By Oliver Winn
VICSES will turn 50 on Wednesday 5 March, marking five decades of providing essential emergency services to those in need all over Victoria.
VICSES has responded to some of Victoria’s most historic and challenging emergency events such as Ash Wednesday, Black Saturday and Victoria’s strongest earthquake in Mansfield.
Established in 1972, the Upper Yarra SES unit has its own rich history serving the unique challenges posed by the Yarra Ranges area.
Ex Upper Yarra SES member Bob Sanders joined in 1991 when the unit only had 12 members, which were mainly older men who had worked as mechanics or panel beaters.
At the time, the unit had limited resources and equipment, with only two vehicles and a hydraulic rescue tool, also known as the jaws of life.
Before the Upper Yarra SES was called the SES, it was known as the Civil Defence Organisation – a volunteer organisation which could be quickly mobilised in the event of war or other emergencies.
The Upper Yarra Civil Defence Organisation’s first-ever unit controller was Bill Brown.
Mr Sanders worked with Mr Brown when he was unit controller and said he was a terrific person to start the SES up.
A regimented, passionate and highly successful man, Mr Brown led the Upper Yarra Civil Defence Organisation unit as a ‘reserve army type operation’ with methodical rigour.
“He definitely spent a lot of time thinking about every scenario and how we could achieve the best outcome for everything that happened,” Mr Sanders said.
The unit had barely any resources and so Mr Brown would outsource the equipment he needed from the community.
“He had an ability to go out and source people and say: ‘Look, if this happens, who can I rely on for these resources’,”he said.
Mr Sanders said Mr Brown’s dream was to have an army that could tackle anything and if he saw Upper Yarra’s SES unit today, he’d think highly of the way it’s run.
Back when Mr Sanders was a part of SES, the unit was run like a family-orientated organisation, with weekly meetings on a Thursday night where members would chat over homecooked meals about their plans for the month ahead of them.
Another ex-Upper Yarra SES member was Michael Young, who joined in 1998.
When he joined, the SES unit shared its headquarters with the local CFA and would cooperate when responding to emergencies in the area.
By this point, the unit was better resourced with three vehicles and four trailers and was considered a larger unit.
“The unit was fairly well sectioned with teams for road rescue, search and rescue, tree damage and stuff like that,” Mr Young said.
Now the Upper Yarra SES unit is led by unit controller Hannah Brunton, the unit’s fourth-ever unit controller, and the first female one too.
“It’s amazing that they serve a long time and are so dedicated to it,” Mr Sanders said.
