In 2015, paramedic Bill Rathbone jumped into fast flowing flood water in a rescue that saved the lives of trapped people.

So, when he received an email from the Australian Government in 2021 that he was to be awarded a national Bravery Medal - six years on - it came as a bit of a surprise.

The rescue happened when Bill lived in Stroud and the award recognised his considerable bravery when undertaking multiple rescues of people trapped in floodwaters on April 21, 2015.

When recounting the rescues, Bill said it was different to any other situation he has been in in his job - and he luckily hasn’t had to do it since. Ironically, it’s an echo of the floods currently happening again on the mid North Coast now.

“As paramedics, we put ourselves into precarious situations and save people’s lives every day, but I’d never seen that before in Stroud,” he said. 

On that day, Stroud experienced extreme weather conditions, with rain falling quickly, causing flash flooding and wind gusts reached in excess of 100kmph.

Bill, along with other members of the public, saw that a vehicle had been washed from the road and was stranded in the rising flood water. The driver had managed to climb onto the roof of the vehicle.

The group of men were able to throw a rope to the stranded man, anchoring it to a light pole. Bill and the other three men then waded into waist deep water, placing a ladder on the roof of the stranded car, and allowing the trapped man to climb to safety.

Meanwhile, a couple were swept away from their caravan and were clinging onto a brick amenities building, near the showground's grandstand.

Bill being reunited with a lady he rescued in the 2015 Stroud flood.

A police officer sourced a boat and Mr Rathbone and another police officer climbed aboard. They were joined by two other men in a second boat and together made their way to the distressed couple. 

Bill jumped into the fast flowing water and reached the couple and he assisted in keeping the woman's head above water. He was then joined by other rescuers and they worked together to get the woman to one of the boats.

Bill and two others took the woman for medical treatment while the elderly man was assisted to safety.

“In the past, I received a bravery citation from the ambulance sector for that job,” Bob said. “But the unsung hero in my story was the elderly gentlemen who I helped. 

“He saved his wife’s life and stopped her from being swept away. He had managed to climb to the top of a toilet block, but couldn’t get his wife up there, so he tied her by her cardigan to the building because he wasn’t able to hold her.”

Pictures taken at the time of the event showed Bill with a torn trouser leg and scrapes and bruises from being in the flood water. His advice now to people is to stay away flood waters.

“The bloke in the vehicle we rescued was in the SES and the vehicle was an SES vehicle – so it’s a good lesson in not driving in flood waters.”

Bill has been a paramedic for 22 years and said recues like that are not something paramedics do every day, “but that’s what we are there for”.

“I joined the Ambulance brigade to help people,” Bill said. “I came from the private sector and didn’t even have a first aid certificate at the time. I was inspired to join by my brother in law who was a paramedic – and I learned on the job. 

Bill and his wife moved to Goonellabah five years ago and he now works for the NSW Ambulance Service, stationed at Evans Head.

Bill recieving his citation in 2014.

This is also not the first event that Bill has been awarded a citation for. In 2014, he received a citation of courage after he and nine other paramedics went to the aid of two injured people in a truck accident north of Gloucester.

At the time, two semi-trailers went over the edge of the Thunderbolts Way, resulting in the death of one of the drivers. The truck driver in front slowed down to help the truckdriver behind, who had radioed to say he had lost his brakes.

Bill was the first paramedic on the scene, and was then assisted by police, firies and the SES.

As ever Bill, remained humble, saying in an interview with the Dungog Chronicle at the time that “it was nothing special”.

“It’s what we do, it’s our job,” he said.