Queen's Birthday Honours: Emergency Services Medal awarded to Caron Parfitt of Bermagui Marine Rescue

Ms Parfitt moved from Sydney to Bermagui around nine years ago after working in the fields of strategy and project management within financial services throughout her working career.

When she moved to Bermagui, she was still working part-time but wanted to volunteer as she had extra time on her hands.

"I walked past the Marine Rescue office one day and thought I would see if they had any opportunities, because I did spend a lot of time sailing in Sydney and we had a yacht up there."

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That was the start of Ms Parfitt's journey with Marine Rescue NSW. She started with a radio room shift where she would monitor their 24/7 emergency channel and then over time she took on a fundraising role, before taking on leadership roles and finally ending up as the Bermagui unit commander four years ago.

She was the first female operational MRNSW coxswain, and recorded hundreds of hours of sea time to progress to be a skilled and respected rescue vessel master.

Ms Parfitt no longer works in a professional setting and so has dedicated much of her time to her role with the organisation. MRNSW is funded partly through boat licence registrations and the remainder through local fundraising efforts and events.

MRNSW trains its teams to the same competency as commercial crews, however they also have additional competencies in the area of marine rescue.

Ms Parfitt walked ACM through the rescue process.

She said a call usually came in from the radio or via an emergency triple-zero call. Then volunteers would get tasked from their Regional Operations Manager, with crews alerted and activated via text. Members indicate their availability and crews would the come and prepare the rescue vessel. When an adequate crew had reported for duty and all information received, the rescue would commence.

She said the types of boat rescues conducted at Bermagui usually involved recreational users, fishermen, or yachts that were transiting the coastline. The Bermagui vessel was created to be able to tow a large yacht if required.

Other search and rescues could include lost swimmers whereby her team would work alongside other rescue organisations such as Surf Life Saving NSW.

Ms Parfitt remembered a particular rescue when a single call came in from a vessel that said it was sinking off the beach at Bermagui. Unable to reach the boat, the mission was activated through the Regional Operations Manager who immediately got on to the water police.

Because there was no further response from the vessel, the team had to assume the boat was sinking so helicopters were deployed along with two Marine Rescue vessels. Fortunately, the two fishermen were found not far from Bermagui clinging to the underside of the vessel.

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During the 2019-20 bushfire emergency, Ms Parfitt was tasked to be in operational readiness mode to assist with water evacuations and she liaised with the Bermagui Surf Club during the evacuation process, before finally being evacuated herself.

Ms Parfitt said about a third of her team of 34 volunteers were women, but she hoped her Emergency Services Medal would inspire and encourage other women to join.

"Marine Rescue suits anyone who has a few hours a week to volunteer and wants to help people.

"Sometimes women might see the boat and think they have to go out to sea but they don't have to do all of that, the radio is another option and a lot of that is about communication with people at sea.

"You don't need any particular skills, we provide all the training," she said.