Kerry Hamer

“Kerry, we called in to say ‘hi’ but sorry to have missed you, see you for a beer next time. Hope you and Bert are good. From Will and Kate.”

On the outskirts of Strahan, in western Tasmania, you’ll find Kerry Hamer. A man who has spent his life rescuing people across the rugged west coast through; rain, hail or shine, flames, lakes and roads, in the middle of nowhere or close to home. Kerry has served as an RACT patrol agent for over 50 years and shows no signs of slowing down.

Growing up Kerry wanted to be a mechanic, a childhood filled with a fascination in cars resulted in his first tow-job occurring well before adulthood. Kerry took the long way there, but through a panel-beating apprenticeship and eventually building, owning and running the local Strahan service station with his life-long partner Jenny, he got there. And with daughter Liz filling Kerry’s patrol shoes along the way, the patrol-life well and truly became a family affair.

Jenny and Kerry grew up together, from childhood neighbours to running the local servo together. “Jenny and I virtually worked together most of our lives” Kerry says. “At one stage we were even running taxis. We were running the service station seven days a week, and two taxis seven nights a week as well”.

The business of running two small businesses didn’t dissuade Kerry from also becoming a RACT patrol agent in the 70s, filling a gap in the roadside network on Tasmania’s rugged west coast. In fact it often complemented his servo and taxi businesses.

 “While I attended the broken-down person, Jenny would look after the members and their families. At stages she’d have two lots of members, depending on whatever happened in that moment”, Kerry explains.

One example was when a newly married couple called in with a broken differential. Kerry and Jenny took them in under their own roof. As they waited for parts for the vehicle, a bushfire erupted nearby. Kerry, a volunteer firefighter, asked the husband if he’d come help tackle the blaze, while Jenny stayed in Strahan with the wife, it would be a day and a half until they returned, thankfully both unscathed.

Over the years the pair encountered countless more rescues all with their five-star service, and Kerry’s loveable sense of humor. However, sadly in 2018 Jenny passed away from breast cancer, marking the end of this duo’s unmatched Tassie hospitality. With daughter Liz playing a larger role in the business, and his Jack Russel Terrier, Bert along for the rides - Kerry's rescues continued

Kerry tells another story where a tourist from the mainland was showing his wife’s family around Tasmania, when he lost the keys to the rental car in the sand dunes. Kerry came and broke into the car, got it on the truck, and he and the husband drove to Launceston to pick up another rental car to drive back and pick up the now-stranded family. However, with it now being dark, and the tourist unsure about driving back west at night, Kerry loaded the new rental car onto the truck and drove him all the way back to Strahan to pick up the rest of his family.

After all those hours in the truck, the two became friends. Kerry laughs as he reminisces about how for years, he’d occasionally tease him with a cheeky text message, to remind him of their time together, occasionally he’d receive gifts back in return.

While most of Kerry’s rescues would come as calls from RACT, occasionally as the local west coast repairer, Kerry would receive calls from anyone who found themselves stuck in the area. In February of 2006, Kerry received a call for one of his strangest rescues.

“It was a seaplane, a caravan 14-seater, which had engine problems and the pilot was lucky enough to put it down on the water.”

With its speed upon landing, the plane came off Lake Burbury and onto the grass, which fortunately meant that all the passengers could hop off without injury. Unfortunately, this meant the plane was now stuck. Unperturbed with a rescue, Kerry came in with the job of getting it back on the water. By deliberately bogging his RACT patrol vehicle to use as an anchor, they were able to winch the plane back onto the water. Kerry laughs describing the story, that debogging his patrol vehicle took far longer than the plane.

Kerry says there’s great importance on patrols in regional areas as it’s usually the case that nobody can cover what RACT Roadside does. “When you get there, it’s whatever it takes to recover or fix what you’ve got to do.”

Being a sleep-in lover, it’s usually a phone call for a rescue that will get Kerry out of bed.

“I’m not the earliest riser, my day starts when the phone rings, and I never know where I’m going to end up, and I never know what time I could be back.”

When he’s not driving around the state making rescues with Bert; Kerry fills his time working on the many projects he has in his workshop, in his own words; he’d have to live to 555 years old to get half the jobs done. Kerry says it’s the versatility of the job he loves, knowing that each day is different and that he's always helping someone out.

It’s common that Kerry will receive letters from members he’s rescued, a recent handwritten note left at his door, reads as if it was from a childhood friend. But you can understand why, after a few hours spent with Kerry, it can leave you feeling happy that people like him exist. And why wouldn’t you want to keep in touch with someone like that.

“It’s very rewarding to get these letters and cards and things from people who have appreciated being helped - you become long-lost friends.” - Kerry