Bert Plenkovich isn't one to brag." But for 49 years -- longer than any other living person -- he's volunteered with the State Emergency Service in Broadwater. As Unit Controller for the Broadwater SES, he's built the Unit up from the days he had to store SES equipment on his farm and run flood and storm operations from a spare room in his house. Today, the Unit has a spacious headquarters and a core membership of steady, well-trained volunteers ready to respond to calls for help. An SES volunteer since the earliest days of the service, Mr. Plenkovich has seen many changes. "When I was just out of school," he recalls, " the police and army needed local people to take them around in boats during the 1954 flood. I'd grown up in the area, and I got involved helping them take the food packages around. When the government formed the SES in 1955, a chap by the name of Reuben Dann, a councillor with Woodburn Shire, got me involved in civil defence. You only had to nod twice and he had you signed up!"

In the early days of the SES, at the height of the Cold War, civil defence was a large part of SES training. Mr. Plenkovich says, "In 1959, I went to the rescue instructors' course at Mount Macedon. For the first 10 days we studied nothing but nuclear weapons. The instructors tried to get us to march and operate in a military fashion, but the [World War II] veterans refused. They'd already had enough of it!"

Broadwater SES never had to deal with a nuclear attack, but they did battle floods and storms, often under severe constraints. "In 1995 we got a headquarters in Broadwater," says Mr. Plenkovich. "Before that I kept the basics in my farm shed. We always had the minimum of equipment because I didn't have adequate storage space. Whenever there was a flood we had to use my home. My whole family would get involved. My wife would be on the phone, the kids would be answering phones. My wife was a nurse, and did any of the first aid work that was needed. If an operation expanded, the sugar-milling cooperative would give us a room somewhere where we would operate a headquarters."

Jack Matthes [sic], a long-time friend and colleague in the SES, remembers, "During one flood, once the boat left headquarters we had no communication, so the crew took a transistor radio with them. Headquarters would phone the local radio station to broadcast a message to them, but they had no way of returning the message. Things have improved now, and Bert has been the driving force behind that for 49 years. It's been necessary for him to devote thousands of hours of his time."

Mr. Plenkovich sees both challenges and successes ahead for the SES. "Over the years the SES has just improved and got more efficient. But some of the demands on the volunteers have been difficult. I look at it from a small country town, but you could have the same problem in Sydney. The people who volunteer are really community-minded people, and are so involved in everything else. They have to share their time."

Mr. Plenkovich himself is one of the community-minded: a second-generation cane farmer, he's president of the Richmond River Cane Growers' Association, and vice president of the New South Wales Cane Growers' Association. He also taught judo for 30 years at the Lismore PCYC. He doesn't see any reason to stop his involvement in the SES, either. "Even if I do [retire as Unit controller], I'd like to be of some use, answering phones or offering some of the experience I've gained."

For more information on volunteering with the NSW State Emergency Service, see www.ses.nsw.gov.au