Caron Parfitt from Marine Rescue Bermagui took a moment out of her day to talk with me about her life, love of the ocean and volunteering.

Caron lived next to the ocean as a child, spending many hours in and around the water. Her love of sailing didn’t begin, however, until she moved to Sydney where she did a sailing course and took on a job delivering a yacht to Hamilton Island. Initially she learned on the job, sailing extensively along the NSW coastline, on a tall ship in New Zealand and Australia, and then she took up racing. There was a lot to learn, it was hard work, but she loved it and became quite a good sailor along the way.

Her life before Bermagui involved working at big businesses in financial services, in roles including IT, marketing and customer service. She also spent 10 years as a strategy and project management consultant, and did volunteer mentoring of disadvantaged kids in the city.

When Caron and her husband moved to Bermagui, she knew she wanted to volunteer, to give back to the community in some way. She found Marine Rescue Bermagui to be a very welcoming and friendly environment and she appreciates how everyone contributes something different. Caron has also been able to draw on her skills of project management to streamline processes and introduce new technology to volunteers.

During Caron’s years with Marine Rescue Bermagui, she has worn many hats – the first as a Radio Operator and shore-based Watch Officer. Her love of the water and experience with boats was a natural fit for her to progress through crew and soon onto Coxswain, being in command of the rescue vessel at sea. Then, after a couple of years, came the appointment as Deputy Commander and two years later Unit Commander. She is very grateful to her mentors and role models from those early days, especially to Alec Percival who showed her how to work with volunteers and operate in a volunteer organisation. Caron was awarded an Emergency Services Medal in 2022 for her commitment, passion and nine years of dedication to Marine Rescue, both on the water and in the radio base. Caron stepped down from the role of Unit Commander with the Bermagui unit in 2024 as she felt it was time to move on and the organisation needed new energy and change. She also had a bigger vision in sight.

Last year Caron attended an international conference in Finland for Women in Search and Rescue. She said it was an amazing opportunity to work with 16 other female coxswains from Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Ascension Island. ‘It was great’, she said, ‘to see how other places approach search and rescue, and the role of women in their organisations. Search and rescue has largely been a male-dominated area, so it was good to see that women are being accepted and recognised as having equal skills to their male counterparts.’

One idea Caron brought back from the conference is the use of headsets while crewing on the vessels. Weather and engine noise are significant issues, so headsets would significantly aid in communication and safety. She was also very happy to see that Marine Rescue in Australia compared favourably with organisations that have been operating for up to 200 years, especially regarding training, safety and risk management.

Marine Rescue NSW is hosting the International Women in Search and Rescue conference in August to acknowledge the contribution of women, and it will be a perfect opportunity for local women to become involved.

This year, Caron was elected a Regional Director for Marine Rescue NSW to represent the Monaro Region which covers the area from Batemans Bay to Eden, including the inland waterways of Alpine Lakes and Moama on the Murray River. She said she was honoured to be elected as a board member and hopes to bring her strategic management experience to the forefront. ‘I want to do anything we can do to make volunteering as flexible and engaging as possible.’

Marine Rescue Bermagui needs a large number of volunteers to cover two radio shifts every day of the year, as well as to crew the rescue vessel. These operational roles provide a great opportunity to learn something new and be stimulated by new challenges. All expenses are covered for training and you don’t need to have any boating or radio experience beforehand. There are other important roles as well, including administration, fundraising and publicity. Many people from all different walks of life have found their place in Marine Rescue. It is a great team to be part of.

Marine Rescue Bermagui on Facebook

Interview by Deb Worgan
Marine Rescue Bermagui volunteer

You can listen to a longer interview with Caron in this month’s Triangle Community News podcast.