The Victorian State Emergency Service started out as the Victoria Civil Defense Organisation, in 1975 it evolved into the SES to conform with other states.

The Leongatha SES unit was formed in 1977 by the then Woorayl shire with Cr Len Taylor appointed as Controller. Current member Chas Baille & current Controller Tony Lindhard also joined the unit at that time. Late that same year, a donation from the Apex club made the purchase of an International 4X4 possible and this became the unit's rescue vehicle. The vehicle & all equipment were housed in the old ambulance station and this became home to Leongatha SES for many years. Their first job was a road accident at Ranceby & one member and equipment had to be transported to the scene in an ambulance as the unit's only vehicle was already on scene. The unit's first major rescue was in March 1978 was when a gas tanker rolled over in the Black Spur bends. As a result of this incident training became a high priority, the unit began to receive regular issues of equipment and became more active as their skills grew. In 1978 Leongatha formed a sub-unit at Inverloch to carry out Marine Rescue, this later became the independent Inverloch unit.

1985 was a significant year as donations from the community enabled the unit to buy modern Lukas tools (Jaws of Life, etc). That year there was also an Anthrax outbreak in Leongatha North so in addition to the unit's already growing list of duties, members provided security at the affected farms. In 1986 the council erected a bare shed in Watson Rd which the unit still calls home & continues to improve to this day. 1988 was another busy year with the first operation "Coffee Break" which the unit continues to operate every long weekend still, although it is now known as "Driver Reviver". Another significant event that year was the unit's involvement in the search for a missing body (murdered) which was duly found by one of our members and which had a significant impact on members involved in the search.

As well as the usual Road Accident Rescue (RAR), responses to wind & storm damage, assisting other emergency services, etc, the unit has been involved in some less common tasks. These have included manning road closures during bomb scares, our motorcycle group were in the field 5 days during a search & rescue on Mt Baw Baw, vertical rescue of two people trapped on cliffs at Inverloch & attending a helicopter crash in the hills.

These days the unit has about 25 active members plus a number of associate members, cadets & junior/probationary members. Our primary response vehicle is "Rescue One", an Isuzu truck with custom body fitted out to carry a vast array of tools and equipment. We also have two support/response vehicles - a Nissan Patrol 4X4 (Leongatha 2) and a Nissan Navarra 4X4 (Leongatha 3) plus equipment trailers & our Driver Reviver caravan.

We train almost every Wednesday night from 7.30pm, all training is recognised nationally & members have the opportunity to undertake further courses to be accredited in specialist skills. We are an accredited Road Accident Rescue unit & work closely with a number of emergency & non-emergency organisations to protect & benefit the community. Leongatha SES is manned completely by volunteers.

Unit Controllers