The Bill Brand Story - Geoffrey Frost
Geoffrey Frost – Former Senior Sergeant Victoria Police Search and Rescue Squad 1987-1998
The Bill Brand story is easy to tell but there’s a lot of ground [history] to cover. I had a lot of material to condense.
I will start in 1976 when I joined the squad after completing the Diving Aqualung Diving Course, Bill was then the Senior Sergeant in charge of the squad, soon to be Inspector.
In reflection, by the time Bill Brand was promoted to Inspector in [1978], he was without Peer in Australia and I am confident in saying he probably had no Peer in the World.
He was Mister Search and Rescue.
His leadership incomparable, no one came close.
The great breadth and depth of his operational experience is unsurpassed, unmatched and legendary.
He had an uncanny ability to precisely match the situation with a measured response of the right resources in the right place to win the day. This was stuff not in any text books.
He was not a proponent of throwing hoards of untrained and ill equipped people into difficult situations, just because they were the locals and they could use the experience.
He was not there to gain notoriety, fame or expand his résumé; - he was a serious man with a serious mission.
He disliked the glory seekers.
His multi-dimensional thinking and approach to searches, [especially in the decade the squad had the armed offender’s role years before the Special Operation Group, was the key to many operational solutions].
Of significance was Bill’s strategy and tactics as the search commander in the Faraday School children kidnapping in 1972 and the repeat kidnapping of children and others at the Wooreen School in 1976 by the same offender after he escaped from gaol –s uccessful outcomes With No Lives Lost.
As the Commander of the search and rescue, Bill regularly accompanied teams into the field on operations and would billet and eat and drink with squad members, often for extended away periods.
He cared deeply about us and we reciprocated that with unwavering loyalty. We loved him and felt safe and protected under his command.
But did he not care for members who did the wrong thing and he would take swift, decisive action in very serious incidents, fortunately that was a [very] rare occurrence.
If you weren’t meeting his expectations in the job, you would end up languishing in the office, facing the possible spectre of never going on another job followed by eventual transfer out. Or you could make the necessary changes and earn his trust again. You would get a second chance, but not a third.
I can recall a moment in time when Bill was looking for something in the muster room and asked if anyone had seen it, to which one member replied, “Had he checked his in-correspondence tray as everything was in there (in reference to unprocessed overtime claims)”.
The infraction [rudeness] was not dealt with immediately as Bill did not have a reactive style. But, I clearly remember the member’s dive times noticeably increased over that winter and he seemed to get every scungy job (a word often used by Bill) that was going for a while, well until the member decided to transfer out.
He was always on guard to threats to the adulteration of the squad or watering down of its roles and the skills by joining with other units, for the sake of a theoretical economy of scale. He fiercely opposed these moves by the middle officer order between him and the Chief.
I witnessed him on a couple of occasions casually hang up on these who would try and moot such nonsense, one of them being an Assistant Commissioner at one time, who he answered as he hung up “I’ll be pleased to answer your report”. (No Sir at the end)
Not done in a disrespectful manner or tone, just a matter of fact. But totally FEARLESS. You had to be there to behold.
Bill [hated] was often irritated by this impenetrable barrier of ignorance and misunderstanding, but it never deterred him.
His saving grace was that he had a Direct line to God - Code Name for the Chief Commissioner, Sinclair Imrie (Mick) Miller (1977-87) which he used judiciously.
This lifeline was unknown to his immediate superiors and middle order, who could never work out how their uninformed radical views on how the S&R should operate - never drew breath.
Bill once told me that Mick said all he needed to do was provide the front page headline news of people being saved by the squad as this did more for the Force that any PR machine and not to worry - he would look after the “irritants”.
Bill said to me in a quieter moment, his power was not in fact from having this direct line of communication with the Chief Commissioner, but that his real power came from knowing people in low places.
This was the hallmark of his success, the building and maintaining of relationships with a fraternity of trusted people within and outside of the Force, his beloved Bushies, the local Policemen in one man stations dotted around the State especially the great dividing range, such as [Senior Constable] Bernie McWhinney at Jamieson who he held in high esteem and vice versa. Bernie got beaten up by some bikies one time in the remote back country and ended up in the police hospital for a stretch. Bernie could never get over that Bill, an Inspector came to see him in hospital. Bernie often repeated the story.
Bill instilled in us his trademark values and ethos, to persist and persevere, to go the extra mile, just one more dive, just one more.... Anything, anywhere, anytime, can do, can do easy. I say that at the risk of sounding egotistical, but the fact is Bill knew our potential and often put us in harm’s way - we would somehow come through unscathed.
I enjoyed they way he challenged us, well only when we were ready for it, not that we would know it, as he knew more about us than we knew about ourselves, because we all grew up in the squad.
We did not look all that polished in the early days, as we didn’t have the glossy outdoor wear and uniforms in the early days, nor the extensive technology of nowadays, but we were very fit, very skilled across a number of disciplines and very enthusiastic.
We performed some spectacular jobs under his leadership. Rescues at Mount Rosea, the North Wall of Mt Buffalo, The Horn in Winter, to mention a few amongst a host of others.
Bill enjoyed our youth, our enthusiasm and our physical capabilities. Some felt threatened by our youthful exuberance, and tried to constrain it, but Bill embraced it, because he knew this was a vital element of the squad’s successful formula.
He taught us to get the unvarnished truth and to get as close as you could to the scene - because it was a “whole new world” of facts.
I can hear his words echo in my head, “Don’t let any power or persuasion deter you in your task – give the missing person their best possible shot.
There was only one number we needed to know still indelible in my memory to this day - Bill’s home phone number of 9870 7187 (at first without the prefix 9) where the Brand family home regularly doubled as the communication hub and centre of Statewide SAR operations.
Calling Inspector Brand at home, especially the first few times I did it and especially in the middle of the night, was not for the faint hearted.
He would answer in a strong tone YES, which I picked up was the non-verbal cue for one to talk succinctly, (no need for salutations, niceties or greetings), to which one would talk out an SOS dot dot dot dash dash dash etc like news in brief, MAN LOST FALLS CREEK 24 HOURS. Once he had heard enough it would be followed by the word ALRIGHT. This was the caller’s cue to shut up and listen. Orders were simple. Go to the mountain, send team, pick me up, ring D24 to get the bushies. CLICK.
In more recent years, Bill and I talked of his New Guinea experiences, some of which I heard briefly when we worked together years before, but I always loved hearing them again, this time of course we had more time to discuss the finer details.
A couple of years ago he gave me a number of papers to look through from his New Guinea experiences, one of which was an Operation Order which read in essence, “Go to mountain, co-opt villagers, build air strip quickly as possible, capable of taking Norseman aircraft”. Sounded very familiar!
I was then struck by the date of the order, May 1953. I was barely 3 months old.
Bill Brand aged 23 years in 1953 built an aircraft landing strip on the then Southern Highlands of New Guinea at a place called Erave, by hand using local New Guineans’ when most of the [sprogs] squad members of the era were still in nappies. I wish I had seen this before, as it would have given me another wonderful insight to the man I had worked with so many years before.
I’ve got to say I was even more stunned when I looked at the site on Google Maps. The airstrip is now capable of taking the huge Russian Antinov transport aircraft.
Well we know after New Guinea he joined the Victoria Police Force and commenced his next project.... as an architect [in the perfecting] of the blue print of the Search and Rescue Squad.
With this and having a family in the background, I think he should his middle name should have been “Perpetuity”.
The Bill Brand story is easy to tell but there’s a lot of ground [history] to cover. I had a lot of material to condense.
I will start in 1976 when I joined the squad after completing the Diving Aqualung Diving Course, Bill was then the Senior Sergeant in charge of the squad, soon to be Inspector.
In reflection, by the time Bill Brand was promoted to Inspector in [1978], he was without Peer in Australia and I am confident in saying he probably had no Peer in the World.
He was Mister Search and Rescue.
His leadership incomparable, no one came close.
The great breadth and depth of his operational experience is unsurpassed, unmatched and legendary.
He had an uncanny ability to precisely match the situation with a measured response of the right resources in the right place to win the day. This was stuff not in any text books.
He was not a proponent of throwing hoards of untrained and ill equipped people into difficult situations, just because they were the locals and they could use the experience.
He was not there to gain notoriety, fame or expand his résumé; - he was a serious man with a serious mission.
He disliked the glory seekers.
His multi-dimensional thinking and approach to searches, [especially in the decade the squad had the armed offender’s role years before the Special Operation Group, was the key to many operational solutions].
Of significance was Bill’s strategy and tactics as the search commander in the Faraday School children kidnapping in 1972 and the repeat kidnapping of children and others at the Wooreen School in 1976 by the same offender after he escaped from gaol –s uccessful outcomes With No Lives Lost.
As the Commander of the search and rescue, Bill regularly accompanied teams into the field on operations and would billet and eat and drink with squad members, often for extended away periods.
He cared deeply about us and we reciprocated that with unwavering loyalty. We loved him and felt safe and protected under his command.
But did he not care for members who did the wrong thing and he would take swift, decisive action in very serious incidents, fortunately that was a [very] rare occurrence.
If you weren’t meeting his expectations in the job, you would end up languishing in the office, facing the possible spectre of never going on another job followed by eventual transfer out. Or you could make the necessary changes and earn his trust again. You would get a second chance, but not a third.
I can recall a moment in time when Bill was looking for something in the muster room and asked if anyone had seen it, to which one member replied, “Had he checked his in-correspondence tray as everything was in there (in reference to unprocessed overtime claims)”.
The infraction [rudeness] was not dealt with immediately as Bill did not have a reactive style. But, I clearly remember the member’s dive times noticeably increased over that winter and he seemed to get every scungy job (a word often used by Bill) that was going for a while, well until the member decided to transfer out.
He was always on guard to threats to the adulteration of the squad or watering down of its roles and the skills by joining with other units, for the sake of a theoretical economy of scale. He fiercely opposed these moves by the middle officer order between him and the Chief.
I witnessed him on a couple of occasions casually hang up on these who would try and moot such nonsense, one of them being an Assistant Commissioner at one time, who he answered as he hung up “I’ll be pleased to answer your report”. (No Sir at the end)
Not done in a disrespectful manner or tone, just a matter of fact. But totally FEARLESS. You had to be there to behold.
Bill [hated] was often irritated by this impenetrable barrier of ignorance and misunderstanding, but it never deterred him.
His saving grace was that he had a Direct line to God - Code Name for the Chief Commissioner, Sinclair Imrie (Mick) Miller (1977-87) which he used judiciously.
This lifeline was unknown to his immediate superiors and middle order, who could never work out how their uninformed radical views on how the S&R should operate - never drew breath.
Bill once told me that Mick said all he needed to do was provide the front page headline news of people being saved by the squad as this did more for the Force that any PR machine and not to worry - he would look after the “irritants”.
Bill said to me in a quieter moment, his power was not in fact from having this direct line of communication with the Chief Commissioner, but that his real power came from knowing people in low places.
This was the hallmark of his success, the building and maintaining of relationships with a fraternity of trusted people within and outside of the Force, his beloved Bushies, the local Policemen in one man stations dotted around the State especially the great dividing range, such as [Senior Constable] Bernie McWhinney at Jamieson who he held in high esteem and vice versa. Bernie got beaten up by some bikies one time in the remote back country and ended up in the police hospital for a stretch. Bernie could never get over that Bill, an Inspector came to see him in hospital. Bernie often repeated the story.
Bill instilled in us his trademark values and ethos, to persist and persevere, to go the extra mile, just one more dive, just one more.... Anything, anywhere, anytime, can do, can do easy. I say that at the risk of sounding egotistical, but the fact is Bill knew our potential and often put us in harm’s way - we would somehow come through unscathed.
I enjoyed they way he challenged us, well only when we were ready for it, not that we would know it, as he knew more about us than we knew about ourselves, because we all grew up in the squad.
We did not look all that polished in the early days, as we didn’t have the glossy outdoor wear and uniforms in the early days, nor the extensive technology of nowadays, but we were very fit, very skilled across a number of disciplines and very enthusiastic.
We performed some spectacular jobs under his leadership. Rescues at Mount Rosea, the North Wall of Mt Buffalo, The Horn in Winter, to mention a few amongst a host of others.
Bill enjoyed our youth, our enthusiasm and our physical capabilities. Some felt threatened by our youthful exuberance, and tried to constrain it, but Bill embraced it, because he knew this was a vital element of the squad’s successful formula.
He taught us to get the unvarnished truth and to get as close as you could to the scene - because it was a “whole new world” of facts.
I can hear his words echo in my head, “Don’t let any power or persuasion deter you in your task – give the missing person their best possible shot.
There was only one number we needed to know still indelible in my memory to this day - Bill’s home phone number of 9870 7187 (at first without the prefix 9) where the Brand family home regularly doubled as the communication hub and centre of Statewide SAR operations.
Calling Inspector Brand at home, especially the first few times I did it and especially in the middle of the night, was not for the faint hearted.
He would answer in a strong tone YES, which I picked up was the non-verbal cue for one to talk succinctly, (no need for salutations, niceties or greetings), to which one would talk out an SOS dot dot dot dash dash dash etc like news in brief, MAN LOST FALLS CREEK 24 HOURS. Once he had heard enough it would be followed by the word ALRIGHT. This was the caller’s cue to shut up and listen. Orders were simple. Go to the mountain, send team, pick me up, ring D24 to get the bushies. CLICK.
In more recent years, Bill and I talked of his New Guinea experiences, some of which I heard briefly when we worked together years before, but I always loved hearing them again, this time of course we had more time to discuss the finer details.
A couple of years ago he gave me a number of papers to look through from his New Guinea experiences, one of which was an Operation Order which read in essence, “Go to mountain, co-opt villagers, build air strip quickly as possible, capable of taking Norseman aircraft”. Sounded very familiar!
I was then struck by the date of the order, May 1953. I was barely 3 months old.
Bill Brand aged 23 years in 1953 built an aircraft landing strip on the then Southern Highlands of New Guinea at a place called Erave, by hand using local New Guineans’ when most of the [sprogs] squad members of the era were still in nappies. I wish I had seen this before, as it would have given me another wonderful insight to the man I had worked with so many years before.
I’ve got to say I was even more stunned when I looked at the site on Google Maps. The airstrip is now capable of taking the huge Russian Antinov transport aircraft.
Well we know after New Guinea he joined the Victoria Police Force and commenced his next project.... as an architect [in the perfecting] of the blue print of the Search and Rescue Squad.
With this and having a family in the background, I think he should his middle name should have been “Perpetuity”.
I remember working with Bill in 1985 as part of the Victorian Alpine Resorts Commission in a project "Operation Snowsafe". It followed the death of a young man on, I think, Mt Stirling. I worked with Ian Parfitt and Senior Sergeant Geoff Frost, at the time. Very pioneering times.
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