The Westpac Life Saver Sydney base is located at Cape Banks, Botany Bay National Park, La Perouse, on the northern headland.

This state of the art purpose built facility opened in 2006 and is situated less than 200 metres from the coast giving the helicopter quick coastal waters and cliff access.

The Cape Banks base is the heart of the Services’ primary missions. A significant proportion of these are within a 10-15 minute flight. The Westpac Life Saver is one of the principal emergency services to respond to rock fishing incidents along the NSW coastline. Around 30% of these missions occur within a 20km radius of the base.

We operate from The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast in the north to the Shoalhaven region in the south. Whilst we specialise in the coastal and marine environments we are regularly tasked to provide aviation rescue services inland, searching for missing bushwalkers, locating activated distress beacons and attending search and rescue missions on inland waterways.

Our Sydney base is state-of-the-art and has been specifically designed for aviation rescue. Some of the facilities include:

• An Operations Room with a large communications hub allowing the rescue team to monitor radio communications from surf lifesaving, council lifeguards, NSW Police, Marine Radio, the Government Radio Network, the Ambulance Service of NSW and Air Traffic Control
• A Ready Room where various rescue and emergency care equipment is stored in readiness for the next mission
• A Briefing Room allowing operational crew to prepare and plan missions or training flights
• Living and accommodation facilities including two kitchens, a lounge and ten bedrooms
• An engineering facility to carry out onsite maintenance to the aircrafts
• Hangar age for a minimum of two large rescue helicopters
• Office facilities, training rooms, a boardroom and a large open area to allow for group presentations
• An outside landing apron with an expansive grassed area to the south for helicopter taxiing

BASE VISITS

Our base at La Perouse is open to the public and we welcome visitors from schools, community aid, friendship, seniors and disability groups. We provide a comprehensive tour of our facility and aircraft and a presentation by duty crew offering cliff and beach safety advice.

Visits to the base can be arranged by contacting the Service on

(02) 9311 3499.