The Perth SES unit (in its original form) was established 50 years ago in 1974.

The Perth SES first came into existence. There was no plan – when storms hit, half a dozen Council Officers in blue Civil Defence overalls travelled around the city in Council vehicles responding to incidents at the request of the then Assistant City Engineer, who also was travelling around in his own vehicle ‘spotting’ the problems.

1974 – The Perth SES first came into existence. The Unit was supplied with two rescue trailers, equipment and a panel van by the City of Perth. Overall funding and maintenance of the Unit was provided in the main by the City of Perth and the City of Nedlands, with occasional donations from the Towns of Mosman Park and Claremont. Equipment had also been provided through the WASES Equipment Support Programme funded by the State and Federal Governments and the Lotteries Commission.

The Unit operated as a “closed shop” in that the only volunteers were Council employees.  The reason for this being that the HQ (the Emergency Operations Centre and storage facilities) were within the Councils Depot at the corner of James and Fitzgerald Streets, an area that only City Staff were allowed to access.

With a national reorientation away from civil defence to natural disaster response, the organisation changed its name in July 1974 to the West Australian State Emergency Service (WA SES), and responsibility for it was transferred to the Public Works Department.

1978 – After a less-than-ideal response to Cyclone Alby in April 1978, the SES Metropolitan Region was established, and its headquarters were set up at Lynton Street, Mt Hawthorn, in a building that had been used by Main Roads during the construction of the Mitchell Freeway.

1985 – Responsibility for the WA SES transferred from the Public Works Department to the Commissioner of the Police.

1989 – The Perth SES headquarters relocated from the Council Depot to a premises at Tower Street, Leederville (renamed to Frame Court when the Mitchell Freeway was built). This relocation removed the requirement for SES members to be a Council Staff, opening membership to the whole community.

1994 – In July 1994 the WA Government decided to spilt up part of the City of Perth and to create three new municipalities, being the Town of Shepparton, Town of Vincent and Town of Cambridge.

In November 1994, the Town of Shepparton was renamed the Town of Victoria Park.

1995 – The WA SES becomes a department.

At this time, the Perth SES unit had 1 x 1973 International D1100 van, and 1 x 1993 Ford Maverick, which it shared with the City of Perth Building Department.   

1996 – After many years of running the unit, a full Council meeting at the City of Perth saw Mr Ian Lush being formally appointed as Local Coordinator of the Perth SES Unit. At the same time, some responsibility for the Perth SES Unit was given to the Town of Vincent (primarily because the Units HQ was now located in the Town of Vincent). 

In June 1996, and with falling membership numbers, the City of Subiaco Council resolved to close and amalgamate its own SES unit (that had been running since about 1970) with that of the Perth SES Unit.

1997 – With a strenght of between 30 and 45 volunteers, members responded to a variety of operational call outs covering the area from Victoria Park to City Beach, Cottesloe and beyond.

Due to a lack of coverage, particularly in the Northern sector (region) where some local authorities had no formal arrangements for the provision of emergency services at all, the City of Perth considered it appropriate to examine the existing arrangements with a view to providing a more comprehensive emergency response service.

  • A new unit, called the Northshore SES unit, was formed.
  • The former Perth SES Unit (including the old Subiaco SES Unit) amalgamated into the Northshore SES unit, including personnel, vehicles and equipment.
  • It was decided that the Northshore SES unit would be funded by nine member Councils, all of whom would be provided with regular financial, operational and activity reports.

This funding structure was contentious, as the Councils responsible for Nedlands, Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park and Peppermint Grove did not previously support (financially) an SES unit. However, the Perth SES unit had regularly attended to incidents in those areas, so some sort of funding contribution was deemed fair.

In November 1997, the WA SES came under the control of the new Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA).

1999 – The Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) was formed and took over as the controlling entity for the SES.

The SES metropolitan Region moved its headquarters to Belmont to join the Sate Headquarters. This move meant that its old building in Lynton Street, Mount Hawthorn, was vacant.

In May 1999, the Northshore SES Unit relocated again, to its 4th and current location of Lynton Street, Mount Hawthorn.

2003 – The Emergency Services Levy (ESL) was introduced, becoming the new primary source of funding for the unit, with extra funds being raised through fundraising and from the unit being involved in community activities such as the Christmas Pageant and Opera in the Park.

2005 – Severe storms hit Perth in both May and September, and the Northshore volunteers were kept busy for days on end attending hundreds of damage callouts in the areas of Mosman Park, City Beach and Subiaco. Assistance was provided by other SES Units, from areas that had been less affected by the storms and, at the peak of the emergency, 117 volunteers, from 11 SES Units, including Northam and Serpentine and Jarrahdale Units were operating from the Northshore unit in 17 teams.

2007 – Ian Lush, the unit manager of over 30 years, retires from the SES. Jim MacLean takes over, with Nick Elliott stepping up as the new deputy manager and Matt Boots becoming the new training manager. The new Northshore truck was delivered, the rear extension to our unit was finally completed, and our first real website was launched.

2009 – Kings Park bushfire in WA, and in particular the Black Saturday bushfires (VIC) saw an outpouring of grief around the state that had never previously been witnessed. This resulted in the FESA Volunteer Recruitment Line recording an unprecedented volume of enquiries from those wishing to volunteer as SES members.

2010 – Perth, and in particular the Western Suburbs, is smashed by a large and unpredicted hail storm followed up with torrential rain. The total damage bill was into the billions. The Northshore area alone received over 900 calls for assistance which took more than 9 days to clear.

2011 – Jim MacLean stands down as unit manager, and Nick Elliott takes over. Due to the increased size of membership, two deputy managers are appointed, being James Hines and Hazel Darkin.

2012 – FESA is disbanded, replaced by the Department of Fire & Emergency Services (DFES) with Wayne Gregson APM appointed as the new Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner.