2023 NSW Regional Woman of the Year finalist, Dannielle Pickford, is calling on State and Federal Governments to officially recognise the boaties in the Tinny Army after she was told “most” of the nearly 300 individual nominations she made were ineligible for Australian Bravery Decorations.
“One year ago I started a list with a few phone numbers of strangers in boats in the hope of getting help to people who needed it,” shared Pickford.
“I now have a list of almost 300 names of “the boaties”, people who contributed to Australia’s largest civilian rescue effort. The list sat on my computer, but knowing it deserved to be more than that I nominated every name I had for the Bravery Medal,” said Pickford.
“Unfortunately, I was informed that names were not enough and in order for a nomination to be successful I needed to have very detailed information about where and when the act of bravery occurred and the contact details of the nominee,” she said.
To her knowledge no-one has made an “official” list but she believes this is necessary to quantify the scale of this historic event and acknowledge the efforts of the boaties.
“My list is the most comprehensive, but I made it out of a necessity in an emergency. We need help from the general public to complete the nominations of the boaties in the Tinny Army and make sure they are all recognised and counted,” she said.
“Then we need the government to step up and take care of the list in an official capacity,” she said.
If you know the person who rescued you, or have the contact details of any boaties (for example: friends, family, neighbours), Dannielle is calling the general public to nominate them directly to the Australian Bravery Decorations team.
People can be nominated more than once, but she wants everyone to send in nominations of the people they know so the Awards team in the Governor General’s office has everyone’s contact details.
The incomplete list of boaties names is currently hanging from the ceiling into a boat at the Rescue exhibition at Serpentine Gallery for the next three weeks.
“There will be a lot of pollies in town over the coming weeks: please respectfully let them know this is important to our community,” said Pickford.
“I am also calling on the State and Federal Governments to get a formal commitment to permanently honour to the boaties who saved our town by way of a memorial area, listing the names of the Tinny Army somewhere for us to remember their efforts,” Pickford said.
To nominate someone, please take a few minutes to complete the Australian Bravery Decorations Nomination Form.
About Dannielle Pickford:
Her husband was a “boatie” which is how she started her list – connecting people needing help with people in boats.