For many Australians, Patrick Dodson is the guy with the land rights hat and flowing beard. With Paddy’s Road: Life stories of Patrick Dodson, Kevin Keeffe ensures that Dodson will also be remembered for being the first Aboriginal priest and for his contributions to the reconciliation movement.

More a homage than a warts-and-all tale, Keeffe’s tome contains numerous feel-good and funny moments. For example, we learn that Dodson, the so-called ‘father of reconciliation’, was born in a laundry toilet, ‘nearly drowning in the Phenyl used for cleaning the... pans’; and that Patrick’s grandfather, Paddy Djiagween, claimed his citizenship rights in person. As Patrick explains:

[When the queen visited in 1963] he shook the white-gloved hand and said to her ‘why can’t we have the same rights as the white man?’ The queen promptly agreed and indicated her wish that he be given full rights. My Grandfather went across to the Continental Hotel and demanded a beer. The barmaid was startled and refused, as the consumption of alcohol was forbidden to those without a dog tag of citizenship rights. An aide of the queen was summoned and confirmed the citizenship rights of the old man. He sipped his beer with a sense of gratitude – due more to the achievement than thirst I feel.