In this year’s Queens Birthday Honours Mervyn Arthur Hampson, from Mortlake, was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to veterans and their families through the Returned and Services League of Australia and Naval Association of Australia. A Life Member of Mortlake Fire Brigade, where he joined in 1979, he has received CFA’s 35-Year Service Award and National Medal.
To get to know Merv, we asked for some personal insights into his life, especially with the CFA.
1. What prompted you to join the CFA?
I joined in ’79. I’d done a lot of fire brigade training in the Navy. One day I was sitting at home here and saw the fire truck racing to a house fire and I realised it was my best friend’s house on fire. I raced down to see if could help. They were really short-handed and I ended up on the roof with the captain and he said you’d better join the brigade. I enjoyed it ever since.
2. What have been your roles with the CFA and are you still involved?
I’m still a member but I’m 79 now and I’m less active now. I haven’t had many roles. I’ve been Communications Officer. I never worked in the town – I was out on different farms all the time - so if the phone rang, I wouldn’t be any good as a lieutenant or a captain.
3. What drives you to undertake roles, with CFA or anywhere, with such a focus on serving communities?
I just like doing things; I can’t stand to be idle. As soon as I came out of the Navy, I was asked to join the RSL which I did and I’ve had a couple of stints as President, and I’m in that role at the moment. We didn’t have a branch of the Naval Association here in the south-west and a fellow asked me to help him to see if we could get together a little branch, which we did and it’s still going quite strong.
4. What is most important thing you’ve learned in your time as a CFA volunteer?
That’s a hard question, but I think it’s important to know how valuable it is to help people, plus getting the skills and training to know that if there’s a fire you’re able to do something about it and help people. I did all the relevant training courses up at the fire station and went to Fiskville and Penshurst a few times.
5. What do you think your best achievements are in your role with CFA?
The times I went away as staging area assistant manager. I went to several different places across the state to help when there were major fires. We went to a big one at Corryong, to Heyfield in Gippsland and a couple of stints in our district at Dunkeld and Dartmoor and a fair few others. I wasn’t home for Ash Wednesday. I was working at Port Campbell but ended up on the back of a truck and helped out down there.
6. What is your best memory - funny or serious – about your time with CFA as a volunteer?
Coming home from a big factory fire in Terang we decided to stop at the Noorat pub. We went in for a drink and stayed a while. A fella walked in and said you blokes must be with the fire brigade. He said there’s a truck out there and apparently its lost. The radio was going flat out - they were wanting to know where we were.
7. Which was your favourite role or activity with CFA and why?
I’ve had some wonderful experiences and met marvellous people. It’s good to be a part of the community, particularly in the staging area capacity where you record all the vehicles and everyone who goes out to a fire. If something happens and you want to find them, you know exactly where they are.
8. What makes a good CFA volunteer?
Dedication to your community.
Congratulations Merv and thanks for being such an inspiring part of our CFA family.
PHOTO CREDIT: Western District Newspapers
