Search and Rescue.

A Victorian Search and Rescue committee was established in 1954 after the earlier successful rescue of a young couple, Kirk McLeod and Jennifer Laycock, at Mt Donna Buang near Warburton.

The committee was led by the Police, and included the Federation of Victorian Bushwalking Clubs, the Board of Works, the Forests Commission, the Country Fire Authority, the State Electricity Commission and the National Safety Council.

The history of organised search and rescue efforts can be traced back to when the Melbourne Walking and Touring Club banded together with other groups into the Federation of Victorian Bushwalking Clubs in 1934. And while their chief Interest was enjoying the bush, in 1949 a dozen walkers joined in the search for a man missing at Wilsons Promontory.

The Federation then formed a Search and Rescue Section to assist Police looking for people lost in remote or difficult terrain. In the early 1990s the name changed to Bushwalkers Search and Rescue.

The Forests Commission mainly took a supporting role to the Police by providing staff with local knowledge of bush tracks as well as provision of 4WD vehicles and drivers. The Commission’s field offices and radio system always played a key role.

The 1954-55 annual report describes the Commission’s role in the dramatic search and rescue of two men at Mt Baw Baw. One of the members of initial search party, 19-year-old David Hally, became lost himself and was rescued after 6 days in the snow, but the body of 21-year-old skier Mihram Haig was never found.

“The Commission’s radio equipment and organisation under the direction of the radio engineer were used effectively over a period of ten days in an intensive search for two persons missing in the Baw Baw mountains during the winter. Field communications were based on VL3AZ, Tanjil Bren, and fourteen stations were in operation.”

The Police formed a specialist Search and Rescue Squad not long after in 1957 while the State Emergency Service (SES) was formed in 1975.