Craig as a baby with his Mum and Dad.  

Many will know this man a as the face of the town’s Ambulance Service, a figure many of us have placed our confidence in throughout his time in the Twin Towns. Craig Nicholls was born two days after Christmas in 1958, at Caringbah (Sutherland) Hospital in Sydney, only 6 months after that facility had opened. The son of Betty and Bill, who Craig describes as having been one of the town’s resident “gopher maniacs” before he went to live at St Lawrence. 1969 would see Betty remarry, and the family move north to Katherine with Craig’s step-father. A small army of nine children and two adults, which Craig describes as the original ‘Brady Bunch,’ would board multiple flights to fly to what was then, a small of centre of only 3000 people. Craig says this early experience of small community life would later give him the desire to return to a similar sized town. 12 months later they would return to Sydney. He attended Gymea Bay Public School, before moving on Ashfield Boys High, and then Dulwich Hight. An avid football player, who dabbled in soccer from time to time, Craig’s junior team was coached by Col Rasmussen, a first grade player for the St George Dragon’s. His siblings, Scott and Margot, an accountant and receptionist respectively, both still live in Sydney. With his completion of Yr. 10 in 1974,

Craig left school and worked with OPSM for 12 months, after which he filled his time with the odd jobs before finally settling on a career as a Registered Nurse, beginning his training at the Caringbah Hospital on 15th September, 1976. Three years of training, and two years as qualified nurse, would soon lead to an interest in Ambulance Service. This change, Craig says, was simply due to the fact that he was constantly working night shifts, and wasn’t able to switch to day work. It was during this time that Craig’s mother died as the result of breast cancer. After training school at Rozelle, he spent a 12 month probation period at Hurstville, resulting in him being a qualified paramedic. He and his wife Karen, would meet through work and mutual friends, with Karen working as a registered nurse at St George Hospital. 1988 would see them move to Queabeyan, where they would marry in October of that year, at Duntroon Chapel with a reception at the Redhill Golf Club. Their first child, Kaitlyn, was born whilst they were living in Queanbeyan, while their second, Ashley, would be born the week before they moved to Yass, in 1992, making for an interesting moving process. Their time at Yass was relatively short, with a move to Albury occurring in 1995. Craig said working in Albury offered it’s own set of challenges, particularly in regard to cross-border work, with the different Ambulance Services operating on their own procedures. Although this never prevented them from carrying out their work.

Craig and Karen.  

Albury would see the birth of Jayden in 1996, a year before their final move which would see the family in Harden. The position of Station Manager at Harden offered a new challenge for Craig, who at this point had been working for the Ambulance Service for 16 years. He remembers that when he came to the station there were only two paramedics working, with him being one of them. The use of honourees, locals who would drive the Ambulance while the paramedics worked with the patient, made it possible for a single paramedic to respond to a callout. Craig says the decision to make it compulsory for there to be two Paramedics to an Ambulance was one of the best decisions the service made. Their fourth and final child, Jono, would be born at Cootamundra Hospital in 1998. The kids would be educated at the local Public and Catholic Primary Schools, with the elder two attending Hennessy, while the younger two attended Murrumburrah High. Ashley would serve as Hennessy School Captain in 2009, with Craig joking he was one day going to be the “first non-Catholic Pope.” Ashley has since taken up residence in Canada, after spending three months there at a Tim Horton Summer Camp, and developing a love for the country. Kaitlyn is currently studying at Cootamundra TAFE to become an Enrolled Nurse, while Jayden currently volunteers with the RFS, with the hope of attaining a full time position with them. Jono has just completed Yr. 12, and will soon complete his HSC, with a potential for working with cattle. When asked how it feels to have four children who have graduated, Craig laughed and said “I don’t know; they all live at home.” The family wasted no time in becoming involved in the local community, with Karen finding work as an RN at the local hospital, and Craig becoming a prominent member of numerous local committees and organisations.

TEAM Harden and LHAC have all benefited from Craig’s membership, while he has this year, had the privilege of serving as President of the local Rotary. Craig says after all this time in the service, he has developed ways of coping with the more emotionally heavy aspects of his job. Talking to family and listening to music are two such methods, but there is a cumulative effect, he says. Craig believes PTSD has affected those in his profession, but previously there was more time between callouts that allowed a Paramedic time to mentally recuperate, but an increased demand on paramedics has made the condition more prevalent. Programs, such as Peer Support which Craig participates in, are effective in ensuring a healthy mental state for Paramedics, he says.

Craig and Karen with their children Kaitlyn, Jayden Johno and Ashley.

The job has had many interesting moments Craig says, with plenty to laugh about. One particular occurrence involved a 2am callout in Sydney, where he and his colleague turned up at the address to a house with no lights on. After knocking on the door and introducing themselves, they asked if it would be alright if they could turn on some lights. The gentlemen replied sure, it didn’t worry him as he was visually impaired. Craig also remembers, multiple times, attempting to communicate with a person for whom English was a second language. Hand signals and slow enunciation were used extensively before a relative would offer, in fluent English, to translate for the paramedics. Attitudes towards paramedics have evolved over the years, Craig says, with them once viewed as the good guys, but for some, they have come to be viewed as just another uniform. He says his experience has helped judge situations were a patient may be uncooperative. Always the “poor cousins in the emergency services” Craig believes many people are not aware of the large amount of knowledge and skill thet is required to be a paramedic.

He says the newest recruits to the service nowadays have far more knowledge than he did when he first started, and the demands placed upon our paramedics are greater than ever, with an increased awareness of 000. The unpredictable nature of callouts have made Craig’s life interesting. He says he’s sure that there must hidden cameras in his house, just waiting for friends to come over, or a roast dinner to be cooked, so that he can then be called out, leaving dinner cold. The plans for a new Ambulance Station on the Hospital grounds “make sense” according to Craig, while the decision to open the Medical Centre on weekends have greatly reduced the burden on the Paramedics. He has a great amount of hope for the future of the town, but believes further investment in industry and entertainment for young people is needed. Craig’s contribution to Harden has been invaluable, and we thank him for being a Local Legend.