Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we celebrate St John's Day—24 June is the feast of St John the Baptist. Ahead of this week in the Senate, I attended the St John Ambulance SA rededication service at St Augustine's Anglican Church. It is a beautiful service held each year, where the volunteers of St John dedicate ourselves afresh to the service of God and humanity.

In the St John family, we seek to practice our virtues with grace and determination in order to live our lives with courage and sympathy. We aspire to be marked out as people of compassion in a world ridden with selfishness. In this chamber, I wish to honour a man who exemplifies this tradition of service. He has dedicated his life to being caring and compassionate. I speak of David Heard, an outstanding South Australian volunteer and knight of the venerable Order of St John. At 91 years of age, David has been recognised as the world's longest-serving St John Ambulance volunteer, having dedicated more than 80 years of his life to St John.

David joined the Colonel Light Gardens St John division in 1944 while still in primary school. He was on duty at the corner of King William Street and North Terrace in Adelaide on 15 August 1945 when victory in the Pacific was declared, marking the end of the Second World War. In 1950, David commenced volunteering as an ambulance officer. The ambulance service was then staffed with St John volunteers. Every Friday and Saturday night, David responded to motor vehicle accidents, witnessing as much trauma as our paramedics do today. After meeting his wife, Joy, the happy couple moved to Murray Bridge, where David helped manage Joy's family property. Sadly, Joy passed away in 2020. She was a great support to David and his passion for caring for others. She was a nurse and also a member of St John.

David joined the Murray Bridge division where he helped to found St John volunteer services in Mannum, Mount Pleasant, Tailem Bend and Meningie. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the cadet divisions in Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend, Mannum, Karoonda and Mount Barker. Through these efforts, David developed the next generation of St John volunteers. Today, David continues his service and has no intention of retiring. He continues to serve as treasurer of the St John Ambulance Historical Society and is the patron of the Murray Bridge Rowing Club. St John's service is a Heard family tradition. All four of David's children were cadets, as were many of his grandchildren. His daughter, Lorna, continues to serve, as do two of his granddaughters, Emily and Elise.

I thank David for his great service to St John and my state of South Australia. I extend my personal thanks to David for the support and wisdom that he generously provided me when I held senior leadership positions with the St John's state office. I conclude with a few words from the St John hymn: 'Many need a hand to soothe them; many want a brother's care.' Through David's dedication, the many in need have received that care. Pro Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum.