Les Harrison, of Belmont, has been keeping a watchful eye on the water for about four decades.
Mr Harrison was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the community through emergency response organisations. Part of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association since 1978, he is presently deputy commander at the Geelong flotilla. He is also first lieutenant at the CFA’s Geelong Coast Guard Brigade (where he’s been a volunteer since 2008), and a volunteer with Christ Church Geelong.
“I just love helping people,” he said last week. A hairdresser by trade, Mr Harrison happily puts his hand up at the coast guard when they need someone on deck at short notice. “I generally fill in when other people can’t – my mate has just had a cancer operation, so I’m going in on Sunday to fill his shift.”
Mr Harrison said people’s behaviour on the water had improved during his 40-odd years with the coast guard. “People are a lot better now, they know what to look out for in the water and they’ve got good machinery. The outboard motors now are a lot better than they were. “But most of what we get (at the coast guard) are flat batteries and lack of fuel; some people just don’t think.”
Mr Harrison was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the community through emergency response organisations. Part of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association since 1978, he is presently deputy commander at the Geelong flotilla. He is also first lieutenant at the CFA’s Geelong Coast Guard Brigade (where he’s been a volunteer since 2008), and a volunteer with Christ Church Geelong.
“I just love helping people,” he said last week. A hairdresser by trade, Mr Harrison happily puts his hand up at the coast guard when they need someone on deck at short notice. “I generally fill in when other people can’t – my mate has just had a cancer operation, so I’m going in on Sunday to fill his shift.”
Mr Harrison said people’s behaviour on the water had improved during his 40-odd years with the coast guard. “People are a lot better now, they know what to look out for in the water and they’ve got good machinery. The outboard motors now are a lot better than they were. “But most of what we get (at the coast guard) are flat batteries and lack of fuel; some people just don’t think.”