Ross Pearce has volunteered tirelessly for the Koori Mail Resource Hub since calmly using his many decades of swift rescue training experience to ensure safe rescue of his partner and their dogs from their roof. After losing everything he has focused on spending his time supporting the community. Here is the story behind the dedicated volunteer.

Many may recognise Ross' face from the Koori Mail Resource Hub, where you can find him most days. A displaced and flood-affected person himself, Ross was living in a Queenslander when the first flood hit, and due to the loss of all his possessions, including long-service medals, and photographs, was only able to provide historic rescue articles for this Sunday Profile.

"I was born in Bathurst, at Bathurst Base Hospital. We lived in a place called Newbridge which was a little country town. I learned a lot of skills from my father, a farmer and living out on the farms, working with cattle and sheep. I've got two brothers.

Then we moved to Orange. I actually started working in the meat works as a night shift cleaner when I was 13 and going to school at the same time. So, I did that while I was going to school then I got another job as a cleaner in Blayney and another meet works and was still going to school doing that. So I'd knock off at school at 3:20 but they let me out about 10 minutes early so I could get a lift to Blayney to do the night shift, knock off at two o'clock in the morning. And then back to school the next day".

"Yeah, that was basically my introduction to the workforce. So it was pretty full-on stuff. Working with high-pressure hoses and steam and caustic soda and all that stuff, back in them days there was no PPE or anything. I would come out with caustic burns and everything; from there I joined the NSW Fire Brigade, stationed in Orange. There were a dark few years in there.

"Then I became a train driver. My family basically had something to do with the railway or their life. So I progress up through the ranks as a training engine management class one and class two, for NSW State Rail, driving mainly goods trains, but my rostered mate was a senior driver so we got to drive the Indian Pacific and other interesting runs. So, also mail trains and passenger trains".

"Driving trains is a very easy job, but you're paid to be there when something goes wrong. And that's the thing, you've got to know your gradients and your horsepower and all that stuff. But then they were screaming for drivers, on the electric train running section in Sydney. The circuit, the city circus, plus all over Sydney from Hornsby, through to Penrith."

"I was the youngest qualified electric train running driver in the history of the railway because my birthday was on the day after the school finished, my 21st birthday. So, I was actually 20 When I qualified. The qualifying age was 21, but because it was only one day they let me through so I spent three years down there, which was quite interesting".

"I did run over 4 people down there, which was an occupational hazard that you have in suburban electrics. Some of them are people taking their lives or kids hanging out or mucking about on platforms getting pushed and grabbed. So, we sort of expected that right from the start. You're not gonna see three years down here without running over someone".

"It's only been the last 10 years basically with any debriefing for train drivers, or anyone, including emergency services. Which is quite a shame because we lost a lot of good operators through post-traumatic stress. People don't realise the toll that it actually takes on you mentally.

"When you stand in the shower until it runs cold. It's playing on your mind. Could I have done better? should I have done this? What if you go through the whole scenario, but I used to tell my guys in rescue that 'the damage is done before we get there. Our job is to get them out and that was the only way I can personally cope with it".

"So when I came back to Orange I thought I'll get back into the Firies, but someone said why don't you get into the SES rescue mob? They were a fairly active unit. So I thought 'I'll do that'. So, I went down there and that's where I started. I ended up spending 25 years as an active SES Member. I became a Senior Trainer in just about everything".

Ross was so focused during the rescue, that he didn't realise it was his friends who had died in this crash

"We were doing Swift water training where we would get 30,000 mega litres of water released from the dam and we get them playing up against the water to control the boats. And me being a hard-ass trainer, I would jump off the back of the boat, with me safety gear, having picked out a tree ahead of time, and they would turn around and say 'he's gone. Oh my God'. They then had to do a 'real rescue'."

"I put them in these situations where they had to do it, and learn. We'd do night rescues and things like that. Same thing, would be going along the middle of the dam in the middle of night. And I just jumped out."

"We were we're a pretty crack team out there because of where we were, so many different things had to be done out in the bush. For example, they had everything from farm machinery to heavy industrial machinery to trains, planes, cars, trucks, everything, like bulldozers. Yeah, so, we weren't just doing just car accidents. It was a bit of everything. I even saved a guy who almost drowned in sand in a silo once! We had to be very multi-skilled in a lot of different tasks".

"We used to train across a lot of different disciplines. For that reason, we had to be on our toes. Accidents don't just happen in daytime! When you sign on to any organisation, you actually sign your life away, you've got to be prepared and have the skills to be able to do that. If you don't, well, you're not in the right job. It's pretty hard. It's pretty tough. I was a tough instructor. It was also very jovial and they call me a bit of a clown at times, but there's times and places for things".

"I was a unit member and worked my way up to being one of the senior trainers in just about every district discipline including abseiling. I used to go down to the Blue Mountains for search and rescues with the Oberon unit. They are a crack abseiling unit. Absolutely fantastic. Great guys to work with. Trust your life. Yeah, and, and that's something that you build up through your cross-training and your experience."

"I trained with five different units. So I also trained and worked with them and that gave me one day a week off basically. My life just revolved around it, and at any given point in time, the pager would go off and then you're on the road."

Some of the critical incidents Ross and his Unit responded to above

"I was able to volunteer around all this, I got a lot of different jobs. I was a semi-trailer driver. So, I was out of town for some period of time, but when I was in town, it seemed to be quite lucky that I was there at the time.

"I then retrained, and became a systems administrator, network engineer, and I worked for New South Wales Health, TAFE New South Wales, Southern Cross University. Then after doing a big project across the university, I thought I had sort of got as far as I can go here. I get very bored if I'm not progressing!"

So I started a lawn mowing business, which then turned into a landscaping business that was based in Lismore.

I chose to relocate to Lismore as this area suits me. It's just so diverse. It's friendly. it's inclusive. it's compassionate, which has been amazing throughout this whole disaster".

"The community actually swings into action and way ahead of everything else. Everything else. No other services. That's it. And they're not silly people. They were doing amazing during the rescues, picking out landmarks so they could find out where they were and they were doing grid searches with the boats, just awesome to see".

"After I started the landscaping business, and we won the Business Awards twice for most outstanding customer service and best trader service. I had nine guys working for me at times and fleet vehicles, trucks, excavators, and things. I then broke my back at work on a zero-turn mower. I dropped it in a hole and shattered the bottom of my back, so I went through 15 back operations and because of the high doses of opiates, they had me on all my tests started to break off. So, I've had to have three facial reconstructions and special dentures made.

"We took the insurance company to court over it because they never used to pay for what they call causatious injury, which is the injury caused by the treatment of the original injury. We punched a multibillion-dollar hole in the insurance industry, now that everybody's entitled to it".

"Because I had plenty of time I got studying as a systems administrator and analyst, basically. I hit the books and I thought, right, okay, so I employed a couple of high-powered solicitors and barristers and we took them on and we beat them didn't benefit me in any other way than getting fixed. But we beat him and I've been fighting the insurance company for the last 14 years to get anything and now the floods have taken everything away, all the stuff that they've given me for my recovery, like a computer system for my mental health".

"So yeah, I shut down and I was on workers compensation ever since. which left me pretty much on the poverty line. It's been a struggle.

"So, that brings me to post-flood, where I have been at Koori Mail. At last count, Koori Mail have served 155,000 meals since Feb 28th Flood which has been very important for the recovery of this community. We don't discriminate against anyone".

Ross has been at Koori Mail Kitchen and Resource Hub almost every day since the first week, sometimes spotted dressed as a clown or fairy, bringing a much-needed smile to those in the days, weeks and now months, after the catastrophic floods began.

Another legend of community spirit, who has resettled on higher ground nearby, but is still recovering from losing over $100,000 of motor vehicles, lawn mowing and tools equipment and furniture.

Ross says he hopes to see more funding coming in to the Koori Mail to continue supporting the community. After experiencing 5 natural disasters, he believes the recovery efforts will impact the community for well over a year, but to have somewhere like the Koori Mail empowering himself through supporting others, and empowering the community is very important.