{"id":1437,"date":"2026-04-29T12:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/1437\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:50:15","slug":"more-than-290-people-honoured-with-police-bravery-awards-for-acts-of-courage-during-wieambilla-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/1437\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 290 people honoured with police bravery awards for acts of courage during Wieambilla tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 290 people, including the two officers who survived the deadly Wieambilla shooting tragedy, have been recognised with Queensland police bravery awards.<\/p>\n

Constables Rachel McCrow, Matthew Arnold, Keely Brough and Senior Constable Randall Kirk attended the remote Western Downs property in response to a missing person’s report in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

The ambush unfolded at the Trains’ remote Western Downs property in December, 2012. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Within minutes of entering the property, Constables McCrow and Arnold were fatally shot.<\/p>\n

Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train carried out the deadly attack and were fatally shot by police after several hours of negotiations.<\/p>\n

Neighbour Alan Dare was also killed during the hours-long siege.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Queensland Police officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow and neighbour Alan Dare were killed at Wieambilla in 2022. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

‘Bravery and sacrifice’<\/p>\n

Commissioner Brett Pointing said the tragedy remained deeply etched in the hearts of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and the community.<\/p>\n

“Today we recognise the extraordinary acts of courage, professionalism and selflessness demonstrated by members of the QPS and partner agencies,” he said at a private ceremony held in Dalby on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Commissioner Brett Pointing said the tragedy remained deeply etched in the hearts of the Queensland Police Service and the community. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n

“While nothing can lessen the impact of what occurred, the awards stand as a lasting acknowledgement of service, of bravery and sacrifice.”<\/p>\n

The first recipient of the awards was Senior Constable Kirk, who was honoured with a valour and blue heart medal.<\/p>\n

When presenting the award, Superintendent Douglas McDonald said Senior Constable Kirk had demonstrated exceptional valour and composure under extreme threat.<\/p>\n

He said despite the senior constable sustaining serious injury, he maintained critical observations and relayed vital intelligence while under fire from heavily armed offenders.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Senior Constable Kirk was honoured with a valour and blue heart medal for exceptional valour and composure under extreme threat. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n

“His actions directly informed tactical decision-making and enabled the safe extraction of his colleague and recovery of fallen officers,” Superintendent McDonald said.<\/p>\n

Fellow surviving officer, Constable Brough, received a valour medal at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"Multiple<\/p>\n

Surviving officers Keely Brough and Randall Kirk received the Queensland Police Valour Medal. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n

Superintendent McDonald said Constable Brough had demonstrated exceptional valour and composure during a prolonged, life-threatening incident despite “having minimal service”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Superintendent McDonald said Constable Brough’s actions reflected the highest standards of valour and professionalism within the force. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n

“She maintained covert concealment, calmly providing continuous and accurate intelligence for over two hours,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said Constable Brough’s courage, resilience and operational focus were critical and reflected the highest standards of valour and professionalism within the force.<\/p>\n

Mr Dare’s neighbour, Victor Lewis, was also honoured with a bravery medal.<\/p>\n

Superintendent McDonald said, despite the extreme risk, Mr Lewis rendered immediate assistance to Mr Dare.<\/p>\n

“He initiated emergency contact and later provided responding police with critical information that prevented them from entering an active armed offender situation,” Superintendent McDonald said.<\/p>\n

“Mr Lewis’ selflessness, courage and civic responsibility reflect the highest standards of bravery,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Victor Lewis was honoured with a bravery award for providing assistance to Alan Dare despite extreme risk. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n

A total of 292 awards were formally recognised at the special honours and awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

The honours included Queensland police’s valour, bravery, blue heart, exemplary conduct medals, along with the commissioner’s certificate and certificate of notable action.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were posthumously awarded the Queensland Police’s valour and service medals.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were posthumously awarded the Queensland Police’s valour and service medals. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

A posthumous bravery medal was awarded to Mr Dare by the police in 2023.<\/p>\n

The honour was to acknowledge his actions moving towards danger in a desire to help others, police said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 290 people, including the two officers who survived the deadly Wieambilla shooting tragedy, have been recognised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2447,22,21,2449,2448,2450,2446,1047,211,212,230,2444,2445,2451,1559,2443],"class_list":{"0":"post-1437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-alan-dare","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-austrlia","11":"tag-awards","12":"tag-bravery-awards","13":"tag-keely-brough","14":"tag-matthew-arnold","15":"tag-police","16":"tag-qld","17":"tag-queensland","18":"tag-queensland-police","19":"tag-queensland-police-service","20":"tag-rachel-mccrow","21":"tag-randall-kirk","22":"tag-shooting","23":"tag-wieambilla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}