Chelsea SES is able to continue this work thanks in part to the generous support of The City of Kingston. Chelsea SES Unit’s history can been traced back to 1953 making it one of the longest, continuous serving units, assisting the community for more than 70 years. Over those years, Chelsea volunteer members have been at the forefront of assisting others at many of our darkest days. From deploymen
ts to assist other units, other regions, and even other States, following major storms, floods and even cyclones. We were involved when the Southern Aroura Train tragically derailed in Violet Town, we were at the West Gate Bridge collapse, Ash Wednesday, Black Saturday and sadly, so many more, when called, Chelsea and our volunteers were there. In our local community, Chelsea SES is always ready to assist when you call. Local storm and flooding and of course trees down on roads, vehicles, and properties, as well as assisting Police, Fire Services and Ambulance Victoria in many and varied capacities. The Unit membership has grown, to sit around 55 members, but like any volunteer organisation, this is a fluid number, with members leaving due to changes in work or home circumstances, and new members joining the team. As well as our operational duties, Chelsea SES volunteers, are always heavily involved in Community Engagement and educating our community in ways to minimize the risks to property from flood or storm, by some simple tips and hints. Members also regularly attend community events, to help spread important safety messages, as well as showing the community a range of what we do, and the equipment we use to do it with. In 2018, we decided that a change was needed in the way we communicated with the community via our page, and the concentrate on content that was more relevant. With the virtual disappearance of most local newspapers, residents were looking for a trustworthy source of local information, and although we are first and foremost an Emergency Service Organisation, we are also a Community Organisation. With that in mind, it was decided that as much as we would continue to keep everyone up to date with Chelsea SES, we would also let you know what was happening in our neighbourhood. In that first year, we achieved 250,000 hits on our page, a massive achievement. But then, in 2019, we hit 500,000 and then in 2020 we reached one million hits, amazing. Over the last 5 years, the page has received more than 10 Million hits. In 2022, Chelsea SES moved into their new Unit Headquarters in Chelsea Heights, so a very exciting time for everyone involved a this has been an ongoing project for many years. As a wiser person than me once said regarding volunteers; "It’s not that we don’t pay them because they’re worthless; we don’t pay them because they’re priceless". So, why do we do what we do, I guess the simple answer is; We do it because we want to, not because we have to.!
