Marine Rescue Wooli

08/08/2026

The Aussie Triples Classic Motorbike Club are staying in Wooli this weekend.

This morning, Marine Rescue Wooli members cooked breakfast for members of the Motorbike Club at the Wooli River Lodges.

In return, the Motorbike Club are donating the proceeds from their weekend activities to Marine Rescue Wooli!

What a great bunch of people! So generous and great company!

02/08/2026

Marine Rescue Wooli AGM in July 2026 was a very pleasant meeting with awards being presented to members by Northern Area MR Board director Keith Smith for years of service and two Lifetime Memberships were also presented.

Lifetime memberships are rare and are awarded in exceptional circumstances, not simply for longevity of service.

Congratulations to Marty and Dieter who both received Unit Life Membership Awards for extraordinary service and dedication. Both also received pins for 20 years of service (Marty) and 15 years of service (Dieter).

Peter received his 25 year pin, a long and distinguished service.

Also receiving 20 year pins were Jackie and Kerry.
Emilio was awarded his 15 year pin. All three have performed operational and support roles with dedication, always ready to help out.

Matthew was awarded the Unit Commander’s Citation for his extraordinary effort over the last two years as Unit Commander and his huge contribution to the negotiations on the design, build and delivery of our new vessel.

Congratulations to all concerned for your dedication and commitment to Marine Rescue Wooli.

This is what makes a Unit functional and ready to respond as an emergency service.

“Saving Lives on the Water”

01/08/2026

Congratulations to Richard Finlay-Jones who today passed his Operational Assessment as Crew, in record time and to a high standard.

Marine Rescue Wooli has had several new members join this year which is strengthening our Unit and our incident response capabilities.

Richard is the first of our new members to obtain their Crew Rating, after Jack earlier in the year.

A big thank you to all those who have contributed to the training of our new members, including Richard Taffs, who doubles as Unit Commander and Training Officer, our coxswains Marty, Matthew and Richard and existing qualified crew who have mentored and guided the new trainees.

We always welcome new members, you don’t need to have prior boating experience as you will receive full training.

There are also many support roles and Admin positions which must be filled.

If you would like to join, please complete an application online on the Marine Rescue NSW webpage.

https://www.marinerescuensw.com.au/become-a-volunteer/apply-to-become-a-volunteer

22/07/2026

Thank you AirBerth Boat Lifts, excellent work and pleasant company too!

Supporting our unsung heroes! 💙

We're proud to see our AirBerth M650 (6,500kg lift) now housing the brand new 10.5m rescue vessel for Marine Rescue NSW Wooli. 🚤

As a longstanding supplier to Marine Rescue NSW, it's incredibly rewarding to support the volunteers who dedicate their time to keeping our waterways safe. Congratulations to the Wooli crew on their fantastic new vessel—we're thrilled to see it resting on another AirBerth!


Marine Rescue Wooli

15/07/2026

The old and the new.

Our rescue vessel in 2008, dubbed the ‘Bath Tub’.
The new 2026 vessel in the foreground and our old rescue vessel in the background, both moored at Yamba Marina.

15/07/2026

After two days of hard yakka, the old air berth has been removed, the new air berth is in place and this morning the final adjustments were made to position the berth and adjust the lines to fit our new rescue vessel snuggly in place.

Thanks to our MR Wooli members and staff of Air Berth Boat Lifts at Arundel for putting in a hard 10 hour day yesterday and time again this morning to remove the old berth, place the new berth and make all the fine adjustments.

Wooli 30 is now safely and securely on the berth at the wharf. She is sleek, well built by Yamba Welding and Engineering, well appointed and ready for service.

14/07/2026

A new chapter has begun at Marine Rescue Wooli! Our new rescue vessel has been delivered and she’s ready to assist boaters.

This vessel has been made possible through a partnership between the NSW Government and the incredible generosity of our local community. Marine Rescue Wooli volunteers are contributing to the cost through their own fundraising efforts, with every donation helping to strengthen our ability to respond when boaters need us most.

If you'd like to support the volunteers who are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every contribution—no matter how small—makes a difference. Please donate via the link below and select Marine Rescue Wooli:
https://www.marinerescuensw.com.au/support-us/donate
Thank you for helping our volunteers continue saving lives on the water.

13/07/2026

UPDATE: Wooli 30, our brand new rescue vessel arrived in the Wooli Wooli River this afternoon from Yamba with one long honk of the horn.

She is a 10 metre Naiad powered by two 300 hp Suzuki outboards.

Woohoo!

13/07/2026

Our old vessel departing the Wooli Wooli River this morning. Photo credit David Bancroft.

13/07/2026

Our crew this morning on Wooli 30 taking our old rescue vessel to Yamba and returning with our new vessel this afternoon.