News

On Sunday 13th October the NSW SES hosted the Annual Emergency Services Volunteer Memorial Service held at Mrs Macquarie’s Road, The Domain, Sydney.

A moving ceremony in memory of the members of all volunteer emergency services who have fallen in the line of duty. This year in particular Billy Martin of the NSW SES Shellharbour City Unit who passed whilst responding to storm damage in November 2018, has his name now inscribed on the stone. 

Acting Commissioner Kyle Stewart, Deputy Commissioner Fatima Abbas and Deputy Commissioner Greg Newton attended the memorial, together with leaders and volunteers representing emergency services.

The NSW SES would like to thank everyone who attended the ceremony over the weekend to pay their respects.

Background of the Volunteers Memorial

On 1 January 1999 the Premier of New South Wales, the Honourable Bob Carr MP, announced that a memorial would be established to honour the emergency service volunteers of New South Wales, particularly those who have lost their lives as a result of that service.

The fine tradition of Australians who generously serve their community has often evoked responses from artists to celebrate that service. This memorial to volunteers of the Emergency Services of the State is a collaboration of many branches of the Arts.

Master stonemason, George Proudman, proposed that a “scuntion”, a single massive piece of stone, would eloquently represent the strength and durability of the volunteers. The architect, Richard Leplastrier, embraced this concept in the elegant, simple design for the memorial, in partnership with the Department of Public Works’ and Services project manager, Ron Powell, and the Government Architect, Chris Johnson.

The 60 tonne scuntion bears the markings of the giant saw the ingenious Stratti Family used to cut the stone from the bedrock at the “Hell-hole” Quarry in Pyrmont. A team of stonemasons from the Department of Public Works and Services, led by Alf Pires, carved a perfectly horizontal plane as the celebratory tableau.

Potter, Andrew Halford, sensitively responded with a bowl to serve as a “font” to sit upon the tableau.

The bowl is stored in a special box when not in use and can be transported to distant corners of the state to form the centerpiece of regional ceremonies. Cabinet-maker, Jeffrey Broadfield, has crafted the box from venerable timber from River Red Gums which have lain under the banks of the Murray River for more than 10,000 years.

The inscriptions in the stone are the work of a team of letter cutters led by Gordon Brown, who is also a volunteer firefighter.

The words include Judith Wright’s poem “Landscapes”. Frail health precluded this great poet from writing a new work for the memorial. Publisher, Tom Thompson, generously granted the copyright for this work, which she had written some four decades earlier.

Peter Sculthorpe adapted Wright’s words into a poignant musical composition, flexibly scored to allow its performance at ceremonies by a single voice or groups of performers. The original score rests on a shelf in the Broadfield box and will also travel for use at distant ceremonies.

All involved donated some of their time and effort in appreciation of the service rendered by the volunteers. It is indeed rare that in a single work so many layers of the Arts have come together to form such a strong collaboration. The Memorial was dedicated by Her Excellency Professor The Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AD,CVO Governor of New South Wales, at a service hosted by the Honourable Bob Debus MP, Minister for Emergency Services, on 3rd of June 2001.

Melanie Gibbons MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Families, Disability and Emergency Services, represented the Hon David Elliott MP, Minister for Police and Emergency Services.