Good Onya Mate

[unfrufru]

Since we have a thread about the smacktards of society, i thought we should also have one for people who do good things for society, day to day, no matter how big or little. more of a feel good thread rather than a the world is shit thread.

Bravery awards recognise 150 heroes
August 29, 2005 - 1:09PM

Despite the pain and weakness from blood loss after being shot twice during his commerce lecture, Monash University academic Lee Gordon-Brown managed to grab and hold the gunman who had shot him.



For a heroic effort that prevented an ugly situation becoming much worse on October 21, 2002, Dr Gordon-Brown, from Montrose in Victoria, will receive the Star of Courage, topping the latest round of national bravery awards.

But it has been a good year for heroism, with 150 people recognised for their courage, including seven group citations by a total of 63 people who responded to dangerous incidents including the terrorist bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta and the crash of a car into a Sydney childcare centre.

In the latest bravery list, no-one was awarded the top honour the Cross of Valour, of which just five have been awarded since initiation of the current Australian awards system in 1975.

But three received the next highest honour, the Star of Courage, while 28 others received the Bravery Medal, 56 were commended for brave conduct and there were seven group bravery citations to 63 people.

Chair of the Australian Bravery Decorations Council Professor Valerie Pratt said these awards recognised many acts of selflessness in the face of grave danger.
"Without thought for themselves recipients of awards have demonstrated outstanding bravery in going to the aid of their fellow citizens or acting in ways to protect and secure property under extreme threat such as occurred in the case of those recognised for their role after the terrorist bombing at the Australian Embassy Jakarta in 2004," she said.

The two other recipients of the Star of Courage are Colin Jeremy Sutton of Gold Grove in South Australia and Ronald James Wall of Toowoomba in Queensland.

Mr Sutton was working at the Santos Gas Plant in June 2001 when a pump started leaking flammable liquid. He twice tried to close off the leaking valve, the second time suffering fatal burns when the shed was engulfed in flames.

Mr Wall was driving on the Logan Motorway in February 2004 when he stopped to help at a three-car collision. Mr Wall twice entered a burning vehicle, rescuing a trapped child and then the woman driver.

Dr Gordon-Brown, Mr Sutton and Mr Wall were all awarded the Star of Courage for displaying "conspicuous courage."

In the Jakarta embassy bombing on September 9, 2004, a vehicle bombing exploded just outside the front gates, killing 11 and injuring 180.

In the aftermath, it was believed there would be another bomb but embassy personnel, both Australians and locally engaged staff acted speedily to ensure the safety of others and secure the site.

In the Roundhouse Child Care Centre at Fairlight, Sydney, on the afternoon of December 15, 2003, children and staff were going about their usual activities when a car crashed into the building and caught fire, trapping young girls.

Despite thick black smoke and the danger of fire, staff acted promptly to remove other children from danger. Passers-by helped evacuate the children, lift the car to rescue the injured youngsters and remove the injured and unresponsive driver

[Gutter Monkey]

Uh .... I guess that Sutton was awarded his medal posthumously.

[Kylie]

What do you have to do to get the cross of Valour, if even dying doesnt count?

[Mythor]

Dying isn't valorous. And the commendations are based on the actions, not necessarily the result. 5 medals in 30 years should give you a hint of just how extraordinary an act is required. The award would lose some of it's significance if it was handed out too freely. It'd diminish the importance for those who do get awarded it, etc.

[Gutter Monkey]

I finally tracked down a listing of all Cross of Valour recipients & what they did at the Australian bravery Association's website. Good on them.

1988: CFS brigade captain Darrell Tree (he's on the far right, the Cross of valour is the gold cross with the red ribbon) for saving a 3 yr old boy from a crane which was electrified. In doing so he was electrocuted & knocked unconscious twice and he got pretty badly messed up. (His injuries were so bad that one of his toes needed to be amputated.)

1993: Victor Boscoe chased two armed robbers, ramming their car repeatedly even though they'd already shot him with a shotgun.

1998: Allan Sparkes kept going down into a flooded storm drain (sometimes without a safety rope) to save a 12 yr old boy.

2002: Sen. Con. Timothy Britten and Richard Joyes went into the bombed Sari club in Bali and pulled people out, even though the place was a raging inferno and they were aware that the terrorists might have set another bomb to get any rescue workers. They were both burned & cut up. Britten later required skin grafts.

Apparently to get the Cross of Valour you have to go into a situation where you know you're quite likely to get killed, and even after getting severely wounded you keep going until the people in trouble are saved.

If you're awarded a cross of valour you get to add the postnominals CV after your name. (The other bravery medals get similar postnominals.)

And you can buy a replica cross here - if you're really tacky.


[edit]
Wow, I just found out from the Dept of Veteran Affairs that if any of these guys had earned their medal during a war or "warlike operations" and they later went onto a pension then they'd be entitled to Decoration Allowance - an extra $2.10 a fortnight.
AUSTRALIA SALUTES YOU!!!!

[Renee_Turner]

Big cheer for whoever wrote the caption for the back page of The Saturday Mercury.

I originally thought it was a typo, but on further consideration, realised that the letter 'n' is so far away from the other two that it must have been done on purpose. Later editions were edited to remove the offensive word. What did it say?

"Sydney hero Nick Davis celebrates after kicking the winning goal in last night's cunt-throat semi-final win over Geelong."

There's a pic on this page

[Mythor]

A big thumbs up to Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce.
"If you take away from your choices the ability to cross the floor, then you need only send a proxy into the chamber, because there's no real purpose in you being there," he said. "If it's self evident that you will vote for every piece of legislation as it comes up, then what's the purpose of you being in the chamber?"
Darn tootin', mate.

It's sad that that even has to be said. Every member of Government should start from that position, it should not be an extraordinary statement by a "maverick".

[VAxwell]

*hugs Mr Barnaby*

[Laney]

goold old barnaby makes the paper twice today. he's the one who's stopped the VSU being introduced into universities for next year
heh, i think it's good, i know lots won't.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...796569690.html

[Mythor]

Yah, I don't necessarily agree with him on everything, but I had to give him a thumbs up for actually assessing things and deciding whether to vote for or against them based on their merits as he sees them, not because the Liberals tell him what to think.
He may have been voted in as "a Nationals Senator", but people expect (or hope) that politicians will try and do what they think is the right thing by the people who voted for them. Not just rubberstamp things that a very select group of people, who may not even be politicians themselves, put forth as a plan of action.

[Renee_Turner]

Good Onya Police Lt Denman, for recognising that stupid behaviour done by kids in not the fault of TV and movies, though the journalist really wanted to say so.

[Mythor]

Kids were playing chicken long before the TV/Movies mentioned were around.
And if it hadn't been behaviour "copied" from there, it would've been something else equally stupid. Because they're kids. And kids are stupid.

[Renee_Turner]

Kids are stupid. One deliberately ran out in front of me the other day when I was driving. It's bad enough with cars cutting me off, but note to the rest of humanity: There is a big L plate on the front of my car. That means I may not be able to stop (I can, but that's not the point).

[Edward]

Originally Posted by Mythor

Kids were playing chicken long before the TV/Movies mentioned were around.

One of my high-school teachers in around 1994, who must have been in around her mid 40s at the time, had no memory of events in her life before the age of 14 due to playing chicken and being hit by a car at that age. I'm pretty sure no-one was blaming the movies back then.

Denman could lift his game a little though:

Originally Posted by the_article

Parents talk to their children about all kinds of things, warning them away from drinking and drugs. Playing chicken on the highway isn't something you think your children will be out doing, Denman said.

"At what point do you think about telling them not to lie down in the road?" he said.

Well, you don't necessarily think about them playing chicken specifically (unless there have been a lot of kids doing so lately), but there are a few other areas you should probably go over with your kids that probably cover this situation:
1. Don't play on the road. At all. Ever.
2. Don't do stupid, dangerous things.
2.1. Not even if other kids say you should.
2.2. Not even if other kids do them too.

The trick to avoiding the mess and expense that an untimely, and possibly icky death can cause is to actually spend time with your children teaching them to be responsible enough not to try amputating their own head with a powersaw just because they saw someone on TV/the Internet/a computer game do so. This might involve actually keeping an eye on what your children are watching on TV or doing on their computer, not just plonking them in front of it and walking away. You don't even need to prevent them from watching/playing anything, you can spend time discussing it with them to ensure they know the difference between right and wrong, and between reality and fantasy. I know this flies in the face of the modern "now that you're weaned you're off to daycare, see you when you've finished high-school" parenting philosophy, but I don't recall where it was written that parenting is something to be done in your spare time.

Rant over. Tune in next week when I'll be going back to my other favorite kind of moron - people who jump off things and break their necks then sue the local council because "there should have been a sign warning me not to be a complete cockwallet".

[op shop girl]

When my mum was little she got her 4 year old sister hit by a car because she wanted to be the baby of the family again. Some kids are morons, some are evil.

Oh dear, I think this thread is slowly morphing into the Smacktards thread. It's just so damn hard to stay optimistic.

For a positive twist on children and television, Good-onya to the two little boys who won the costume parade at Whovention 7 over the weekend.

The young brothers were dressed as the 4th and 5th doctors, complete with a miniature K-9. Aside from the fantastic outfits (mini-Davison had crete-paper celery pinned to his jacket), the mini-Baker had a little paper bag of jelly babies!

Before everyone jumps to the conclusion that the kids were set up by the parents, I had a short chat with the boys, and they are genuine die-hard fans. Mini-geeks are so cute.