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Daryl Brown has spent more than half his adult life doing his bit for the local community.

The Murchison man has been an SES volunteer for almost two decades and was recently awarded a National Medal for his contribution to the safety and wellbeing of others.

The National Medals are awarded to members of the defence and police forces and ambulance, fire and emergency services throughout Australia, in recognition of exemplary service for 15, 25, 35 and 45 years.

Mr Brown has volunteered across the Goulburn Valley as well as in Bundaberg in Queensland.

He said it was the local people that drove him to volunteer all those years ago, and that have continued to keep him involved since.

‘‘I joined it just to give something back to the community. I just enjoy working with the community ... and joining the SES was just going to help the local area, especially in times of need,’’ Mr Brown said.

‘‘I just do it because I think it’s the right thing to do. The mob I work with here I get on really well with. We all know what we’re doing so we just get in and do the job.’’

Not even a genetic back condition has stopped Mr Brown from offering his services. The 54-year old has recently returned to the SES after an operation in August last year to fix a problem exacerbated by 30-odd years of driving and physical labour.

‘‘I was only out of it for a little while and now I just come along and do what I can. The other blokes know that I can only do so much,’’ he said.

And it seems the passion for community service has been passed down to the next generation. Both Mr Brown’s children volunteer their time at local organisations — 19-year-old Phillip as a Country Fire Authority volunteer, and 17-year-old Melissa following in her dad’s footsteps at the SES.

‘‘Sometimes you’ll be sitting there (at home) watching the TV and a pager will go off and (Phillip) will be jumping up and Melissa will be jumping up, or I’ll be jumping up ... to see whose pager it is.’’

Although Mr Brown said the SES was always on the look out for new members, he warned that the job wasn’t for everybody.

‘‘I tell them that right from the word go,’’ he said.

‘‘But it’s not a case of ‘you come here and you have to go out and do road crashes’. A lot of people can’t do that, but there’s other parts they can do.

‘‘It all comes down to helping the community.

‘‘You do what you can, when you can, and that’s all you can do.’’

This story first appeared in the December 6 edition of SN Weekly.