Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to pay tribute to a legend of the Australian Surf Life Saving and sporting community, Dennis Heussner. Dennis passed way on 6 July 2012 after an ongoing battle with leukaemia, and I wish to offer my heartfelt sympathies to his family and friends.

I have been fortunate in my time as a surf lifesaver, and indeed as a senator, to meet and befriend some wonderful Australians—heroes of local communities who have made our nation such a great place to live; people who dedicate their lives to beach safety, sport and healthy lifestyles; those who will risk their own life to save another; and people who coach and guide young Australians in sport and make them better people. None was finer than Dennis Norman Heussner. Dennis was a champion athlete, an Olympian, a coach and a mentor—someone who was a positive influence on people. He was also a very good mate and someone who will be sadly missed in the eastern suburbs of Sydney community.

Dennis was born in Albury on 20 October 1943. His father was in the military and was positioned in Albury at the time. The family naturally moved around somewhat and when Dennis was a child his family moved to the eastern suburbs of Sydney. When he was a teenager, Dennis, with his younger brother John, joined Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club, and so began a lifelong affinity with surf lifesaving and kayaking. When Dennis began paddling longboards at Maroubra, he was quite a young fellow and quite small in stature. Consequently, often when he was carrying the very long surfboards—wooden, as they were in those days—to and from the surf, he did so by carrying them on his head. Someone once remarked that he looked like an ant carrying a piece of food—so began his nickname, 'The Ant'. That nickname would remain with him for the rest of his life.

But an ant he certainly was not. He would go on to become a giant of surf lifesaving, both in stature and in his remarkable achievements. He would become Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club's most prolific competitor, winning more titles and club championships than any single member of Maroubra in its over a century of competition in surf lifesaving. His record speaks for itself. In the surf he was a brilliant board and ski competitor, winning 15 Australian championships and 23 state championships. Dennis won six separate Australian longboard championships and was a New South Wales ironman champion. When he had done all that he could in surf lifesaving on a board and a surf ski, he thought that he would try his hand at canoeing. He went on to win 14 Australian canoeing championships and he represented Australia twice at the Olympics.

His national representative honours include: representative of the Australian surf lifesaving team in 1965 to the United States and in 1968 to South Africa; in 1970, captain of the Australian surf lifesaving team to New Zealand; and, in 1971, captain of the Australian surf lifesaving team to South Africa. He represented Australia in canoeing at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. He was an active participant in the administration and affairs of Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club. He was the club's captain from 1969 to 1970 and the recipient of the Honour Blazer in 1970 to 1971.

He was also awarded a meritorious award for his involvement in the rescue of a fisherman off Lurline Bay in 1959. I would like to read to the Senate the citation associated with the award of that meritorious award:

At about 4:30 pm on 17 October 1959 a telephone call was made to Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club to the effect that a spear fisherman, J. Boss, had been washed off the rocks at Lurline Bay near Maroubra Beach. Club members Ron Siddons, Dennis Heussner and Brian Trouville immediately proceeded by car to Lurline Bay where J Boss was 400 yards from the shore in mountainous seas. Without hesitation these three men entered the water and after an exacting and trying swim eventually reached Boss and supported him until picked up by members of Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club on boards and skis. After about three-quarters of an hour the Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club boat crew arrived on the scene and the patient and members who participated in the rescue were escorted to Coogee Beach. The actions of Ron Siddons and particularly Dennis Heussner and Brian Trouville, who are both junior members, were of the highest standard and, having no regard for their personal safety, undoubtedly saved a life.

The remarkable thing about that award was that at the time Dennis Heussner was only 16 years old; yet in mountainous seas he risked his life to save that of another person. He was inducted into the Randwick Sporting Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Surf Lifesaving Australia Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2009 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to surf lifesaving and canoeing.

Interestingly, in 1974 he was appointed the personal bodyguard to Prince Charles when the prince visited Sydney and went swimming at Bondi and Coogee beaches. It was up to Dennis Heussner to provide personal protection in the surf and basically make sure that the prince did not drown.

When he finished his competition years he continued to be active in surf lifesaving, particularly coaching board and ski competitors, imparting his knowledge of surf and fitness to the next generation of Australians. Two of those competitors were none other than his son Kane and his daughter Holly. Both went on to win New South Wales and Australian championships. Unfortunately I was never of the champion calibre, as many others were that Dennis coached, but in my years as a ski paddler under his tutelage, he imparted more than knowledge about surf lifesaving to me.

Dennis was also a preacher of character and discipline, lessons that apply to any walk of life and something I now appreciate, even if I did not at the time realise how important those messages he taught me were. He would often say to me and others that there are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who let things happen. He would end that by saying, 'What sort of person are you?' and challenging someone to be a person who made things happen.

Dennis, like most in the eastern suburbs community, was an avid South Sydney Rabbitohs fan, and I used to enjoy seeing him on a Sunday morning at Maroubra surf club. Like typical armchair critics, we would analyse what Souths had done wrong in the game over the weekend and how we would fix it. He was always one to offer quirky advice, like how to keep the perfect head on a beer: by putting a little bit of water in the beer cup before you placed it in the freezer to freeze it. That little bit of water at the bottom would oxidise the beer and keep the perfect head on the beer whilst you drank it. He also often had logical observations about policy issues—in particular climate change and his belief that pollution was harming our environment. He could tell that by his relationship with the ocean and the horizon on a clean day.

Dennis Heussner was such a fine person—a strong person, a role model, a mentor and a good bloke. Maroubra Surf Lifesaving Club will not be the same without him. My sympathies go to his wife, Diane, and children, Kelly, Heidi, Holly and Kane.