Having spent almost 40 years as a firefighter, the Australian Fire Service Medal recipient said he had seen the Australian spirit many times over the years.

“To me it’s really about our willingness to give people a fair go and to jump in and help out when other people are in need, which is evident by the thousands of volunteers we have,” he said.

Not only do the two words symbolise a willingness to help, but also a willingness to accept help, Mr Adamson said.

“We welcome lots of different communities, races and religions and most of the time we integrate people really well into our community,” he said.

“In (the song We Are Australian) it says ‘from all the lands on earth we come’ and we share our wealth and we share how lucky we are to be in this country.”

Mr Adamson was the deputy chief at the metropolitan fire brigade and has been an ambassador for 10 years.

He said his position in corporate relations, where he worked to engage the fire service and the community, is what made him so passionate about his role as an ambassador.

“I do it because I get to meet the best people in every community, I get to meet the finalists for the citizen of the year awards, I get to meet and welcome the new Australian citizens and I get to come to lovely places like Wangaratta and meet lovely people,” he said.

“I’m here to encourage the Australia Day ceremony and make sure we tell everyone we appreciate the work they have done and also tell them what Australia Day means to us as ambassadors.”

At yesterday’s ceremony Mr Adamson wanted to highlight the positives of being an Australian.

He said those same attitudes of acceptance and tolerance filtered through into the emergency services.

“The fire brigade has a lot of communities it needs to reach, which can be difficult, because to help keep people of all different groups, cultures, races and religions safe, we have to engage with them,” he said.

Photos

Albury

Greater Hume

Howlong

Kiewa/Tangambalanga

Wodonga

Wangaratta