A retiring Sunshine Coast police officer has reflected on the Peregian bushfires along with other highlights of his incredible 30 year career with the Queensland Police Service (QPS).
Senior Constable Cameron McLean’s career with the QPS started in January 1996 when he graduated from the academy, after over 10 years with the Australian Defence Force, largely as a Military Police officer.
His early career with the QPS had him stationed at Clayfield, Fortitude Valley and Alderley. In the early 2000s, he left the bustling streets of Brisbane City and moved to Bargara, before settling in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast around 2005.
He served as a General Duties officer in Coolum for five years, before he became a ‘primary rider’ with the Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol in 2010, where he spent the final 15 years of his career as a motorcycle officer.
Senior Constable McLean’s most defining moments of his career were some of the incidents where the people of Queensland needed him the most.
Tilt train derailment
While stationed at Bargara in 2004, Senior Constable McLean attended a Code 1 job near Berajondo (northwest of Bundaberg), after reports a tilt train had derailed with 157 passengers on board. Senior Constable McLean, along with a number of other officers, immediately made the 78km drive to the incident location, a rural section of track in pitch black conditions with multiple passengers trapped.
When they arrived, they were each allocated a carriage to check, and made entry to the train by smashing through the windows to rescue passengers that were still trapped inside. Despite significant damage on scene, all 157 passengers on board survived, with only two passengers receiving serious injuries.
Senior Constable McLean and the other emergency services personnel who attended were awarded the Assistant Commissioner’s Certificate for notable action, acknowledging their life-saving efforts in the immediate aftermath of the derailment.
2014 Bundaberg floods
Senior Constable McLean was deployed from the Sunshine Coast to Bundaberg once 2014 as part of the Tactical Crime Squad, to assist in the response to the flooding that heavily impacted North Bundaberg.
During this protracted incident, he noted ‘an absolute washout’ in the area, including personal belongings, a fishing trawler and even an entire house that had been washed away and seen sitting in the middle of the road.
2019 Peregian bushfires
Undoubtedly one of the most defining moments in Senior Constable McLean’s career were the bushfires that impacted Peregian Beach and Peregian Springs in 2019.
The Highway Patrol officers were initially deployed to the area to assist with traffic control, preventing people from driving into danger and directing residents who were evacuating their homes to safety.
While they were on scene, conditions rapidly deteriorated as the fire intensified and moved toward homes, causing ember attacks and significant threat to David Low Way.
Senor Constable McLean and another officer went into the area to assist with evacuating people from their homes, and encountered spot fires starting in yards.
As conditions worsened, the duo were using garden hoses to extinguish spot fires and defend houses while also trying to continue evacuations in limited visibility.
The work of Senior Constable McLean and his colleague to evacuate people to safety could have saved lives, and the footage from his helmet cam went viral due to the hellish conditions they faced.
Senior Constable McLean was awarded a Queensland Police Bravery Medal for his actions that night, and reflecting back on the incident (as well as the train derailment 15 years prior) he believes he and his colleagues achieved the best possible outcome with no lives lost on either occasion. That is something that he is immensely proud of.
Even after 30 years serving the people of Queensland, he wore his uniform with pride every day, doing a job that he loved.
