Photo: Supplied.
If you’ve needed the help of the SES during Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s rampage through the bayside, the smiling face, the reassuring words and the capable assistance may well have been from SES member Cindel Richardson or one of her team.
Cindel, group leader of the Cleveland State Emergency Service, has been a member of the SES for 24 years, joining as a teenager in Yeppoon to gain the experience necessary to join the police service. Mission accomplished; Cindel has been a police officer for 17 years and is now an Acting Inspector within the Multicultural Affairs Unit of the Queensland police service. “I just like getting out into the community and helping out where I can,” she says.
Her skills at getting out and helping are evidenced by Cindel’s awards, including the RCC’s Australia Day 2025 achievement award, the Spirit of Suncorp Award, and various other regional awards and police awards – though she’s quick to refer to the importance of the team.
“Knowing who you are and knowing where your limits are and knowing your team is vital,” she says. “Team members need to support each other as well as the community and you have to draw on your reserves of empathy and emotional intelligence while keeping a resilient space for yourself. There’s a real sense of camaraderie in this team, they’re close and they’re passionate.”
Are there any frustrations?
“The main frustration for all of us is being obliged to go home and rest when there’s still work to be done,” she grins.
There’s no doubt of the high esteem and regard that the community feels for the SES and it finds expression in small but sincere ways.
“There’s nothing like feeling the relief that people experience when you turn up in their hour of need – members of the team just give it all they can – even if their own properties are damaged they just put their orange on and get out there to help,” Cindel says.
“A really good thing happened during Alfred – a couple of the women on the team were chucking on their chainsaw chaps and getting out the big chainsaws to clear a tree and a little girl came out of the house with a note saying that them showing up gave the family an understanding that women can do anything. A lot of individuals and charity groups turn up with food and support – it means a lot.”
So, what else keeps the commitment and the energy going?
“My biggest concern is being there to do my bit for my three families – my kids, my ‘orange’ SES family and my ‘blue’ police family; they’re my worlds,” she says. “It can become challenging to balance the three and sometimes there are overlaps, such as police searches for missing persons that may involve the SES so it’s good to be interoperable across the boundaries, guidelines and rules of both organisations – but my main concern will always be for my kids.”
Cindel is on first-name terms with several of eastern Australia’s historic disasters, including Marcia, Yasi and Larry, as well as bushfires in NSW but she says that you don’t have to be super-fit to be a SES volunteer.
“We have members of various abilities and ages – some of our volunteers are in their mid-eighties – and they give what they can, through the peer support program, administration, logistics, organising supplies. You don’t always have to climb on roofs and cut trees or get out the flood boat. If you’re interested, get onto our website and see how we work.”
In the meantime, Cindel and her team are there at the pointy end – just getting out into the community and helping.
For more information at the SES, go to https://www.ses.qld.gov.au/.
