History of the Australian Preppers Survival League
Introduction
Our story begins with our founders. The recent Covid19 pandemic conditions thrust upon the world has exposed how vulnerable supply lines and people can quickly become, so we set about in building an advanced and sophisticated association to build resilience, community, and mutuality in combining their strengths in aid of real to life survival. We are learning and growing, whilst evolving to societies benefit. We have never been a vigilante group, motorcycle group, right wing extremist, armed militia, protest group, doomsday prepper group, religious group or civil unrest group. Those are against all our current and historic purposes, having an all inclusive approach regardless of race, gender, disability or other.
2006-2011 -We were known as the Australian Public Safety League Inc. Victoria.
In our early beginning, our founder and a group of like minded people met to discuss the running of an enthusiasts league, for those interested in Emergency Services, Law Enforcement, security and Defence services. They formed the organisation to share like minded interests, leadership training and survival training. We also granted awards for bravery in the community and followed up on issues pertaining to public safety. Members were present at numerous public events and were well received by the general public, especially our safety focus, bravery awards and survival training. Eventually our membership numbers were reduced and the functions and purposes that were set, were no longer viable, since well established organisations were able to deliver with greater member numbers.
2013-2015 -We were known as the Australian Public Safety League Inc. Victoria -Reboot.
The founders regrouped and made a big change to our purpose. They changed to create a public advocacy league, to cover issues in relation to health and safety in public places. Issues of importance that effect people with or without a disability, dangerous roads, poorly built access to public buildings and anything dangerous to the general public. They advocated to local governments, Work-cover Authorities and councils to have the issues resolved and succeeded with all the issues that were raised by the general public. Eventually our membership numbers were reduced and the functions and purposes that were set, were no longer viable, since well established government organisations, were becoming more active and addressing issues efficiently through the use of paid government enforcement staff and stronger legislation sets being used.
Despite the loss of members, between 2006 and 2015 the founder and co-founders held on, continually investigating legitimate purposes that appealed to the wider community. One of those purposes was to be prepared and respond to civil crisis in their locality, lending a helping hand whenever and wherever it may be needed, along with the provision of some free training courses. It turned out to be something they have been doing since the late 1990's as both private citizens and employment across various government and non government services and volunteer services.
2020 - Current
The founder and co founders, held on to their goals to do good for the community and continue the positive aspects of our training and sense of service. They decided to reconvene and officiate a new set of purposes. These purposes were set to be dynamic and innovative to ensure the league grows for the better good. We re-established with a relevant new name and a focused purpose. Our primary founder determined that the Pandemic and increasing local disasters had changed the world as we know it. Never in recent history, has being prepared become more important. We need to build supply and support for any crises. We combined this to deliver resources and information, as well as a civil defence structure to build better civil defence outcomes in maintaining our way of living in Australian society, a way of living we value dearly. A silent benevolent supporter also commenced providing funding and strongly believed in delivering our mission outcomes, supporting our existing fund raising efforts.
2021 -Civil Defence established
(Formerly known as civil emergency response)
During the June 2021 storms in the local government area of Yarra Ranges in Victoria, a small group of members responded in their local area to assist people in need. They provided the following:
- Emergency Information
- Guidance and assistance in the situation unfolding
- Updates to power and communication outages
- Food preservation techniques (rather than throwing out the fridge food, when power is out after several hours or 1 day)
- Assessment observations of any other risks, after the storm. (A day later, some trees were still falling on properties, power lines, roads and footpaths, hazard assessment and corner/contain
- Delivered some food aid to some very needy families who needed food and supplies, by networking between members and non members for efficient and safe delivery to the affected long term disaster zone, all before any official major emergency services stepped in or other support groups
Power was out for weeks in the storm ravaged area, requiring interstate assistance and the Australian Army being deployed, whom delivered much needed power generators to long term effected homes without power in mountainous and rural areas.
The entire process gave rise to our civil defence volunteers, to provide leadership, information and advice in crises affected areas. It also reminded us, that our members contribute other countless assistance over the years in supporting their local community. This becomes an important area of focus, to have a higher level of help to maintain societal way of life. Members are heroic where, heroism need not be dangerous, but in the form of trained civility. Australians are fantastic people who support each other and we follow in the spirit of what we call the 'Aussie spirit' of help, whilst being trained and ensuring safety.
2024 -Civil Defence, Communications and name change
In early 2024, we narrowed our focus in line with our mission, and that mission is to step in, only when it becomes evident that a crises is before us and society needs to be protected. Civil Defence became the core element of our extraordinary volunteers focus, marking a significant change, which enables our members to respond, only if the crisis is significant and there is insufficient emergency service agencies. Off-Grid Communications is being investigated and tested in conjunction with civil defence. This enables wider communication to ensure communication ability when the grid is down, making it a part of the Civil Defence focus.
The other significant thing that occurred in November 2024, was our legal name change. It was decided, that it was time for a change, as a result of the stereotypes associated with preppers. It often attracted those who were not aligned with our core values, since we don't subscribe to 'doomsday prepping'. We were formerly known as "Australian Preppers Survival League". Our single word name change, better reflected our purpose and mission, with the word "peoples" implemented to recognise the vast diversity of our membership and the people of Australia we serve, consisting of many first nations, cultures and backgrounds, welcoming all people inclusively.
Future Focus
Preparations are under way to become a registered charity. Details will be provided when we have enough administration support volunteers to enable this.
Looking for a new challenge? prepare yourself!
Become a member! It's free and gives you an opportunity to be introduced and familiarised, whilst going on to providing an important service to society. We are actively searching for new members and your most welcome to join us with no obligations, we are time flexible, family inclusive and accommodate most, like no other organisation can and be a part of something great!