Rod Fraser moved to Melton more than two decades ago. The Melton SES deputy controller tells Sumeyya Ilanbey he couldn’t be prouder of his decision.
What’s your connection to Melton?
I shifted here probably about 23 years ago, when I got married. Me and my wife decided this was the place we wanted to start a family. I was brought up in Broadmeadows and then lived in Bendigo for a little while. My wife lived in Taylors Lakes, so it [Melton] wasn’t too far from where she lived and basically back then Melton was somewhere that looked alright and fairly cheap. As it turned out, it’s a great place to live.
What’s your favourite thing about living in Melton?
Over the years it’s become a very community-oriented place. It’s getting a lot larger, but I’ve always been involved in community-based things, and there’s quite a number of them.
What would you change about the area if you could?
Maybe improve some of the roads – such as the freeways. Because there’s so much traffic these days, I think we just need a bit better roads.
Where’s your favourite place to hang out?
Honestly, I haven’t got one. I just pretty much take the dog for a walk around the streets.
I guess your neighbourhood is your favourite place to hang out then?
(Laughs) Yeah.
Why did you decide to join the SES?
I was a scout leader initially and a friend of mine was a member of the SES and he said they needed more members. I went down and the rest is history – this was about five years ago. I like helping people and to me the SES is like another family, and it’s just a fun place to be.
You recently headed to South Australia to help out the SES crews there – can you tell me a little about that?
We had three of our members head over there – two of us were delivering a truck so we drove up to South Australia and then flew back a few days later. The guys there needed a truck and a bit of help after the recent storms and flooding.
What’s the most rewarding part of being in the SES?
For me, it’s the thanks you get from people. Like, you don’t get thanks from everybody but there are a few people who come up and say thank you. We’re volunteers and we don’t get paid obviously, so it’s a little bit of appreciation for the work we do.
