The Royal Humane Society of Australia
Annual Bravery Awards presentation to Queensland Residents
15 April 2009
Honorary Secretary of The Royal Humane Society of Australasia, Mr Colin Bannister OAM,
Acting Deputy Queensland Police Commissioner, Mr Ross Barnett, representing the Police Commissioner and Honorary Correspondent of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia in Queensland, Mr Bob Atkinson APM,
Deputy Commissioner, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, Mr Iain MacKenzie,
Award recipients,
Families and Friends of the award recipients,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the spirit of reconciliation that we wish to promote throughout Queensland, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples and their descendants.
What extraordinary stories of bravery we have just been privileged to hear, listening to those citations read out one by one by Colin Bannister; and what a proud occasion for the family members and friends of the Queensland residents whose courageous actions have been honoured by the Royal Humane Society through the conferring of these national awards, to see this very public recognition of their bravery.
These bravery awards are not the only ones conferred in Australia. Since the Australian Honours system was established in 1975, there has been a section within the Order of Australia for recognising bravery, but the Royal Humane Society Bravery awards stand out for several reasons: they are the oldest - dating back to 1774 in England and to 1874 in Australia (in fact, the Society claims the distinction of being the very first Federal institution in Australia) - and the awards are exclusively for bravery where the awardee put his or her own life at risk. Since their inception in Australia, in Victoria, now over 135 years ago, they have become the measure, the benchmark of heroic effort and of genuinely selfless courage; and I am assured that the conferring of the different classes of awards involves the most careful of judgments by the Court of Directors whose task it is to consider and assess all the recommendations that are put to them by organisations and members of the public. It is noteworthy, for example, that the Gold medal has been awarded to fewer than sixty persons since the awards were instituted.
What this tells me is that these awards - in every class - are truly a very great honour to receive and that their conferral marks each recipient as belonging to a very special group of persons within our community - individuals who have acted not simply courageously, but who have demonstrated courage of a high order, by consciously, knowingly, placing themselves at risk, putting their own lives in danger to assist, to save others; persons who have shown not only bravery, but humanity.
Humanity is a rather old-fashioned word; if you look it up in the dictionary, you'll find it has various meanings: but the humanity of which I speak today is the one which gives its title to the Society - The Royal Humane Society - meaning "the quality of being humane, of kindness"- where being ‘humane' denotes compassion for other persons who are suffering or distressed. It is this combination of qualities - of courage, selflessness, compassion and humanity - that we honour and celebrate today, in this formal awards ceremony.
My own involvement, as the Head of our State, as the Patron of the Society in Queensland and as the personal representative of the Society's Patron-in-Chief, Her Majesty the Queen, underlines the significance of the awards and our wish that they be conferred at the highest level possible. Just as your families and friends feel proud of you, so, too, does the State take great pride in your actions; and all members of our community - not just those who were touched directly by your bravery - can celebrate the fact that 31 residents of Queensland have been acknowledged in this year's awards.
Reading the details of the awards before the ceremony - and again, listening to the citations - I was struck by a number of things.
Firstly, that every case involved situations of acute danger, excruciatingly difficult decisions on your part, and extraordinary - sometimes wonderful - sometimes heartbreaking - outcomes.
Secondly, how challenging our physical environment can be: with some of the most beautiful and appealing aspects of our Queensland way of life - our waterways and beaches - also some of the most hazardous: eight of twelve of the acts of bravery which we are recognising today involved saving people from drowning, in very different circumstances and locations.
Thirdly, the very different age and backgrounds of our awardees. You come from all walks of life. Some of you - members of the Police Force, Queensland Fire and Rescue and RACQ Rescue - have chosen careers which deal in risk. We who live within the shelter, so to speak, of the services you provide, need to be reminded from time to time that our peace of mind is acquired by employing/relying on others - you - to take the risks; and also that in this area, as elsewhere, there are individuals who stand out - who take risks beyond what is expected or required. I noted in the Society's annual report that where applications or nominations are received on behalf of members of Emergency Services - such as Police, Fire and Ambulance - awards are made only if the circumstances of the incident are judged to be over and above the call of duty.
Beyond those acts of bravery we have come to expect - almost to take for granted - from our police and rescue personnel, there are the unexpected heroes who emerged from nowhere - or rather, from wherever they happened to be when a moment of crisis occurred: students - school children as young as 13 - an apprentice, a tradesperson, a truck driver. For many, if not most of you, this would have been the first time you have been put in the situation of deciding whether to put your own life at risk to save another's. It is a unique situation which few of us experience.
For all of you there was, however, one common element - you were forced to make a very quick decision on what to do, how to react. I think at some time we all wonder - if not worry - how we would handle such situations and whether we would have the courage to act in the way that you did.
Perhaps we will never know the answer. But you all know and for the rest of your lives, you can savour this knowledge and this bravery award as a just and enduring recognition of what you are capable of achieving and of a grateful society's way of saying "thank you" for your decisiveness, your strength of character and your commitment to others, for the courage you showed when put to the test.
As the English writer and critic, Cyril Connolly, put it: "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point".
By your courage, you have claimed an exceptional place in our community. We salute your bravery, we honour your humanity and we hold the hope that your selfless actions and your willingness to risk your own lives to save others will inspire others to similar acts of courage in the future.