For Truganina CFA, it will be the end of an era when its first female captain relinquishes her mantle at the end of this month.
Colleen Goodfellow, who has served three terms at the helm since first being appointed to the top job in 2012, will remain a volunteer firefighter when she hands the reins over to current first lieutenant Mark Hatton on July 1.
Mrs Goodfellow joined Truganina’s junior brigade when she was 11 years old in 1987, following in the footsteps of her family, including father and CFA captain Colin Squires. She took part in running competitions and learned the ropes before going into active duty when she was 16.
Mrs Goodfellow said incidents such as a grass fire in Gisborne when she was younger and major disasters remained prominent in her memory. During the Black Saturday bushfires, Mrs Goodfellow stayed on base managing crews while tending to her three-month daughter Charlotte.
She said she’d been proud to be appointed captain, having worked towards the role for most of her adult life. Her CFA career has always run in tandem with helping run the family business, Squires Coaches.
“Female representation in general is pretty low in CFA,” she said. “In our brigade we have about eight females that are operational … you’re looking at about 30 operational males.
“My father was the captain that I took over from, so I guess that in itself was special, too. I’d been on the brigade management team for 12 years at that point, in various roles from communications officer through to operational lieutenant.”
