Memorial to those Heathcote & Headquarters Members

who have died while fire fighting.

Headquarters Brigade.

Members of the Sutherland Shire Volunteer Bushfire Organisation, Station 10, Headquarters Brigade, who made the supreme sacrifice while fighting a bushfire in the Royal National Park, on the Uloola Track, at Waterfall, New South Wales, on Monday, 3rd of November, 1980.

Five Headquaters Volunteers Die in Bushfire at Waterfall 1980

Alan Crunkhorn (26)	Gregory Rolf (24)	Vernon Stedman (21)	David Marshall (19)	William Cummings (21)

Heathcote Brigade

Members of the Sutherland Shire Volunteer Bushfire Organisation, Station 12, Heathcote Brigade, who made the supreme sacrifice while fighting a bushfire in the Royal National Park, on Anana Hill, at Grays Point, New South Wales, on Sunday, 9th of January, 1983.
Other fire fighters on the tanker that day who were injured were Robert Sawyer, Jim Fowler, Sharon Campbell, Craig Blanche, Craig Goodall, Paul Fenn.

Keith Campbell (50)	Thomas Bielecke (41)	Gregory John Moon (20)

Tradgedy in the Royal National Park, on Anana Hill, at Grays Point 1983

The Shallowness Of It All.

Written by Justin Shell, a member of the Heathcote Volunteer Bush fire Brigade

MOVING SERVICE REMEMBERS VOLUNTEERS LOST AT GRAYS POINT

Firefighting Tragedies of Sutherland Shire

Excerpt from Hansard, Thursday, 10 December 1998

Mrs. D VALE (Hughes)

Last Sunday, the Mayor of Sutherland Shire, Councilor Kevin Schreiber, held a special service of remembrance and dedication for the members of the firefighting community. Neighbours and friends, citizens and elected local representatives gathered in Peace Park in Sutherland for the moving service to pay tribute to our local heroes who gave their lives fighting the summer fires. Upon a rough cairn of bush rocks, carried from the locations where 11 of our local lads died in service since 1977, was placed a blackened yellow jacket and a firefighter’s helmet. Thus was provided a poignant memorial for all of us gathered around there in the morning sunlight.

The mayor gave a moving address and read the roll of honour, and I repeat their names here so that they too may be recorded upon the escutcheon of this nation. On 16 December 1977, Leslie Delardes from Menai Brigade died while fighting a fire near the Old Illawarra Road at Menai. On 3 November 1980, we also knew the shock of losing five men in one tragic instant. Five firefighters from Headquarters Brigade, Steven Crunkhorn, Vernon Stedman, William Cummings, David Marshall and Gregory Rolf, were burnt to death fighting a fire on the Ulloola Track in the Royal National Park near Waterfall. Three years later, on 9 January 1983, we lost another three good men, Keith Campbell, Thomas Bielecke and Gregory Moon from Heathcote Brigade. They were burnt to death in a fireball at Anana Hill near Angle Road, Grays Point in the Royal National Park. In this horrific event another five firefighters were also permanently disfigured by burns. Another five years on, on 16 October 1988, firefighter Allan Rendell from Illawong Brigade was crushed to death when a tree fell on his fire truck in Lady Carrington Drive, again in the Royal National Park near Waterfall. And only last year, young Peter Estcourt of Grays Point Brigade died four weeks before his 21st birthday in the Menai fires on 7 December at Still Creek Trail, near Beaumaris Drive, at Menai.

Five wreaths were laid to represent each of the five brigades in our local area that had lost members of their crews. The mayor expressed the eternal gratitude of the local community to the bush firefighters who had given their lives in service, and publicly promised a fitting memorial in Peace Park to help demonstrate that gratitude and to remind all of us that ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’

(Unabbreviated version).

State's Volunteer Firefighters Honored

Sydney, Thursday, May 04, 2000 - Members of the Sutherland Headquarters Rural Fire Brigades have been honored with valor and bravery awards in this year’s NSW Rural Fire Service awards and honors ceremony. The volunteer firefighters join a list of more than 90 NSW RFS volunteers who have distinguished themselves for acts of bravery and outstanding service to the community.

NSW RFS Commissioner Phil Koperberg, who officiated at the second awards ceremony, said the men and women honored today had contributed a great deal to the State of New South Wales. Commissioner Koperberg also made mention of the Sutherland Headquarters Brigade, which lost several of its members during a destructive fire in the Waterfall area as they attempted to protect the local community. “These incidents bring home to us the dangerous and often unpredictable nature of volunteer fire fighting. This is an opportunity for us to acknowledge the risks our members take and also highlight their achievements and sacrifices in the line of duty,” Commissioner Koperberg said.

AWARDS & HONOURS LIST FOR 2000

Commissioner’s Medals for Bravery;

Allan Steven Crunkhorn (Posthumous) – Sutherland Headquarters Brigade

William Cummings (Posthumous) – Sutherland Headquarters Brigade

David Marshall (Posthumous) – Sutherland Headquarters Brigade

Gregory Rolfe (Posthumous)        - Sutherland Headquarters Brigade

Vernon Roy Stedman (Posthumous) - Sutherland Headquarters Brigade