LOCAL resident Sue Sheldrick received an Emergency Services Medal on Australia Day, in honour of her distinguished service to the SES.
Awarded by the Governor-General, the Emergency Services Medal was instituted in 1999 to recognise distinguished service as a member of an Australian emergency service.
It also recognises people who are involved in emergency management, training or education.
Ms Sheldrick has spent the past 14 years as a community resilience co-ordinator with the SES, and was recognised for her "outstanding commitment in emergency management operations, training and community education and engagement".
She is VICSES Hume regional unit volunteer and level three public information officer and committed to the provision of invaluable public information and community liaison work on the front line in major events.
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Incidents she has attended across Victoria and in NSW have included:
The Victorian flood events of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2022;
Fire campaigns of 2003, 2006, 2009, 2019/20;
Storm events of 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021;
A blue-green algae emergency in 2016, and
Earthquake events in 2017, 2021, and 2022.
Ms Sheldrick has also undertaken volunteer duties so she could fulfil more community engagement obligations - over and above what is required in her role.
She has been a leader in training and co-ordination as a facilitator of the multi-agency Public Information Officer training suite (including warnings, media and community liaison) and the VICSES Community Engagement Facilitator course for more than 14 years.
Ms Sheldrick has been a pivotal figure in cultural awareness training at VICSES and, more broadly, throughout the sector.
Much of the material used today by VICSES to support CALD and wider communities was developed and enhanced by Ms Sheldrick, who has worked to develop and refine the material over several years.
She has been a go-to for community engagement and public information personnel around the state, providing ongoing leadership and mentoring for staff and volunteers entering the emergency management sector.
Ms Sheldrick has even been honoured before.
As the first female captain of a CFA brigade - at Killawarra in 1994, a role she held for almost six years - a street at a Victorian Emergency Training Centre was named after her.
