Little did she know at the time that she would go onto take leading roles in emergency services in Cobram and beyond.
On Friday, February 7, Ms Goldsmith discovered she had been elected vice-president of the Victorian Division of the Australasian Institute of Emergency Services or AIES for short.
The appointment came as a surprise to Ms Goldsmith, who said that growing up on the floodplains of West Gippsland first drew her attention to the importance of emergency assistance.
Her passion for emergency services was later solidified during her time with the Moira Shire Council’s emergency management unit.
During the October 2022 floods, Ms Goldsmith found herself at the coalface between the community and local government emergency response.
It could be said that altruistic service runs in the family. Ms Goldsmith’s grandfather, Bryan Traynor, was at different times the Chief Superintendent of Service and Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police.
Some of Ms Goldsmith’s family members also served in the defence force.
Ms Goldsmith is particularly proud of a 72-hour emergency response pamphlet which she created with staff from the Alpine Shire Council.
The informative pamphlet has been taken up and shared across not only Victoria, but also by local councils in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia.
Looking ahead, Ms Goldsmith said she wants to spread the good word about AIES’s work.
“I’d like to see that we continue to grow the AIES group,” she said.
Her favourite area of work with emergency services is in community engagement, she said.
It’s a preference kindled by witnessing first hand just how big a difference transparency and access to information can help the public in emergencies.
“With more information, people feel more in control of their lives,” she said.
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