The club launched our new surf boat, "Stephen Slattery", on Sunday in a joint ceremony with the Royal Australian Navy.
The boat is named in the memory of Stephen Slattery, the brother of one of our club members, Colin Slattery. Steve was among the Australian Defence Forces personnel tragically killed in a helicopter crash while delivering emergency medical assistance to people on the Indonesian island of Nias in April 2005. In the wake of the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, Nias was struck by an earthquake. Nine ADF members were killed when their Navy Sea King helicopter crashed on the island.
Although Steve was not a surf lifesaver himself, the Slattery family felt that the ideals and spirit of the surf life saving movement - the giving of one's self to the service of those in need - made for a fitting and worthy memorial to Steve's life.
The memorial to Steve was embraced by the Royal Australian Navy, who were heavily involved with the ceremony, with prayers and a blessing of the new boat conducted by the Chaplain from HMAS Stirling.
The tragedy of the rescuer losing his own life while going to the aid of others is something with which surf life saving is sadly familiar, especially in its early days, although fortunately not at our club. Similarly for the Navy, or for any other organisation, to lose people while engaged on a humanitarian mission is a difficult thing to deal with. However, we would all agree that such a mission, whether it is emergency surgery in the aftermath of an earthquake or the rescue of a swimmer struggling in a rip off City Beach, are absolutely the right thing to do. We will continue to do them even with the knowledge of the risks they may carry.
The dedication of our new boat to the memory of Steve Slattery will serve as a worthy memorial to Steve, and to the eight others who died in that crash in Indonesia in April 2005, and also as a reminder to us of the spirit of giving with which we volunteer our time to keep this beach safe for our community.
