Prior to 1969, Australia did not have a national number for emergency services; the police, fire and ambulance services possessed many phone numbers, one for each local unit.
Junior Triple Zero Heroes
The ESTA Junior Triple Zero Heroes program rewards children for their bravery during an emergency and helps spread the Triple Zero (000) message. The award recipients are generally children under the age of 16 who have dialed Triple Zero and provided the relevant information to enable police, fire or ambulance to arrive at the scene of an emergency.
Emergencies have ranged from a collapsed parent or grandparent, a friend or sibling suffering from a serious injury, to witnessing a crime or reporting a fire.
Listen to an extract of a real Junior Triple Zero Hero call
Seven year old Jarod was home with his nine year old brother when their diabetic mother collapsed and lost consciousness. Jarod called Triple Zero and was able to tell the operator his address and follow her instructions to assist his mother until help arrived.
Please click the play button to listen to Jarod's 000 call for help.
The two most predominant questions I ask of a caller are "where is your emergency?" and "what is your emergency?"
