SEYMOUR’S Christine Welsh has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to the local community through emergency response organisations, recognising the incredible amount of work she does for the SES and CFA.
Ms Welsh has served as a volunteer at the Seymour SES since 2009, ascending to a Unit Controller in 2013, while she has also done work for the statewide service as a Road Crash Rescue Assessor, among other roles.
Previously inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women as a State Champion in 2022, Ms Welsh says she was humbled by the recognition.
“I’m more shocked than anything. I am surprised and grateful, definitely,” she said.
“I don’t do the work for recognition; I do it for my community and to feel good for myself. I care deeply about my community. But it’s the same as long service awards, they don’t come into it for me, but as soon as I got the email, I just said wow.”
Ms Welsh said it was critical to have women involved in the emergency services group, particularly with the amount of growth this sector has enjoyed in recent years.
“I’m a big supporter of women in rescue. SES created an initiative about six or seven years ago, starting with the Sunbury unit, where I was invited to a specific Women in Rescue Day where we could perform our skills such as road rescue and all sorts of rescue in a safe environment for women, where they can feel safe and be part of a women-only group, which was fantastic,” she said.
“I’m a big believer in that women can do exactly the same as what men can do. I’ve never come across any issues across my time in emergency services. I feel I have been lucky in the unit I have started with and the people I work with, who are amazing people.”
Ms Welsh said she was also grateful to her workplace for allowing her to get the best out of herself as part of her role within the SES and CFA.
“I have been deployed to New South Wales multiple times, the ACT, Western Australia, South Australia, most of the states I have helped out with,” she said.
“I am lucky that the job I had was a government job, and they allowed me to deploy and do the things that needed to be done. The support of my workplace allowed me to do these things.”
Seeing people grow and helping the community is the best part about her role, Ms Welsh said.
“I think the best thing is the people, seeing them come into the unit, develop their skills and go on to become leaders themselves,” she said.
“I have so many members who were unsure when they started, but now they are deputy admins or taking leadership roles within the unit.
“More than half our unit now is female, and more than half of my unit management team are also female.”