Lifesavers celebrate 50 years of helicopter service

SURF Life Saving Australia is closing out the year with a celebration of 50 years of their helicopter service.

Launched in 1973 with a $25,000 grant from Westpac, Australia’s first civilian search and rescue operation began with a Bell 47 helicopter patrolling Sydney’s coastline.

Today, the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service has grown impressively, boasting a fleet of 15 state-of-the-art rescue helicopters, operating from 13 locations across the country.

 

Life Saving Victoria manager of lifesaving response Liam O’Callaghan, commended the service’s evolution.

“It’s 50 years since the first Westpac chopper service started up nationwide,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

“It’s Life Saving Victoria’s eyes in the sky, keeping people safe around the water in Victoria.”

 

The service’s rescue techniques have advanced over the years. Initially, lifesavers would jump into the water from helicopters.

Now people in distress are swiftly winched into the helicopters for immediate first aid.

“They are also on standby for search and rescue support, and emergencies over land and water across the state,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

 

For the peak holiday period, two choppers, Life Saver 30 and Life Saver 31, will operate daily, mainly covering areas between Apollo Bay, Wilson’s Prom, and around Port Phillip Bay.

The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service has performed more than 100,000 missions over the past 50 years.

These include coastal search and rescues, responding to inland motor vehicle and farming incidents, and transferring critically ill patients between hospitals.

 

These missions have been crucial in some of Australia’s most challenging moments, including the 1977 Granville train disaster, the 1998 Sydney to Hobart tragedy, and the more recent Black summer bushfires, and floods in NSW, Queensland, and Victoria.

“Last year, the chopper responded to 88 emergencies, including 28 specific flood response taskings, supporting various state emergency services,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

 

Westpac Group Chief Executive Peter King said the partnership with Surf Life Saving Australia was deeply embedded in the bank’s own history.

“For 50 years, the crew and personnel of the service have been there through some of the most significant moments that the country has faced – from the Granville train disaster, the Thredbo landslide to the Port Arthur tragedy – and we look forward to continuing to work with the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Services around Australia to keep us safe from above.”