Four people on the Far South Coast have been awareded special King’s Birthday honours for their tireless and inspiring work.
Sexual, domestic and family violence sector worker from Batemans Bay, Kai Noonan, has been acknowledged for his work and his service to the LGBTIQ+ community with an Order Of Australia Medal.
While former police officer and Marine Rescue Batemans Bay volunteer, Colin Tritton, and Surf Lifesaving NSW State Duty Officer, Andrew Edmunds, have each been awarded an Emergency Services Medal for their dedication to saving lives along the Far South Coast.
Dr Jodie Ward, has been awarded the Public Service Medal in recognition of her former leadership of the AFP’s National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons.
The former Bega High School student, is an internationally recognised forensic human identification expert and joined the AFP in 2020 to lead the National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons.
During her four years with the AFP, Doctor Ward was instrumental in spearheading the establishment and implementation of the National DNA Program which helped resolve 19 missing person cold cases.
The National DNA Program enhanced collaboration between the AFP, state and territory police, along with coronial and forensic agencies to resolve cold cases of unidentified and missing persons.
Doctor Ward has had a wide-reaching impact on the Australian community with her pioneering forensic identification capabilities positioning the AFP at the forefront of best practice in human identification practices in Australia and globally.
Mr Noonan who’s worked in the sexual, domestic and family violence sector for around 15 years, hopes accepting the award will help to continue the conversation around domestic violence, especially within the LGBTIQ+ community.
Starting a career working in social services, drug and alcohol, asylum seekers and refugees, Mr Noonan said domestic violence was prevalent and a common occurring issue in all those settings.
Meantime, Mr Edmunds has been at the forefront of emergency services operations with Surf Lifesaving NSW at the state, branch and local club levels.
As a state duty officer, Mr Edmunds coordinates major emergency services incidents on the NSW coast.
At the branch level, he coordinates support operations, management of incidents, rescue craft operations, incident debriefings and post incident support, including referral to counselling when required.
Mr Edmunds contributed to the development of the business case to establish the South Coast Westpac Lifesaver helicopter which is regularly used for search and rescue missions along the coast. Mr Edmunds was also the lead rescuer and first responder in a range of offshore incidents along the Far South Coast.
And Batemans Bay Marine Rescue unit Life Member, Mr Tritton has been awarded an Emergency Services Medal for his dedication to saving lives on the water.
Mr Tritton has given meritorious service to the NSW community as a volunteer member of Marine Rescue Batemans Bay for almost 25 years, having joined the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol (RVCP) in 1999. Prior to joining, Mr Tritton had a distinguished career with NSW Police including as a Police diver and then with the Water Police (now Marine Area Command).
With the RVCP, he was responsible for establishing a training regime.
Through his training, he was able to assist in producing a new wave of qualified coxswains in the Monaro region, which was much needed particularly around the time of the merger to form MRNSW.
As a qualified Marine Rescue NSW Master, he has led numerous challenging search and rescue operations in response to traumatic emergencies over his years of service. Mr Tritton has recorded hundreds of hours of sea time and until a recent illness, made himself available around the clock to respond to emergencies on the water, personally conducting numerous rescue missions, often in dark and dangerous conditions.
“Our volunteers sacrifice personal and family time to help boaters in distress at any time of day or night to help keep our waterways as safe as possible and I thank all of them for their commitment to service and saving lives on the water,” Marine Rescue NSW Commissioner Alex Barrell said.
Images: Surf LifeSaving NSW, Marine Rescue NSW, LGBTQI+ Australia, AFP
