Cathy Gilmore is a Customer Service Representative for Roadside Operations and has been with the NRMA for just over a year. She has been rescuing wildlife for almost 30 years and set up Australian Seabird Rescue Central Coast (ASRCC) fifteen years ago, a grassroots community group with a passion for coastal wildlife rescue, conservation and education.
Cathy was the recipient of the 2020 Environment Award at the Central Coast (NSW) Australia Day Awards earlier this year, recognising her passion and contribution to educating the community on how to rescue, rehabilitate and release endangered marine animals.
She was extremely excited to start working for the NRMA, since she has been a long-time Member and loves to help people. She said, “My parents were also with the NRMA so it’s been part of my life, all my life. I was really excited to start but was extremely nervous on my first day. I had absolutely nothing to worry about. There is always someone to help you here.”
Most calls Cathy takes are the usual – flat battery, flat tyres, organising tow trucks and sending Patrols to fix broken down vehicles. Her most unusual Member story to date was when she took the call from an elderly Member in Tathra, a seaside town on the Sapphire Coast in southern New South Wales.
“The elderly Member called from Tathra for a jump start. We got into a conversation about Tathra, as my grandparents lived there. It turns out, the Member knew my grandparents! In fact, it goes further – the Member’s brother who was a shearer, dated my mother for a time. I can’t believe he remembers - my Mum was part of a family of 11, with quite a number of sisters!”
p>When asked about rescuing marine wildlife, Cathy’s face lights up. When she moved from Sydney to the Central Coast nearly 30 years ago, she started volunteering with Wildlife ARC. During that time, she learnt how to catch birds, particularly pelicans accosted with fishing hooks. She kept in contact with the trainer, Lance Ferris (who was the founder of Australian Seabird Rescue) and over the years, continued her passion. By 2005, National Parks gave Ballina a licence for the whole east coast of Australia to manage wildlife rescue. In that same year, Cathy set up Australian Seabird Rescue Central Coast and the rest is history.
Cathy and her team have rescued and rehabilitated many marine animals including green turtles, a few pelicans, penguins, hatching turtle eggs and sea snakes. She said, “In the early days, I did everything, including coordinating rescue, rehabilitation and release activities, workshops and fundraising. I’ve even involved my children and grandchildren. My children often used to joke that I spent more time with the wildlife than them! Not much has changed in 28 years, but we have grown to a team of 30 in that time.”
Recently, Cathy and her team rescued two green turtles in the last few weeks. One excreted a balloon, 2.4 metres of streamer string and a plastic bag. The other excreted a fishing hook and 40cm of fishing line. Cathy’s next steps are to take on the government to change laws around releasing balloons and banning single use plastics.
On the Environment Award, Cathy recalled she was originally nominated by one of her colleagues for the Volunteer of the Year category. The criteria was very high for this category, but the Councillor judges decided Cathy’s achievements were far more impactful so it was both, a shock and a surprise when she was named as this year’s recipient of the Environment Award.
“On reflection, winning the Environment Award was such a shock. I was expecting to be called out as a nominee for Volunteer of the Year. The judges told me later they moved my nomination to the Environment category in a unanimous decision. It’s made me think back on everything I’ve achieved. To this day, I still love helping animals and helping people – working at the NRMA has meant I’m still helping people in my day job. That feeling never gets old.”
