For the second consecutive year, a woman lifesaver has been named the 2024 Young Wollongong Citizen of the Year.
In 2023, Wollongong City Surf Life Saving Club’s (SLSC) Club Captain, Shannon Fox was our Young Citizen of the Year. This year the honour goes to her close friend and fellow lifesaver, Morgan Clarke.
Over the past 13 years, Morgan has completed more than 650 hours of frontline patrolling, mainly at her home beach, Woonona. She’s also been active at City Beach since 2019.
As Director of Lifesaving at Woonona SLSC (2018-2024), Morgan is responsible for the club’s patrolling capabilities and emergency response team, including daily compliance, preparation, resource management, training and organisation of the entire membership.
Where the region’s larger clubs have several officers to share the increased lifesaving workload, including radio, IRB, first aid and administration, Woonona ‘s limited membership means the workload largely falls on a selfless few.
Over more than a decade of patrolling our beaches, Morgan has earned a reputation as one of our best lifesavers. This is evident from her consistent contributions to the Emergency Response Teams of both Woonona and Wollongong City where she’s been involved in several after-hours rescues, including three major rescues in January 2022 at Wollongong City Beach.
When Morgan isn’t pulling people out of the surf, she performs other vital roles on dry land.
She is an accredited probationary trainer, educating members, helping them to gain their Surf Rescue Certificate and Bronze Medallions.
Morgan is also one of the first women Duty Officers in the Illawarra branch, responding to after-hours incidents up and down the Illawarra coastline.
As the Youth Program Coordinator at Surf Life Saving NSW, Morgan oversees the annual Junior Lifesaver of the Year program.
Last summer, Morgan was Illawarra’s Team Manager, organising the branch representative team to compete at the NSW SLS Championships.
On any given day, you’re likely to see Morgan training and mentoring local nippers and young lifesavers at the beach, ensuring we have a new generation of trained lifesavers protecting our beaches.
In recent years Morgan’s efforts have been recognised with a number of awards: the 2018 Illawarra SLS Athlete of the Year, the 2020 Volunteer and Lifesaver of the Year in 2021. Late last year, in recognition of Morgan’s incredible commitment, she was named the NSW Volunteer of the Year at the Rotary Emergency Services Awards, a remarkable achievement for a young woman achieving so much in a traditionally male-dominated area.
Morgan’s untiring efforts were summed up perfectly in her nomination for the Wollongong Young Citizen of the Year Award. "All things considered, Morgan encapsulates bravery, sacrifice and tenacity."
