TWO Redland State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers have been honoured with Australia Day Achievement Awards, adding to the swag of awards the Redlands SES has recently received.
Long-serving members Bob Possingham and Michael Patchet were recognised during a ceremony at Parliament House for their consistent support to their fellow members during emergency incidents.
Bob Possingham said he had been volunteering with the Redland SES for 12 years and never expected to receive an award for his work as a peer supporter.
"Neither Michael or I knew we were going to get an award. I'm the kind of person who works in the background," he said.
Bob said he has worked as a youth director for over 40 years before he joined the SES.
"I really enjoy it, but when they found out I had a counselling background they put me in a peer supporter," he said.
"In the last two years they sat me down and put me in as a chaplain too, so it's been an interesting journey over the past two years."
Bob said he loves volunteering as an SES member who assists with both SES emergency callouts and as a peer support member.
"Peer support is about the team, whether they're at an event or not, they may be having marital issues - divorce, or trouble with their kids as well; that's part of our process - to enter the families and help them in that regard," he said.
Bob said one of the most traumatic events the Redland SES had dealt with was the search for the body of Daniel Morcombe.
"There were a number of them involved in trying to find Daniel, some of them have had children of the same age," he said.
"That was a very traumatic event for a lot of them, particularly when the realisation came that they weren't looking for a body, but that the body had been mutilated. That was very hard."
Bob said he takes his hat off for the SES volunteers believing they do a fantastic service for the Redlands and Queensland.
"They're a marvellous bunch of guys, but Michael's the kind of guy who won't stop. From mid December to March he's been going for five days and then he'll be back out again. He deserved what he got."
Michael Patchet humbly added his Australia Day Achievement Award to his Region Member of the Year for 2011.
"I had no idea I was going to get (the Australia Day Achievement Award), someone must have dobbed me in," Michael said.
He said he was honoured to receive the award for his work as a dedicated SES volunteer who has worked in communities affected by Cyclone Yasi and the Emerald, Lockyer Valley and Brisbane floods.
"It was pretty nice to get, but with Bob's award at the ceremony they missed reading his name on the list. So at the end they called him back onto the stage to hand it out, he thought it was pretty funny," he said.
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