Member since 2023
I first heard about VRA Rescue NSW through its strong reputation in the local community. I was drawn to the professionalism and trust associated with the squad, and the more I learned about VRA, the more I felt that the team shared a similar set of core values and ethics to my own.
Volunteering has really been part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child I was a Brownie Guide, and while at boarding school I remember delivering food to people in the local community following our Harvest Festival donations. As an adult, that continued through the P&C at my children’s school, volunteering as a Leader with Girl Guides Australia, and using my skills as a hairdresser in a volunteer capacity to help women experiencing health issues feel a little more like themselves again.
I wanted to contribute to my local community in a practical way, but I also wanted to challenge myself, learn new skills and be part of a team where those skills could make a genuine difference to someone. I have also always been interested in the unusual, out-of-the-box emergency scenarios where you need to think, adapt and problem-solve rather than simply follow a predictable path. VRA was a natural fit for that interest. What I probably didn’t appreciate when I joined was just how many opportunities VRA would give me, or how much I would grow personally along the way.
Volunteering gives you the opportunity to be useful. When someone calls for help, they don’t necessarily know who is going to turn up. Behind the uniforms and rescue trucks are ordinary people from all sorts of backgrounds who have chosen to give their time, train and develop the skills needed to help someone on what may be one of the worst days of their life.
I love the teamwork, the problem-solving and the constant learning. I also love that there isn’t just one way to contribute. Since joining VRA I have become an operational rescue member and taken on the position of Secretary. In 2025, I had the opportunity to participate in the Balance for Women program, which encouraged me to continue developing my confidence and leadership skills. More recently, I have also had the opportunity to join the VRA Rescue NSW Peer Support Team. Those experiences have shown me that volunteering isn’t only about what happens at an incident. It is also about looking after the people beside you, supporting your organisation and helping build something that will still be there for the next person who needs it.
Since joining, I’ve had the opportunity to develop skills across a remarkably broad range of rescue work. I’ve trained alongside some incredibly experienced rescue operators and had opportunities to put those skills into practice in real situations.
You never quite know what the next call or training opportunity will involve. I have attended road crash rescues and lighting jobs, helped with cows stuck in mud and a calf in the Hunter River, assisted with searches for missing people following floods and in bushland, and relocated snakes from some interesting places.
One operation that has stayed with me was the search for a man who went missing with his two dachshunds in the Watagan Mountains over the Australia Day long weekend. He was reported to have mobility issues, and our search began as we were losing daylight. He was eventually located in the early hours of the morning, thanks to PolAir and their heat seeking capability, at which point the task changed from land search and rescue to vertical rescue. With a fresh team, we carried vertical rescue equipment on foot, using portable lighting along steep, narrow tracks. The casualty was ultimately winched out, while his two exhausted dogs were brought back up with the vertical rescue team.
Emergency service volunteers spend a lot of time learning how to look after members of the public but looking after each other matters just as much. VRA has given me a solid platform on which to continue building my skills and confidence.
If there is one thing my experience with VRA has reinforced, it’s that you’re never too old to learn something new, challenge yourself or find another way to contribute.
Meet other members like Tracey by joining your local VRA Rescue NSW squad.