For Senator Pat Dodson, he wants that light to continue to shine brightly as a beacon of hope for the Aboriginal people still searching for the life Ben Chifley wanted everyone to have. 

Mr Dodson was the guest speaker at the annual Light on the Hill Dinner, hosted by the Bathurst Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Branch president Sue West said the senator was the speaker the branch had hoped to secure in 2017, but due to other commitments he couldn’t attend.

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“We were absolutely delighted that he could make it [this year],” she said. 

Ms West said his speech to the room, of about 170 people, was excellent and people lined up after the event to get his signature on their programs. 

A number of Aboriginal people were in attendance and Ms West said “it was very humbling for them” to meet someone of such significance in Australian politics. 

Mr Dodson very much spoke to them on Saturday night, saying it would only be a Labor government that would bring about change for First Nations people. 

“From the hills of Bathurst to Wave Hill in the North, to Capital Hill in Canberra, the Labor movement is working hard to make sure that all Australians, including First Nations Australians, get fair treatment, equal wages, and job security,” he said

“It is a vision that Ben Chifley, were he still alive, would have taken the pipe from his mouth, grinned crookedly and signed his name to support.” 

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Ms West said that Chifley was “a significant man of an important time” in Australia’s history and he was still very much loved by people today.

Through the Light on the Hill dinner, the Bathurst Branch of the ALP hopes to keep his legacy alive and spread his message of hope. 

“The legacy of Chifley was large and we want to recognise his vision of the light on the hill and to have contemporary people share their vision for the light on the hill,” Ms West said.