Intense Tales From The ‘Strayan Heroes Who Keep Beaches Like Bondi Safe

Being the coastal country that it is, it’s no surprise that Australia is a nation of beachgoers. But when you also consider that the weather is ever-changing and that there’s approx. 50 million things in the ocean that legit just want you to die, it becomes clear why it’s so important that our beaches are as safe as possible. PEDESTRIAN.TV teamed up with our mates at Surf Life Saving Australia to get the scoop from three top volunteer lifesavers about the most intense rescues they’ve been a part of, what lifesaving is all about for them, and how we can help them help us. If you’ve got some spare cash and want to be a true champ, donating to SLSA will help clubs finance all the equipment they use to save lives everyday.


Being a lifesaver is less about sexy, slow-motion running on the beach…
…and more about high-pressure, life or death situations. We spoke to three of Surf Life Saving Australia‘s lifesaver volunteers about their most intense rescues, how the community helps them to save lives everyday, and what life as an actual lifesaver is all about.

Our first volunteer, Mark Fife, was inspired to become a surf lifesaver volunteer by his family and his love for the ocean. “It was sort of handed down to me, in a way,” he says. “My father was a lifesaver and my older brother was one, too.”
Recalling his most intense rescue, Mark says that he “normally tears up” while telling the story.
“It was 20 years ago this year, actually. I did a rescue at Miami – a surfer had been underwater for eight minutes. We pulled him out, and he had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing,” he begins. 
Determined not to give up, Mark “just kept working on him and working on him,” and finally, managed to revive the man, who was then taken to the hospital by an ambulance. 
But the story doesn’t end there, says Mark.
“I got to see him 10 years later. Backyard Blitz did my yard, and I hadn’t seen this guy [since the rescue], and they brought him back. What he said to me got me more than anything else. He said ‘you’ve got no idea how you’ve impacted on my life. I’ve gotten married, I’ve got three girls, and this wouldn’t have happened without you’.” 
“That really taught me another aspect of lifesaving,” he says. “I go down and do my patrol, I just think that’s my duty, but after reflecting on what he said – it’s more than that.”


But not all surf lifesaver volunteers have 20 years of rescues under their belts. Mia Taitapanui – one of SLSA’s younger volunteers, worked her way up from the Under-Nine Nippers Program, and did her first rescue at just 13.
“I was this little five-foot-four person, I hadn’t grown quite yet, and my first ever rescue was with a man that was probably six times the size of me,” she says.
“It was a struggle and a half to get him on my board,” Mia recalls, saying that she was trying to keep calm, even though she was panicking inside.
After finally getting him on her board, Mia says that the man then swore at her for telling him to move down the board.
“I wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was swearing, ‘coz obviously he was scared,” she said, but things went from bad to worse from there, as a large set of waves made the board nosedive, knocking Mia in the chest and the man back into the sea.
Eventually, Mia did a “body rescue, which is where you actually support the patient with your own body,” and signalled for help from her team, who were watching on from the shore.
“I had to swim in by myself and ended up with a massive bruise across the chest [from the board],” she says, recounting that the rescue was “hectic” and that she was in tears by the time she reached the sand again.
“I was just so overwhelmed with everything that had just happened,” she reveals. “But it definitely didn’t drive me away, it was just a learning curve.”
“Lifesaving isn’t an individual thing, it’s such a team, and you’re a family when you’re there. You look out for one another, you support one another and I’m so lucky that these people were watching me, ready to help me if I needed it and I did in the end, and they were there for me.”


Doron Milner became a surf lifesaver volunteer as a way to give back to Bondi – the beach and community that he lived in and around for many years. And give back he did, during a huge rescue effort in early 2014 after a turn in weather saw “a lot of people [get] into trouble and [need] a lot of help”.
“My patrol had just finished and the next patrol was starting, so I stayed back. It was pretty heavy surf and I noticed there were some people getting into trouble so I went in to help them,” he says.
But as Doron was in the surf helping those people, the situation escalated as more and more people found themselves in trouble.

“I did a lot of rescues that day, but there was one person in particular who I’ll always remember,” he shared. “She nearly drowned, but I managed to save her. I’ve met her since and she’s actually written a kids book that raises money for Surf Life Saving Australia. I’m one of the characters in the book, which is nice! The book is a tribute to that day and it was quite a big day for me as a lifesaver.”

Mark, Mia and Doron all agree that the best part of surf lifesaving is being able to help people.

“It’s just this incredible feeling,” Mia shared. “You know, I’ve even had little girls come up to me and want a photo with me, and just seeing the look on their faces, and seeing in their eyes how much they look up to you, it’s heartwarming. It’s a really a selfless organisation. You don’t go in it to come out with these titles of a ‘hero’ or anything like that. You go in it because it’s your passion, it’s your drive to help people and be there and support a community.”

Another thing they all agree on? The incredible difference that donations from the community make to the ability for their organisation.
“It makes a huge difference, a huge difference,” says Mark. “At my club – we’re a little club – we wouldn’t survive without the community helping us, and buying our equipment and so forth, we just couldn’t do it between our members. It’s a big thing for us.”
“It’s such a big organisation; the biggest volunteer association in Australia, actually,” says Doron. “We train so many people and the equipment gets damaged in that. But the community’s always been great with that – when Surf Life Saving Australia does need help we do a push for donations and I think Australians are some of the most giving people and they always band together and help out.”
“People look at us and think that we are the definition of lifesavers, but it’s not even that,” Mia emphasises. “Public members who donate a dollar at a sausage sizzle, or 50c on a tin raffle on a highway collection, they are the true lifesavers because they are helping us ensure that the future of lifesaving is safe and that we can continue doing what we do, with the strength that we do it, and we can continue growing the organisation.”
If you can spare a few bucks to help these guys keep us all safe, head on over to Surf Life Saving Australia and enjoy the sweet satisfaction of bein’ a top m8 to an organisation that does so much for Strayans, erryday.

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