The Royal Humane Society of Australasia 150th Anniversary Celebration

The Royal Humane Society of Australasia President, Lieutenant Colonel David Arden RFD (Retd), Vice-President, Ms Frances Evans OAM, Director Captain David de Souza (Retd), and Secretary Ms Shelley Schade; senior representatives of the Queensland Police Service; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Jagera and Turrbal people, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging and to any First Nations people with us this evening.

As Patron of The Royal Humane Society of Australasia in Queensland, I am delighted to welcome you all here today to celebrate the Society’s 150-year commitment to honouring the selfless men, women and children who have risked their lives to save others.

Philosophers since the time of the ancient Greeks have pondered the question of why people act bravely, and generations of scientists in more recent centuries have been able to conclude only that it’s the random result of a complex interaction of personality, social influences, moral convictions, and the mysteries of the brain.

However, what we can say with certainty is that the desire of one human being to help another in distress, whatever the personal risk, remains one of humankind’s most extraordinary impulses. It restores our faith in humanity.

Fortunately for us all, towards the end of the 18^th century, the conviction emerged in England that something needed to be done to save lives. This culminated in 1773 when two London physicians, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan, developed a method of resuscitation.

Hawes paid a reward out of his own pocket to anyone who brought him the body of a drowned person so that he could demonstrate that revival was possible, and the following year, Hawes, Cogan and a group of supporters formed England’s first humane society with the wonderful title of the Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned.

By 1787, it had become the Royal Humane Society with King George the Third as its patron, and, this year, it celebrated its 250th anniversary in St Paul’s Cathedral with King Charles the Third as the latest in an unbroken line of Royal patrons. 

By1874 the seed of an Australian equivalent of the Society began to take root and flourish – all it needed was a catalyst. That came when John Wilks, the then Mayor St Kilda, joined forces with the remarkable comic actor, entrepreneur and unlikely Member of Parliament, George Coppin.

Together, they launched the Victorian Humane Society as Australia’s first charitable institution dedicated to recognising and supporting acts of extraordinary bravery.

By federation in 1901, the Victorian Society had become The Royal Humane Society of Australasia, with branches in every Australian state and territory, all dedicated to honouring those who risked their lives to save others at a time when no such recognition existed.

That the Society has survived for 150 years is a tribute to the strength of that founding ethos, but also to the integrity of its award system, the value of its education and training programs, and the support the Society now gives to rescuers confronting personal and financial challenges as a result of their brave action.

As we celebrate the sesquicentenary of the Royal Humane Society here in Australia, we remain humbled by the modesty of award recipients and inspired by the extraordinary examples they have set for a more compassionate, resilient and altruistic nation.

Long may it continue!