Brad Hardy

Brad was a quiet and introverted boy who slowly followed his family’s love of Rugby League which started with him throwing the ball at his coach, dad Cameron, after copping a strong tackle - through to representing Malta in the OzTag 2015 World Cup, Australia in 2017 and finally Malta again in the 2018 World Cup, where he proudly played alongside his brother Josh and claimed the bronze medal.

His natural athleticism spilled over into other sports and he adapted to wherever he found himself. When stationed at Pine Gap as a PSO, he formed great relationships with his colleagues which he often referred to as his “NT family”, and spent days leaping around rock-faces and canyons, going four-wheel-driving, and camping. He also joined the local footy club to meet people outside of work.

This love of sport and the outdoors rubbed off on his colleagues; Cameron and Sharon spoke of how, after being posted to Remembering Brad When people speak of Bradley Thomas Hardy, the words and voices may vary - but the message is always the same: he was kind and cared about everyone. Exmouth for a month, Brad’s disposition and strength turned around the outlook of fellow PSOs, who had been in the remote location longer than him. One colleague in particular would rarely venture out when they were off-shift. Brad started hanging out with them, encouraging them to come fourwheel-driving and whale-watching with him. Exmouth became a fun and exciting place, full of adventure and promise.

Brad was very close to his family and his brothers Josh and Lachie were his best mates, so leaving Canberra to move to Alice Springs at the age of twenty was a huge move. “Brad knew what it was like to relocate from so far away so when any new recruit came to Alice Springs, he would keep an eye on them, help them out and show them around the place. He would just do whatever he could.” Sharon says. “He’d say ‘You’ve just gotta get out there and make the most of it.”

Although Brad was a kind and insightful man, he was an avowed shit-stirrer too. Ken Napier is a bit of a father figure up in the Pine Gap PSO community, and Brad was always making up excuses to go into Ken's office and look at the whiteboard. "HARDY DOGS" would be written on there in bold (in reference to Brad's job as a dog handler). Brad took great delight in trying to provoke Ken into defending this somewhat ambiguous

Brad was very social; but was also a textbook ambivert. He was quite content to bury his head in the EA or under the bonnet of his beloved ute for hours on end. Brad’s older brother Josh remembers how they used to tic-tac off each other during their time in the College. “We used to help each other out in different aspects of training. If there ever was anything with the EA I needed help with, Brad would explain it to me. After he graduated, I used to tell people ‘Problem with your pay? Go straight to Brad.’”

Cameron remembers a few times where Brad followed up on underpayments for various jobs he did. “I’d gotten Brad some work through someone I knew. The money was good and Brad finished up the job once he was accepted into the Police College. He started poring over his payslips and found a discrepancy. Next minute, the bloke who’d set up the job called me and said “Mate, what the hell is going on with your kid? He reckons I owe him $2214 and sixteen cents?!” I said, “If he’s telling you that you owe him that much, trust me you owe him that much.” Needless to say, Brad was correct to the cent and was eventually paid.

Cameron is an organiser with the CFMEU, and Brad was exposed to a lot of the campaigning aspect of unionism growing up. Cameron thinks this is at least part of the reason why Brad always looked out for his colleagues after graduating as a PSO.

Sharon and Cameron are immensely proud of the examples that their boys have set in terms of looking after their colleagues and the community. It’s especially important to them after the fantastic support they have been provided by “the blue family” in such tragic circumstances. Their youngest son Lachie, even in his own time of grief, has supported some of Brad’s closest friends in dealing with the tragic loss of Brad.

“Brad was able to connect easily with people and was always there to help out his friends and colleagues who were doing it tough. He would often have regular chats with colleagues during quieter times on shift, just talking about life, family and work. He also helped out with ferrying his colleague’s wife to and from medical appointments when his colleague couldn’t get away. That’s just what he did.

In honor of Brad, the Brad Hardy Foundation was launched to help repay the AFP community. The foundation helps to raise money for the AFP Legacy Community has been an unwavering pillar of support for families during their darkest days following the loss of a loved one.

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