Helensburgh Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade’s former captain Graham ‘Eggs’ Williams has dedicated 48 years of his life to serving the community.
Eggs moved from Mortdale to Helensburgh in 1971. As bushfire swept through the township in the summer of 1974-75, he hurried to the station to lend a hand and, as he says, “I’ve been here ever since.”
At 77, he’s both the oldest active member of the brigade and the longest serving. Even just his stint as treasurer – 20 years and counting – is likely longer than many of the other 30 active firefighters have been at the brigade.
“I've been every position in the brigade except secretary,” Eggs says. “I've been the captain, I've been the deputy captain, I've been the senior deputy captain, I've been the first aid officer, I've been a welfare officer, and at present time, the treasurer.
“I've always been in a uniform since I was six years old. I was a cub, a scout, a senior scout, joined the army and then joined here… so that's 71 years.
“And, you know, I can't really say why. It just became part of my life.
“[I say], ‘Next year. I'll retire next year’… it’s like when I was in the Army Reserves and my wife said to me, ‘When are you getting out?’, and I said, ‘I’ll stay in until I've done 12 years and I've got my efficiency medal.’ I finally got out after 25 years – she finally got to me.”
Proudly on show among Eggs’ many insignias when we sit down to chat in mid-November is a third bronze clasp on his National Medal to recognise his more than 45 years of service.
The award was presented at a ceremony in September 2023 when Eggs was honoured along with medal recipients from Helensburgh and further afield. He describes the chance to reflect on almost five decades at the brigade as daunting and emotional.
“I got my 45 bar for the National Medal… that's 15 years for the medal and 10 years for every bar, and one of those bars is for military service as well,” he says.
“[It was] a bit daunting because they get up and they talk to you and tell your story – they write the script, you don't write it, they write it, and give a spiel on you and where you've been, what you've done.
“It was a bit emotional because I've had some good times – a lot of good times – but I've also had some bad times in the service.”
Eggs has attended countless callouts over the decades, including car accidents, a train derailment and blazes such as 1974-75 fires that introduced him to the brigade, the ‘94 fires that tore through the Royal National Park, the Green Wattle Creek inferno of the Black Summer bushfires and deployments to Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth and Kangaroo Island.
“I've had some close calls – very close calls,” Eggs says.
“One was the 2001 fire on Christmas Day out at Darkes Forest, and the National Park in about ‘94, I think it was, and in ‘97 at Barnes Crescent [in Menai].
“I was in Barnes Crescent when the fire come through and took out all those houses. We never got out of there until the fire had gone. We lost five houses, I think, and there were only two brigades that stayed in there – Helensburgh and Loftus.
“In the 2001-02 fires here, the longest campaign I fought from this station was 23 days, and we went out every day… It took a bit of time to come back down to earth.”
Looking back, he says, it’s the friendships and sentiment that come from serving the community that render even the tough times worthwhile.
“I encourage everybody to volunteer for something,” Eggs says.
“We have trouble getting volunteers because of the economic situation… but a lot of it now is nearly mandatory that they pay their workers when they go out.”
Egg was a boilermaker by trade and worked at the Helensburgh mine in the early 80s, retiring in 1996.
“Work-wise, I was very lucky working down the pit. They accepted me as being in the Rural Fire Service and they used to pay me if I went out and fought fires, and a few other places, [like] Arnco, were the same.
"And a few other places I worked for, I just put the hard word on them. I said, ‘Look, I'm a volunteer firefighter, I go out and fight. If I don't come to work, I'll be out fighting fires.’”
Eggs is nearing retirement – he thinks – as he plans to wrap up his time with the RFS after 50 years of active service, but he won’t bid farewell to the station for good.
“I will mostly still come up here. I'll be on what they call support, so I'd still come up here, but nowhere near as much,” he says.
“I still have a lot of close mates, a lot of young people and people I try and get close to because you've got to pass your experience on.”
To volunteer, visit the RFS website.
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