The work of police rescue officers is diverse and dangerous, and often their stories don’t see the light of day.
Author and Australian Federal Police officer Jason Byrnes, who was raised in Lawson, has written a book Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal, an Extraordinary History, which features several dramatic stories from Blue Mountains police rescue operations.
Almost 25 years in the making, the book is a comprehensive account of the NSW police rescue and bomb disposal unit. Readers are taken on a journey from the dark days of World War II when the unit formed to recover bodies from Sydney’s cliffs, through rescue operations such as the Granville train disaster and Thredbo landslide, to present day operations for the Lindt Cafe siege.
“Most of the first generations of police rescue operators in NSW have sadly passed away and I thought it important that their remarkable stories be recorded and shared,” Byrnes said.
“The book also gives many police officers their first opportunity to tell their interesting and sometimes haunting stories.”
Byrnes canvasses a February 1971 incident at Mt Banks when a student and teacher from a Sydney school died in a climbing accident.
Twelve police rescue officers went down the side of a cliff to recover the bodies, then waded through a flooded Grose River, climbing out of the Grose Valley via the steep terrain of Perry’s Lookdown.
“It was physically demanding and was 16 hours from when the incident occurred to when the last of the operators got out of the valley,” Byrnes said.
Another test of endurance was a rescue in 1983 where a woman had fallen from Honeymoon Lookout in Katoomba and was caught (still alive) by a tree on a narrow ledge 200m above the valley floor.
It was back in the days where rescue operators didn’t carry harnesses, and in strong winds a police helicopter couldn’t get close enough to the cliff to remain in position, so Constable Garry Thornton was winched in via helicopter and left to shimmy his way along the narrow ledge to the woman.
Miraculously he managed to get the woman onto a stretcher, which was winched into the helicopter. But as the police officer was being pulled into the helicopter his rope got caught in the helicopter skids, and there were a few heart-pounding moments while Constable Christine Simpson stepped out on the skids to kick the rope clear, and eventually reel her colleague back in. Both officers received bravery awards for that rescue, Byrnes said.
Some cases were a little out of the ordinary.
Out for a training day in November 1983, Constable Thornton was diverted to help four goats trapped on a small ledge at Mt Victoria.
He had to tie each goat up individually using a makeshift harness to haul them to the top of the cliff, Byrnes explained. Each terrified goat released its bladder on the way up, drenching Constable Thornton.
“They put him in the back of the paddy wagon afterwards ’cause he smelt too much,” Byrnes said.
Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal is available at Dymocks or at www.bigskypublishing.com.au.
