Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to pay tribute to one of the outstanding surf lifesaving clubs within the Shortland electorate, Swansea Belmont Surf Life Saving Club, a club that yesterday celebrated 85 years. It is a club that is the focal point of that community and that has held both state and Australian titles over the years. It has a proud record in relation. It is one of the strongest clubs in New South Wales from a competitive point of view. But it also has a strong record when it comes to patrolling the beaches and ensuring safety on those beaches. But no matter how strong the surf club is, no matter how committed the volunteers are, there are many occasions on which lives are lost. That has been the case at Swansea Belmont.

The club has received many awards over the years for saving lives. The first one recorded was for saving the lives of Joseph Thorpe and John Maclean from drowning off Green Island on 3 April 1927. For that, the club received a certificate from the Royal Shipwrights Relief and Humane Society of New South Wales. That was presented to James Edwards. There have been many other such certificates awarded. But there have also been times, as I indicated, when surf lifesavers from Swansea Belmont have given their absolute all and yet lives have been lost. On Christmas Day in 1950 there was an unsuccessful attempt to save a young man. In 1974, a nun drowned in big seas near Belmont Swansea surf club. That shows that people who work in surf lifesaving are totally committed to ensuring safety. But at times that commitment is really tested when lives are lost.

I would like to give particular credit to the president, Craig Wallace, and to Cliffy Marsh OAM, who as a lifetime member of the club has worked as a coach and really made an enormous contribution to surf lifesaving not only at Belmont Swansea but throughout the whole of the Hunter. That is the way of Belmont Swansea. Belmont Swansea is a club that is committed to surf lifesaving. (Time expired)