After seeing a car accident near where he was attending a party at Maitland, Peter Harrison watched as ambulance officers took charge and “brought calm to a panicky situation”.

“It was then that I seriously thought about becoming an ambulance officer,” Mr Harrison

said. “I was working as a trainee manager at Woolworths at Green Hills and did a first aid course at the ambulance station at Hamilton in 1980 and was the first aid officer for the company.

“I really enjoyed it and applied to join the service the following year.”

Mr Harrison spent three years “learning the trade” at Hornsby and in 1984 applied to come to Dungog.

“I grew up at The Falls on Allyn River Road, went to Gresford Public School, played cricket for Gresford and learned to swim at Dungog pool,” he said. “I was the local boy coming home.

“I did relief work in Dungog, Stroud, Tea Gardens and Bulahdelah, and while I already had good local knowledge of the area, it expanded by working in these areas.

“I did some horrendous motor vehicle accidents on the old Pacific Highway, including O’Sullivans Gap, Wootton and Coolongolook, and was on my own as these were the days of single response duty in the country.

“We had no mobile phones and no portable radios and no way of calling for back-up.

“You learned to become self-reliant. While city ambos would have a bigger turnover, here, one job might take all day, especially in remote areas and travelling long distances.”

In 1987 Mr Harrison was the first person in the Hunter Valley to become an Advanced Life Support officer – or paramedic as they are now called.

In his 30 years Mr Harrison has seen significant clinical changes including the rollout of defibrillation machines into all ambulance stations.

“It was a huge lifesaving advance and I remember the first time I used it on a Stroud man,” Mr

Harrison said. “If it wasn’t for the defibrillator he would have been dead.