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AUSTRALIAN BRAVERY ASSOCIATION | Page 17

A Tribute to the Brave

DAVID GOLLEDGE

"We sent ten men in, eventually, to face nearly a hundred prisoners,
violent offenders, the worst in the State, to rescue three of our
colleagues. Now I don't know, in anyone's language, that that's not
bravery." – David Golledge.

In our JUNE issue of FOR BRAVERY we learned a little about the Long Bay
Riot of 1986 from David ‘Emu’ Farrell’s account. Those brave men who put
their lives on the line for their colleagues who had been taken hostage by
the Nation’s most violent offenders, among them, Comanchero bikies who
had been involved in the Milperra bikie massacre. After 30 years of silence,
we think this story deserves a little more attention and appreciate the
efforts of ABA member, David Golledge, who provides these insights.

FOR BRAVERY ED: Could you have imagined yourself in that situation, and
can you recall what was going through your mind at the time?

DAVID: As an operator in a high-risk environment, you always want to do
the hard jobs, those that extend you mentally and physically. As an
operator, you realistically expect, at some stage, to be confronted with
that level of danger. You put yourself there because it is inherently in you,
that’s your life. You expect nothing less than the worst. During the
incident, the only thing that crossed my mind was getting in there and David and drug detection
rescuing those officers. It was our job to get them out and home safe to dog Ben at the Dog Unit HQ
their families. Injury to us was not an option. Those officers didn’t expect at Long Bay Gaol, prior to
doing security patrols of the
to be taken hostage, or be in fear of their lives when they signed on for complex.
duty that day. But such is the nature of working with violent offenders.

FOR BRAVERY ED: How soon after that extraordinary experience were you back on the job? Did you
undertake any special counselling?

DAVID: When you join an elite unit, and bearing in mind it is a vastly different landscape now, we were
back at work the next day doing what we were trained to do, and prepared to do it all again. We weren’t
given time off, and neither did we ask for any. Trauma or grief counselling was never offered. The only
resolve a few of the more tight-knit guys had was to go have a drink and listen to music to unwind, with
someone you trusted and didn’t have to talk about the incident. They were my brothers in arms, they had
my back and vice versa, and at that time that’s all I needed to know.

FOR BRAVERY ED: How did that ordeal impact on the way prison officers went about their business?

DAVID: Certainly, things changed in the prisons in so far as security went. For our unit, it was business as
usual. Not a day went by where we were not in a physical confrontation with a violent inmate. In fact, my
unit mate, Bill Dodson and I, were involved in the most number of regulation 100c. This regulation governs
the use of force when a prisoner refuses to comply with a direct order. Continued next page….

National Office: PO Box 88, Rosanna, Victoria 3084 Australia | www.forbravery.org.au