ANNUAL BRAVERY AWARDS PRESENTATION
| Thirty-Eight (38) men and women and children in Victoria will be presented with bravery awards of The Royal Humane Society of Australasia at a ceremony which combines Australian Bravery Decorations: on Thursday 20 November 2008 at Government House, Melbourne at 11.00am |
The Society awards – 2 Posthumous Medals, 1 Gold Medal, 6 Silver Medals, 10 Bronze Medals and 19 Certificates of Merit - will be presented by the Governor of Victoria, Prof David de Kretser, AC.
The awards recognize those people involved in the traumatic Melbourne CBD shootings on 18 June 2007as well as rescues from:
Details of the rescues are attached.
Contact:
Colin Bannister (Secretary) (03) 9650 3233 (w) (03) 9646 3667 (h)
in going to the rescue of two youths from suffocation in a collapsed sand cave at Agnes Water Beach, Qld on 15 August 2006.
Two tourists from France, were on the beach when they were approached by an 11 years old boy who brought the two men to a place where several deep holes had been dug. They found one boy buried up to his neck in the sand. The boy told them not to come closer because the sand would fall in on them and that there was another boy buried in the sand next to him.
The two men started to dig the sand away but the more they dug, the more sand would fall in. They kept digging until about 30cms down they saw the back of a boy’s head. They managed to free his head but tried unsuccessfully to find a pulse.
Mr Jordan helped the two Frenchmen to remove the sand from around the two boys and they worked together taking it in turns to hold the legs of the person doing the digging.
Shortly afterwards an ambulance crew arrived and declared the older, more submerged boy dead.
(Monsieur Lecourt and Monsieur Audu are to be presented with their awards at an investiture in France)
MR SAMIR ELHAOULI
MR BILLEL ABDUL KARIIM OUAIDA
MASTER IBRAHIM OUAIDA, aged 8 years
in going to the rescue of children from drowning at Sandridge Beach, Port Melbourne, Vic on 10 December 2006.
On this hot summer’s day a cool change arrived and the waves became stronger.
Billel, Ibrahim, and their sister and another brother were playing in the water and the younger brother and sister immediately experienced difficulties and were carried further out to sea. Billel was able to rescue his younger brother and bring him to shore.
His sister became caught in a rip and Ibrahim attempted to rescue her. Both children struggled to help each other.
Mr Mohamad and Mr Elhaouli who were alerted to the two children in difficulties. Both men jumped into the water. Mr Mohamad grabbed Ibrahim who put his arms around his shoulders. They both started to swim towards Sarah who also grabbed him. The three of them started swimming and Mr Mohamad called for other people to help.
Mr Elhaouli grabbed Sarah and Ibrahim tried to grab Mr Elhaouli’s back but with both children grabbing him, Mr Elhouli thought he would be pulled under. He laid Sarah on her back and began to paddle underneath her to bring her back to shore. He was helped by Sarah’s brother Billel until a surf lifesaver took Sarah from them and Mr Elhouli continued to look for Ibrahim.
He saw Ibrahim’s head just below the surface and he reached down into the water and tried to pull him up. A lifesaver arrived and put Ibrahim on her surf board. Another lifesaver also swam back out to help and continued to encourage his colleague while she performed CPR on Ibrahim while they brought him to shore.
Mr Elhaouli completely exhausted, swam to shore suffering from hypothermia.
Once both children were on the beach, first-aid, oxygen and CPR were administered by lifesavers.
Sadly Ibrahim did not respond to CPR treatment.
(Mr Mohamad is unable to attend the investiture)
MR MARK ENRIGHT
in going to the rescue of his grandfather from drowning in Lucky Bay, SA on 7 August 2007.
Mr Enright and his grandfather were fishing in a dinghy when a strong wind blew up and the sea became rough with 2m swells. One large wave took off the outboard motor which sank so the two men started to row to shore but both oars broke, leaving the two drifting out to sea.
Mr Enright decided to swim to shore, some 1-1.5kms.against rough seas and a head wind and by about 11.30am reached the rocky shore where others helped him ashore and raised the alarm.
Air Sea Rescue members rescued his grandfather who had drifted 3kms from shore.
MR CRAIG ANDREW BULLEN
in going to the rescue of a mother and child from a dog attack at Drouin on 30 November 2007.
A grandmother was looking after a 16 month-old Rottweiler for a friend when her grandson arrived home from school.
When the grandmother’s attention shifted to her grandson the dog became aggressive towards him and she put herself between her grandson and the dog to protect him.
Mr Bullen was working across the road when he heard a woman screaming. He saw that a dog was on a woman’s chest and that she was lying with her arms crossed trying to shield her face while the Rottweiler was attacking her.
Mr Bullen grabbed a piece of wood from the workshop and ran across the road. He hit the dog across the back of the head/neck area with the piece of wood until it let go.
MR BENJAMIN RUSSELL
in going to the rescue of a pedestrian following a car accident at Ascot Vale, Vic on 17 February 2007.
At midday two vehicles reversed out of a laneway and collided. One driver panicked and reversed even further into the other car. This driver inadvertently acceleratedand the car lurched forward..
A woman pedestrian saw the car accelerating towards her. The car crushed the woman between the car and a wall, amputating her lower leg.
Mr Russell heard the accident and someone screaming. He ran to see a woman on the bonnet of the car with her leg amputated and bleeding profusely. Mr Russell applied direct pressure to the stump of the woman’s leg and the artery of her leg to stop the blood flow until the ambulance arrived.
MR MICHAEL FRANCIS STEFANI
in going to the rescue of a man from a crashed and burning car at Fish Creek, Vic on 15 February 2007.
At about 5.30am a vehicle collided with a tree in heavy fog and caught fire. The driver suffered major injuries in the collision but was able to roll out of the driver’s side window.
Mr Stefani was driving along the road when he saw the accident, stopped and ran to the vehicle. On his hands and knees he crawled to the man, hooked his arm under his shoulder and pulled him away.
By this stage the car was well alight as Mr Stefani dragged the driver 30m away to safety while fuel and oil drums and gas BBQ bottles in the back of the vehicle were exploding.
MR ANDREW SAMPSONIDIS
in going to the rescue of a fellow passenger from a crashed burning car at Wantirna, Vic on 15 April 2007.
At about 2.30am a driver lost control of his vehicle which drifted sideways, hit a fire hydrant resulting in a 20m water spout, mounted the footpath, clipped a tree, rolled onto its roof and hit a further tree where it came to rest and caught fire. The driver got out and fled the scene. Mr Sampsonidis escaped through a window but the front seat passenger was trapped.
With the trapped passenger screaming from the pain of the burns he was suffering, Mr Sampsonidis tried first to pull him through the side window then went to the windscreen which had fallen out and pulled him out by both arms to a safe distance where he administered first aid.
LEADING SENIOR CONSTABLE PETER OSBORNE
SENIOR CONSTABLE DAVID GLASSER
in going to the rescue of the six member crew of a disabled yacht in Bass Strait on 4 November 2007.
In the early hours LSC Osborne and SC Glasser, the Water Police “on call” crew, responded to a distress call from a yacht, 42nm south of Port Phillip Bay, which had lost both steerage and power. Conditions as the police rescue vessel cleared the heads were 4-6m “beam on” swells. The crew lost radar support and water was leaking in through all windows while the rain was horizontal.
At midday it met the stricken yacht, secured the tow and returned at 5 knots on auto pilot. Near the heads it began to lose other electrics so the stand-by rescue boat took over the tow.
MR ANDREW REGAN
in going to the rescue of a boy from drowning in the surf at Portsea, Vic on 29 December 2007.
At mid-afternoon a young boy was carried out to sea by a rip at London Bridge Back Beach. Mr Regan saw the boy some 150m from shore, in difficulties. He immediately entered the surf with his surfboard and brought the boy to safety.
MR MOOMOOGA TIATIA HARRIS
in going to the apprehension of a man in the process of robbing a gaming venue at Taylors Lakes, Vic on 2 May 2007.
At about 4.00am a man ran into a gaming venue to the two staff at the cashier desk demanding that they put all the money into a bag which they did and the man grabbed the bag and ran towards the exit.
Mr Harris, a security guard, saw the man run out with a pistol in his hand and followed him. As the man ran towards the door, screaming “Don’t move or I’ll shoot you”, the automatic doors were slow to open and he ran into them. The man turned around and faced Mr Harris with the gun pointed towards him and screamed again for Mr Harris not to move. Mr Harris heard clicking noises as the man pulled the trigger of the gun twice.
Mr Harris then punched the man on the jaw and wrestled him to the floor. The man however managed to get up and pulled Mr Harris towards the door. A patron helped to wrestle the man to the ground until police arrived.
SENIOR CONSTABLE PAUL DUNNE
MR GARTH SANDS
MR ADRIAN CALCEDO
At 10.44am police were alerted that a boat was sinking 1nm off Phillip Island, swamped by seas and the bilge pumps could not cope. The boat was sinking rapidly in winds of 20-30 knots and waves of 1-3m.
Snr Const Dunne responded by attending at the Stony Point boat ramp and, given the delayed time until other emergency services would arrive, approached two local fishermen Messrs Sands and Calcedo for help.
The three men set out in Mr Sands’ vessel and located the three occupants of the boat, which had now sunk. All three survivors required assistance to leave the water which they had been in for 30-40 minutes, showing signs of hypothermia.
MR GRANT JAMES FORD
MR CHARLES EDWARD LAKEY
in going to the rescue of a man from his crashed and burning car at Mt Macedon, on 10 December 2006.
At 8.00pm a driver on Mt Macedon Road lost control of his vehicle and it crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a tree. The car ended up on its passenger side with the driver unconscious and suspended in the air, buckled into his seatbelt.
Mr Ford saw the collision, ran to the vehicle and jumped up on the side of the car to get access to the driver through the driver’s side window. He turned the ignition off and noticed smoke and a burning smell coming from the engine bay.
Mr Ford tried to rouse the driver and undid his seatbelt. The driver then fell onto the passenger side of the vehicle but his foot was trapped under the accelerator.
Mr Lakey arrived on the scene and helped Mr Ford lift the injured man out of the vehicle and to safety.
MR MICHAEL ANTHONY TUCKER
MISS SHAKIRA COWARD, aged 5 years
in going to the rescue of children from a burning house in Cranbourne on 12 January 2008.
At about 1am a mother, father and baby were woken in the front bedroom of their house by their smoke alarm and saw that the rear of their premises where their other children were asleep was on fire.
Mr Tucker, an asthmatic, entered the house to help the father reach the rear bedroom but was driven back. With a dressing gown wrapped around his head and arms and dressed only in shorts, he cleared a broken window and climbed into the bedroom where the heat and smoke were intense. Blinded, he groped around the room until he felt “something”, a child wrapped in a blanket. He lifted the child and carried her to the window and, scarcely able to breathe, put her into the backyard. He then went back through the flames and billowing smoke for the other child, found him, brought him to the window where others took the child. Then, exhausted, he fell out of the window as the roof collapsed into the room.
Shakira, one of the two children found in the same bedroom, had been roused by the fire alarm and, using safety tips learned at school, went to her younger brother, got him out of bed and onto the floor where she wrapped her brother and herself in a blanket and both were saved.
MASTER JAKE RILEY THOMAS, aged 10 years
in going to the rescue of the passengers of a crashed car at Primrose Gap, north of Licola, Vic on 6 June 2008.
At 10.30pm Jake was the middle-seat passenger in a 4WD that plunged over a very steep embankment, trapping the driver for six hours. The accident occurred on a remote area near Licola. The car had plunged 200m down the embankment, flipping over several times before coming to rest about 200m above the MacAlister River. Jake got out of the car with the help of another passenger. Jake had a broken arm, cuts and bruises to his head and legs but still managed to climb up the very steep and unstable embankment back to the track. He then walked up the track and waved down another 4WD to raise the alarm. .
The driver was rescued by emergency services and flown to hospital.
MR BRENDAN KEILAR
MR PAUL JOHANNES de WAARD
MS EDITH AQUINO
MS CORALANN WALKER
MS DONNA ELIZABETH McGOWAN
MR BRADLEY STEPHEN GODDARD
MS MARGARET PLOENGES
MS CATHERINE MARY GRAY
MR ED BOBEFF
MR EMMANUEL JOHN BORG
MR SHANE GENZIUK
in going to the rescue of a woman being assaulted by a gunman; and
the victims of gunshot wounds from a gunman at the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane, Melbourne on 18 June 2007.
At 8.00am after attending a night club the assailant grabbed hold of his girlfriend and showed her a handgun he had secreted in the front of his trousers. He took her to a nearby underground car park when Mr Borg who was cleaning the car park, saw the assailant holding a woman against a wall with his forearm and holding a handgun. The assailant saw Mr Borg and pointed the weapon at him whereupon Mr Borg pushed his workmate out of view and ran up to William Street to raise the alarm.
The woman was momentarily able to elude the assailant and ran screaming to street level, tried to enter a taxi but was dragged back by the hair by the assailant.
Mr de Waard and Mr Keilar, separately, saw the assault and walked up to the couple to intervene. Without warning the gunman then produced his 40 calibre handgun and shot the two men and his girlfriend several times then casually ran off down Flinders Lane. Mr Keilar died at the scene and Mr de Waard and the assailant’s girlfriend were evacuated to hospital.
Ms Aquino was walking across the intersection when she heard a woman screaming and being pulled by her hair by a man who produced a gun and shot the woman and two men. She ran across the road, screaming at the gunman to stop. The gunman looked at her and ran off.
Messrs Baker, Goddard, Bobeff and Genziuk and Ms Walker, McGowan, Ploenges, and Gray all witnessed the shooting and stopped to tend to the three shotgun victims despite not knowing the whereabouts of the gunman.
(Mr Baker is unable to attend the investiture.)
MR STEPHEN GRANT
MR DWAYNE TAMME
in going to the rescue of a man intent on suicide by drowning in the Ovens River on 24 May 2008.
At about 10.45am Messrs Grant and Tamme saw a man jump off the Ovens Bridge into the icy Ovens River.
They saw the man floating face-down in the water and Mr Grant jumped in and swam to the man who resisted violently and moved further out to the middle of the river. Mr Tamme followed Mr Grant into the river and together the two men were able to bring the drowning man, now unconscious, to the river bank where he was resuscitated.
The driver was rescued by emergency services and flown to hospital.
MR MICHAEL SCHMIDT
MR DAVID COHRS
MR ROBIN JOHNS
in going to the rescue of a man from electrocution at a building site at Merbein South, Vic on 9 July 2008.
At about 2.20pm a man was carrying out repairs to a hydraulic scissor lift at a building site when the platform of the lift came into contact with 22,000 volt power lines causing the man to be electrocuted and to be thrown back against the machine, remaining in contact with the current continuing to electrocute the man and causing serious burns to his body.
Nearby workmen, including Messrs Schmidt, Cohrs and Johns rushed to help the victim. Aware that the machine and the victim were live with electrical current and the attendant risk of being electrocuted themselves, they used a nearby large wooden pole and managed to lever the man away from the machine.
Mr Schmidt, realising that the man’s elbow was still close to the machine and arcing power into the victim, ran to get a load sling which he placed around the man’s ankles. The three men then pulled the victim to safety and tended him until an ambulance arrived.
MR TIMOTHY STEVEN SMITH
in going to the rescue of three men from drowning in the surf at Blairgowrie Back Beach, Vic on 22 March 2008.
At midday three friends decided to go for a surf sharing a 9-10ft paddle board. The surf was high with a strong rip running next to the rocks. Two of them paddled out 50m and turned to face the shore when a white wash picked them up, the board nose-dived and travelled out to sea leaving the two men to swim to shore. One of the men was having difficulties as both were dragged by the current into the rip. They signalled for help to their friend on the beach who swam out to help but was caught in the rip.
At this point Mr Smith and an American friend, both experienced surfers saw two of the men signalling for help and immediately swam out to the three men, reaching the man furthest out and helped him to shore then went to the aid of the other two men, one of whom was now unconscious, and brought them to shore.
Unfortunately the unconscious man failed to respond to medical treatment.
(Mr Daniel Thompson will be presented with his award in the USA)