NSW SES Cooranbong Unit

01/09/2026

🧡 SES September! 🧡

It’s shaping up to be a busy month for our Cooranbong SES crew, with plenty of opportunities to get out and about in our community!

From school visits and events to our first First Responders Expo, there’s plenty happening throughout September.

Check out what we’ve got coming up below, and keep an eye on our page for more details as each event gets closer.

We hope to see you out and about this September!

01/09/2026

Navshield 2026 🌲

For those who aren’t familiar with Navshield, it’s the NSW SES’s premier navigation and bush search and rescue event, bringing together emergency services, bushwalking and rogaining teams from across Australia.

Hosted by the NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue Unit, Navshield puts participants’ navigation, teamwork and endurance skills to the test across both one and two-day events.

📍 This year’s event was held in Belanglo State Forest, where our team joined members from across the region for the one-day challenge.

Our team consisted of two of our own members, Caleb and Amanda, alongside Amber from NSW SES Lake Macquarie Unit and Sarah from NSW SES Swansea - Catherine Hill Bay Unit.
We were also joined at Navshield by local teams from Gosford, Wyong, Port Stephens, Newcastle and Aberdeen.

The challenge started on Friday night, marking checkpoints on the map and planning which ones we would attempt and the best routes to reach them.

Over 8 hours, our team:
Covered 17km
Reached 8 checkpoints
Scored 380 points

Our final placings were:
• 71st overall
• 48th among NSW SES teams
• 63rd among Emergency Services teams

A huge effort from the team and a great opportunity to put our navigation, teamwork and endurance skills to the test in the bush.

Here are a few photos from the weekend! 📸

23/08/2026

16/08/2026

16/08/2026

Victory Day Drive 2026

Thank you to the members of our wonderful community that came to watch Saturdays event.

NSW SES Cooranbong Unit and NSW SES Swansea - Catherine Hill Bay Unit joined yesterdays convoy, following Westlakes shoreline between Rathmines and Wangi Wangi.

Thank you to Newcastle Military Vehicle Club for this year’s event, celebrating 81 years of victory in the Pacific 🙌🏻

NSW SES

12/08/2026

Our Cooranbong SES volunteers are looking forward to joining the Newcastle Military Vehicle Club and fellow emergency services this Saturday for the Victory Day Drive at Wangi Wangi!

The Military Vehicle Club will begin their drive from Rathmines at 10am, following the edge of Lake Macquarie before arriving at Wangi RSL, where an impressive collection of military vehicles will be on display alongside vehicles and crews from NSW SES, NSW RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW.

The Wangi Wangi RSL Sub-Branch will hold a commemorative service at the Cenotaph from 10:30am, followed by live music from The Roxy Ivy & Pearl – The Radioettes inside the club from 12pm.

It’s shaping up to be a fantastic family day and a great opportunity to come together, commemorate Victory Day and support our local community.

Saturday 15 August
Wangi Wangi RSL
Cenotaph Service – 10:30am
Live music – from 12pm

Come down, say hello to our SES volunteers and check out the vehicles on display! 🧡

11/08/2026

What a week! 🌀

We thank you, our amazing community for the patience you have shown as we work through your requests for assistance.

So, what have we been up to?

Last weeks muster our crew participated in a storm heights job scenario, that turned into a mock search to recover equipment.

Then members from Cooranbong unit learnt flood boat capabilities, increasing our capacity to respond to our areas susceptible flood areas. 💧

Finally, due to heavy wind we have experienced over the last 24 hours, our crews have been deploying across the area responding to your calls. Thank you to the community for your preparations and awareness of the various hazards present around the area, including tree falls and downed power lines. 🫵🏻

Cooranbong SES Unit

02/08/2026

Today, Cooranbong SES Unit proudly joined emergency service personnel and community members from across the Hunter at the Polar Plunge, in Merewether Ocean Baths.

Despite the winter chill, our volunteers took the plunge alongside police, emergency services and supporters to help raise funds for Special Olympics Australia, supporting athletes with intellectual disability and/or autism. Every dollar raised helps create opportunities, build confidence, foster friendships and promote inclusion amongst participants through the power of sport. Events are held across Australia, with today’s Newcastle plunge contributing to an incredible fundraising effort for Special Olympics athletes.

Well done to all involved, it was certainly cold, but absolutely worth it! ❄️

06/07/2026

Today, we pause to remember and honour Matt le Clerq, a much-loved member, friend, volunteer and part of the wider NSW SES and NSW SES Volunteers Association family. 🧡

The livestream for Matt le Clerq’s memorial service will begin at 2:00pm sharp and can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/yk9ys3tm

Matt’s service, friendship and contribution touched many people across the emergency services community, and his loss continues to be deeply felt.

Our thoughts are with Matt’s family, friends, fellow volunteers, the NSW SES Wyong Unit, and all those who knew and served alongside him.

For full details regarding today’s memorial service, please visit the official NSW SES Wyong Unit page: https://www.facebook.com/WyongSES
With respect, care and remembrance. 🧡

28/05/2026

SANDBAGS AVAILABLE ☔️

Good evening from us volunteers at Cooranbong SES!

It’s been a slow but steady crawl as the rain has begun creeping back down the coast.

Here's what we're expecting over the next 48 hours:

- Rainfall is forecast to increase across the Mid North Coast, Upper Hunter and adjacent districts from early Thursday evening.
- The severe weather is expected to spread south through the Mid North Coast, and Hunter on Friday.
- Rainfall is expected to ease late Friday afternoon/ evening but severe thunderstorms may also bring the risk of damaging winds and large hail until Saturday.

With this in mind, we have prepared sandbags for the community if needed to protect your property.

Our teams will be ready to assess the conditions as necessary, and are here to help if needed. Remember to direct all requests for non life threatening assistance to 132 500, and not to the SES social media pages.

Please log what you take via the main QR code near the sandbags.

Thank you!