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.
Meetings
FMR general meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month except December, at 19:30, in Little Kings Hall, 33 O'Keefe St, Buranda. All members are welcome to attend.
(The main gates are often locked, but you can access from Wolseley Street, opposite Chino, through the long driveway marked Private Property.)
During the pandemic, general meetings were suspended, and subsequently the committee is conducting business by teleconference. Please email fmrqld@gmail.com for details.
Committee 2023
President: Rob Manthey Secretary: Peter Rollings
Treasurer: Doug McDonald Members Officer: Vacant
Committee member: Judy Moody-Stuart Training Officer: Vacant
A brief history of F.M.R.
As bushwalking clubs grew in the 1950's, they organised 'Safety and Training' activities to train their members in navigation, survival, first aid and rope work, and soon supplemented this with 'Search and Rescue' training to cope with situations which might arise. The SAR skills were more often used as a community service than on club-related incidents.
After the formation of the Queensland Federation of Bushwalking clubs in 1965, the clubs pooled their search and rescue resources in an affiliated volunteer service that became well-known as Federation Mountain Rescue (FMR). “Federation” eventually incorporated under the name Bushwalking Queensland, and the rescue service incorporated separately in 2011 as FMR Inc. Our members are now drawn from both the bushwalking and rock-climbing fraternities. FMR is recognised as a volunteer search and rescue unit in the National Search and Rescue Manual.
For many years FMR has assisted the Police in land searches and rescues, where we specialise in multi-day assignments in rugged terrain. Our knowledge of bushwalking routes is also useful in guiding search aircraft. FMR has been called out to assist with incidents in an area ranging from Fraser Island to northern New South Wales to Toowoomba, but has ventured even further afield to assist bushwalking clubs and other volunteer groups in training their members.