Speaking Sensis

On a stunning Melbourne February morning, I had the pleasure of attending a photoshoot at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.  Sensis brought together 17 men and women from Victoria’s emergency services who served during the Black Saturday fires for the cover shot for this year’s Melbourne Residential White Pages®. The cover of the Melbourne White Pages®, due out in May, will feature members of Ambulance Victoria, Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria Police, State Emergency Services, Department of Sustainability and Environment, and Country Fire Authority.

Some of these heroes came off holidays to attend the photo shoot and others came from outside of Melbourne and directly from 14 hour work shifts. Coordinating the photo shoot itself was quite a feat. The event attracted interest of Herald Sun and Channel Nine, who grabbed the opportunity to photograph, take footage and talk to our cover heroes on the eve of the one year anniversary of the tragic Black Saturday fires. When you bring together the cream of the crop of emergency services in Victoria, it is a pretty special event. 

The group included Vicky Dunelly who served in King Lake for the Ambulance Service and was awarded a service medal at the Australia Day Awards and has also been named Volunteer of the Year. Another courageous character attending the shoot was Pat Leddin from the Kilmore Unit of the SES who lost his home while he was out fighting fires. With our covers theme for White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories this year being Courageous Australians, it was fitting for us to recognise the great courage of the people who served during the Black Saturday fires and it’s hard to think of a better example of courage than the work of emergency services people during the Black Saturday fires.

Distribution of the first regional Yellow Pages® and White Pages® to feature courageous Australians on the covers begins this weekend in Tamworth, Dubbo, Bathurst, Albury and Launceston. The extraordinary Australians to be honoured this year include people aged from five to 78 years of age, with amazing stories from people who risked their own safety to help others, overcome personal hardships, and in many cases shown bravery that inspired others in the community, and even saved lives. All of the cover hero announcements will be published on http://www.whitepagescommunity.com.au/ White Pages® community site in line with book distribution throughout the year.