the love of his family. And I know that no matter what happened or how late a meeting went, whenever it finished, he did not dilly-dally. He got the keys and went home because he wanted to be with you three, because you three were his world. The things that he did and that we have all talked about today were simply his expression of love for you because he
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