Unit History - 1985 to 1990

Preceded by a Civil Defence/SES group made up of a small number of Shire staff, the Eltham Unit of the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) was formed in 1985 by the Shire Of Eltham (now the Shire of Nillumbik) as part of its commitment to Emergency Management and Planning.

With Bill Oakley, a Deputy Shire Engineer, as its Controller the volunteer unit began preparing itself in June of 1985. With much recruiting, training and equipping underway, the unit became partly operational in January 1986 and fully operational in June of the same year.

At this stage, the Unit's vehicles were a 4x4 vehicle (the Controller's Shire vehicle) and a 1965 International ex MFB hose-carrier donated by Eltham College. Membership was strong with 31 active and 19 members in reserve.

Once the unit was up and running, Bill Oakley handed the reins to John Howe at the start of 1987. With Crash Rescue becoming our responsibility another vehicle, a Toyota Dyna Twin Cab, was procured by the Shire from Doncaster SES. During this time, bouts of extreme weather and increasing road crashes kept the unit very busy.

Our new headquarters was built in 1987 and formed part of the Kangaroo Ground Emergency Operations Centre. This facility is used by the Lower Yarra Group CFA, Police, Shire and the Kangaroo Ground Kinder. A lot of time and money was spent building this facility and it is a proud achievement for those volunteers involved from all services.

In late 1989, John Howe left the unit to take up the position of Regional Assistant at our Regional Headquarters and is now a Regional Officer. Robert Wardzynski took control from John and oversaw the provision, by the Shire, of a new Ford Trader which became our primary response vehicle. Later, Bob made representations to State H.Q. which saw us become the proud owners of a Nissan Patrol 4x4 Transport Vehicle.

Membership fluctuated between 20 and 30 over this time. A lack of severe storms and increased public safety campaigns saw a decrease in the number of incidents we attended, especially road crashes.