Parkes' Father Barry Dwyer honoured with OAM for service to Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes

Fifty years a priest and 40 years a police chaplain, the 77-year-old from Parkes has been named on the King's Birthday 2023 Honours List.

He's among the 1191 outstanding and inspirational Australians who have been recognised this long weekend and 621 who will be awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM).

He receives an OAM for his service to the Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes and is the second Parkes resident to receive the award this weekend.

"What do I do with it?" The whimsical Father laughed.

But behind the jokes and humour, Father Dwyer was humbled by the honour.

"Very humbling and rather surprised," he said.

"However, one is only as good as the people around you and it is as much their medal as mine, that's the main reason I accepted it."

Father Dwyer was born the youngest of seven brothers and sisters in Parkes and comes from the family who owned long-standing local business Dwyer's Meats Butchery, even helping to deliver meat as a 15-year-old.

He attended the Convert of Mercy during his first years of primary school before moving onto Marist Brothers and later Parkes High School.

After seven years of study at the seminary in Adelaide, Father Dwyer was ordained as a deacon in 1972 and a priest at the Holy Family Parish in Parkes in 1973.

He was assistant priest of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Broken Hill over two stints between 1974 and 1989, assistant priest for the St Laurence O'Toole Parish in Forbes from 1980-1985 and then administrator back in Broken Hill from 1985-1989.

He became St Fergal's Parish priest in Hay from 1989-1993.

Over these years Father Dwyer has had a thirst for more knowledge and ways to better serve those around him, and an incredible time in his service followed.

"During my second time in Broken Hill I became a prison chaplain," he said.

"Then in 1983 I was asked to be a police chaplain - I thought the two conflicted so I went with the police.

"I've done that for 40 years with 22 of those full time."

He became the first full-time chaplain, counsellor and lecturer at the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn in 1993. He went on to become senior state chaplain of the NSW Police Force Specialist Operations in Sydney from 2000-2016, being on-call 24/7 for those who needed support and counselling.

Police chaplains are present at most major disasters and critical incidents and Father Dwyer has seen his fair share. He accompanied and supported state and Australian Federal Police during major incidents and operations, such as the Waterfall train derailment in 2003, the 2004 Phuket Tsunami Relief Operation where he helped to identify the deceased and received an Operations Medal in 2011, the 2011 Quakers Hill nursing home fire and the Rozelle convenience store fire and explosion in 2014.

"A big one when I first started with the NSW Police was travelling to Belanglo Forest everyday with police in the days of Ivan Milat around '94-'95," Father Dwyer said.

He was also with police during the Lindt Cafe Siege in Martin Place in December 2014, supporting officers and the families of the hostages, for which he received a Commissioner's Unit Citation. The terror siege required one of Australia's largest immediate police responses.

And during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he helped to run the religious village.

"I had lots of opportunities, I enjoyed it," Father Dwyer said.

"It wasn't all doom and gloom - I blessed the new helicopters and they'd fly me around the city, I joined the Water Police out on Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve and I'd attend awards ceremonies.

"When I arrived at the academy there were only Christian chaplains, there was no one for the Jews or Muslims or other faiths, there were no rabbis or Islamic chaplains. It took four years to get [other denominations], they eventually listened."

At 70 years he decided to step down from full-time police chaplain and move back home to Parkes.

"I told them I was past my use-by date, they didn't agree. I told them my best-before date then," Father Dwyer laughed.

"You really seem to know [when it's time]."

Father Dwyer was given an official police send-off, a march-out to the sound of bagpipes. NSW Police described him as 'a man for all occasions' and a 'pillar of strength and support for many members of the NSW Police Force'.

He's developed lasting friendships through the force, which has seen him involved in officers' personal lives through weddings, funerals and baptisms, and to this day they keep in touch and let him know what they're doing.

Father Dwyer has been the Holy Family Parish priest in Parkes since returning in 2016, and is the honorary chaplain for the Lachlan Local Area Command, that's now part of the Central West Police District.

He was also a board member for Catholic Care Wilcannia Forbes from 2017-2021, trustee on the Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes Board of Trustees and a Moderator of the Curia during the same period, and a Vicar General from 2018-2021.

Father Dwyer has expanded his skills with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Science, graduating in 1984 at the Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst, which is now Charles Sturt University.

While he was in Goulburn he completed a Graduate Certificate in Somatic Psychotherapy Studies in December 2000, gained a Graduate Diploma of Systemic Therapy (couple therapy) in 2004 and a Graduate Certificate in Governance and Canon Law two years ago.

He was a Justice of the Peace from 1989 until 2022 and was admitted to the Fellowship of the Australasian College of Biomedical Scientists in 2002.

He also received a NSW Police Force Commander's Certificate of Recognition in 2006 and NSW Police Force Commissioner's Commendation in 2011.

"Did you think I just prayed all day?" Father Dwyer laughed.

While there's been many highlights for Father Dwyer, and it's difficult to pin-point one or two - among them has been working with people in two ways he said.

"In times of crisis when they needed support and in times of celebration, be it through marriage and the birth of their children," he said.

"You do become a chaplain, counsellor and lecturer.

"And the opportunities you have - being able to study and to travel.

"I've been very happy as a priest and chaplain. There's been more good times than bad and I'm still surviving."