It’s these ‘chiefs’ that keep the  ‘Indians’ in order and are worthy of recognition for their hours of behind the scenes work and commitment to making their team’s volunteer experience the best it can be. 

One such leader is Edwina Hamilton, the unit controller of the Aberdeen State Emergency Service (SES). 

A born and bred Aberdeen community member Edwina is the first ever woman controller of her local unit and one of only a few females to take on the role in the Hunter area. 

The young woman first joined the SES as a volunteer in January 2002 after she was persuaded by fellow community members and SES members. 

It was only the next year that she was convinced to take on the role of unit controller in 2003, after dedicated volunteer Barry Mohr decided it was time to step down after 14 years in the position.

Since then Edwina has loved every minute of her volunteer role and is proud that the unit currently has 21 members with at least 10 active members attending training nights every Tuesday. 

Despite working as a trainee operator at Mt Arthur Coal and with the constraints of shift work, Edwina spends a lot of hours at the SES headquarters, which many locals actively fundraised to establish with the volunteer assistance of the local Lions Club in 1996. 

With a list of qualifications a mile long, Edwina is a very skilled woman trained in general rescue, flood rescue boat operations, chainsaw operation, first aid, communications, work in operations centre, RFA online, storm and water damage, just to name a few. 

Throughout the years she has been recognised by authorities receiving a NSW SES five year service award, 10 year service award and  a NSW SES State Medal for Hunter Storms. 

With their main responsibilities surrounding flood and storm safety including monitoring water levels in catchments, SES volunteers are also trained to deal with Tsunami events, hail damage, land search, flood management, rescue, community engagement and emergency services liaison - often assisting other emergency services, such as the police and Rural Fire Service. 

The Aberdeen unit’s last major event was storm damage in March where they had lots of jobs and had to call on Murrurundi and Singleton units to assist.

A well-known woman, growing up in Aberdeen and completing her school with her two brothers and sister at St James Primary School and St Joseph’s High School Edwina worked at the Aberdeen Newsagency for about 13 years prior to changing to the mining industry, so is therefore a familiar face in town. 

Whether she is directing traffic in her oranges at one of the events such as the Aberdeen Highland Games, Anzac Day, Big Boys Toys or down at McKinnon Oval supporting the Tigers, at the newsagency or enjoying a social occasion at the Commercial, Edwina does it with a smile on her face and is happy to be there. 

With her role as unit controller requiring a lot of behind the scenes work in the areas of finances, training, keeping equipment serviced and usable, keeping bulletins up to date, communications and prioritising jobs, it does get busy, but Edwina said she enjoys it and it is a very rewarding job. 

She said sometimes you can get abused when directing people in car parking and then other times you get flowers for helping someone out, but it’s all worthwhile. 

“A leader is only as good as it’s team though and I’ve got an awesome team here,” Edwina said. 

“They’re reliable and I can trust them with everything.

“I am very lucky to have members who have been in the SES since its beginnings and are great mentors,” she said. 

Edwina said she has seen a fair few changes in her time with one of the biggest being the method of communication as all alerts come from a call centre in the city notified by SMS, email and fax. 

Each job is then locally prioritised based on need and urgency. 

Edwina said the role of an SES volunteer is an important one, it is a volunteer role and we do get community thanks, but it is not paid.

“We all have busy lives, but we make time and we’re just trying to do our best.

“Our team is like a little family who loves Aberdeen and its surrounds and we want to look after it,” she said. 

Edwina is also a member of the Aberdeen Anzac Day committee as it is something that is important to her and she helps out at most community events. 

She enjoys being able to help out a few older members of the community that she became close friends with while working at the newsagents, as she said she is always happy to help.

“I’m lucky to have a good partner, good family and good friends to support me,” she said. 

Edwina encouraged anyone interested in joining the SES to contact their local unit and go along to a training night to find out more, as all units are always looking for new volunteers.