November 2013 - The Quick Trip Home

We always knew that there was going to be a quick trip back to Melbourne at the end of October,

as I was the  recipient of the Craig Roseneder Award for Technical and Maintenance Excellence at the 2012 Australian Trucking Association Technical and Maintenance Conference.  

Wayne Merrick from Boral in Brisbane is the 2013 winner

The prize for this award was a trip to the USA to attend their Technical and Maintenance  Convention, but it also meant that I had to present this years award to the 2013 winner as well as report back on my experience at the American TMC to our conference in Melbourne.  As usual, the conference dinner was an excellent evening with the guest speaker being Scott Higginbotham, The Melbourne Rebels captain and a player for the Australian Wallabies.

Another important function that we attended while we were in Geelong was the presentation of the National Emergency Medals to CFA personnel.

Judy, who is a member of the Maude Rural Fire Brigade, was awarded with one of these medals for the work that she did at the Black Saturday Kinglake fire with the CFA Critical Incident Support team from Region 7.  Judy was a part of the first CIS team that was sent to the Strethewen fire station to help the people through the stressful time and try to help them deal with the losses that they had suffered over the past 24 horrific hours as the fire burnt through from Kinglake.

Judy and the Region 7 CIS team worked tirelessly over the 4 days that they were stationed at  Strethewen, and then spent many hours in the days and weeks that followed, following up on both CFA volunteers as well as members of the public that they had made contact with while on the fire ground.

Critical Incident Support is a vital part of the non fire fighting work that the CFA does, and the support that the team were able to give those people at their time of need was well accepted and appreciated.

Judy, along with 66 other CFA members from the Barwon South West Region - District 6 & 7, were presented with their medals  by Sarah Henderson MP, Federal Member for Corangamite and Euan Ferguson AFSM, Chief Officer, CFA at a ceremony put on by CFA at Capri  Receptions on Wednesday 30/10/2013.

There were many other CFA personnel who also worked tirelessly during this devastating period in Victoria's dark history that didn't receive this medal.  This is not that they didn't deserve it, but that their service didn't fit the criterion for receiving this medal.
I am very proud of Judy receiving this medal, as I know how hard it was on her, not only at the fire on those bad days, but also for the weeks and months that followed while she dealt with the fall out from the contacts that she made while at the fire.

The National Emergency Medal

The National Emergency Medal was added to the Australian Honours and Awards in October 2011.  It recognises service to others during nationally significant emergencies.

The 2009 Victorian bush fires have been declared a nationally significant  emergency and members of CFA who rendered service during the specified dates of these fires are eligible for the National Emergency Medal.

The National Emergency Medal may be awarded to CFA members who rendered sustained service during specified dates in response to the nationally significant emergency. The medal may also be awarded to those members who rendered significant service in response to these fires, including those that do not satisfy the criteria for sustained service or the minimum duration.

The National Emergency Medal was instituted by Letters Patent by Her Majesty The Queen in October 2011. It is an operational service medal which recognises  significant or sustained service to others in a nationally significant emergency.

The decoration consists of a circular bronze medal with a stylized representation of Australia's national floral emblem, the wattle, in the centre. The ring around the central image is of flowering wattle, representing the accomplishments and sacrifices made by Australians in the service of others in times of crisis. The back of the medal repeats the ring of flowering wattle, and details the award and recipient.

The National Emergency Medal ribbon colours match the colours of the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal ribbon. The colours of the ribbon are gold and eucalyptus green. Gold symbolises the Australia  sun, optimism and hope. Eucalyptus green complements the symbolism of the medal design. The seven gold coloured bands represent Australia's six states, with the seventh representing the territories. 

The trip home also gave us the opportunity to catch up on family and friends and it was great to see them all again.