The objectives of FMR Inc. are to:
- Promote and encourage a professional approach to bushwalking safety through practical training, adoption of sound and credible methods, and by demonstration to other clubs.
- Promote, encourage and conduct advanced bushwalking and related activities.
- Promote and encourage safe bushwalking practice internally, in other clubs and to the general public.
- Assist other bushwalking club members and their club safety and training officers with training at club level.
- Maintain skills in search and rescue techniques. These skills are above those which would usually be required in normal bushwalking activities.
- Enable members of other bushwalking clubs to become proficient in search & rescue organisation by training, by leading bushwalking club walks, and by demonstration of walking safety and related techniques to enable members of other bushwalking clubs to become proficient in these activities.
- Obtain equipment to enable the search and rescue function to be carried out, and train members in the correct use and maintenance of the equipment.
- Where possible maintain liaison with police, SES, communications media, property owners and other bushwalking clubs.
- Carry out research and analysis of any aspect associated with bushwalking, search and rescue, and the techniques and equipment used.
Committee
The committee meets on the third Tuesday of each month except December, at 19:30, in Little Kings Hall, 33 O'Keefe St, Buranda.
Dates for 2011 are 18th January, 15th February, 15th March, 19th April, 17th May, 21st June, the AGM on 19th July, 16th August, 20th September, 18th October, and 15th November.
A brief history of F.M.R.
As bushwalking clubs grew in the 1950's, they organised preventative training for their members in the form of 'Safety and Training' and also started 'Search and Rescue' training to cope with situations which might arise. The largest proportion of experience gained in search and rescue had been, and still is, on non-club related incidents as a community service.
As the number of clubs grew, a Federation of Bushwalking clubs was formed and consequently search and rescue matters became consolidated under the Federation to pool resources. Federation Mountain Rescue evolved out of the expertise from individual clubs to be the mountain rescue service for member clubs of the Queensland Federation of Bushwalking Clubs.
Subsequently, due to growth, FMR has become an autonomous member of the Federation rather than a sub-section of it.
FMR has been involved in many callouts since it was formed. The number of callouts per year varies considerably and have ranged as far north as Fraser Island for a body recovery over a sea cliff, south to Lennox Head in New South Wales to give abseiling training to helicopter sea rescue crews and west to Toowoomba for land searches.
FMR's association with QES became revitalised after the 1974 flood and with the increasing use of rescue helicopters and joint operations on callouts.
For many years Federation Mountain Rescue (FMR) has assisted the Police in technical cliff and mountain searches and rescues, and bush searches and rescues in rugged terrain (e.g., National Parks, State Forests, Crown Land, and Reserves). FMR is affiliated with the Queensland Emergency Service (QES) and specialises in difficult cliff and bush emergencies.
FMR is well known to some members of the QES, various Rescue Helicopter services, Local Shires, News services and the Police Department. FMR may not be well known to the general public as FMR has avoided excessive publicity in the past.
Recently, FMR updated its Objects to reflect the nature of the work it actually has done over several decades and took special note of its research into bushwalking related matters.
Most recently, FMR has formally become a bushwalking club to better emphasize its activities and re-vamped its program to make this clearer than previously appeared and in August 2011 became an incorporated club called FMR Inc.
FOR YOUR BUSHWALKING SAFETY
- DON'T WALK ALONE
- TELL SOMEONE WHERE YOU ARE GOING
- WALK WITH A CLUB
