White Pages Covers Program

Courageous Australian Bill Griggs on Adelaide's White Pages®

July 22, 2010

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Each year, local people are featured on the covers of the White Pages® directories in recognition of the contributions they make to their communities. Under this year’s theme Courageous Australians, directories producer, Sensis, is recognising courageous people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to overcome adversity and help others in their time of need.

After receiving nominations from community members for the annual honour, Medindie resident, Dr. Bill Griggs has been selected to appear on the cover of this year’s Adelaide White Pages directory.

As the Director of Trauma Services at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Dr Bill Griggs is well known for his managing evacuations and victim care in many large scale emergencies.

In 1994, Bill volunteered to attend the scene of South Australia’s biggest siege, where a gunman had shot a police officer fourteen times. When he arrived, the police had yet to apprehend the gunman and shots were still being fired.

The wounded officer was moved by his colleagues but was still in the direct line of fire. With protection from police, Bill and his team rushed to the aid of the officer and treated him for more than ten minutes in the line of fire.

It was the bravery of the policeman’s colleagues, Bill and his team, along with their willingness to risk their own lives that helped save the life of the police officer.

“It’s a real honour to be recognised on this year’s directory cover. While I understand that safety is paramount, sometimes circumstances like these can conspire to increase risk and you just deal with that as best you can. I was lucky enough to have worked with a great team on the day of the siege to help save the injured officer,” said Bill.

In 2004, Bill established the Roads2Survival community road safety program and he also regularly talks to local community organisations about road safety.

For his contributions, Bill has received a number of awards including the Member of Order of Australia in 2003 for his service to medicine and the South Australian of the Year award in 2009.

Distribution of the Adelaide White Pages® is planned to start on 7 August 2010 and it will take approximately nine weeks for the directories to be delivered to homes and businesses.

Yellow Pages® and White Pages® print and online directories are now carbon neutral under the Federal Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program. Sensis will offset the carbon emissions of its directories through Greenhouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia.

Sensis encourages residents and businesses to recycle their old directories. In most areas, Yellow Pages® and White Pages® can be recycled as part of normal kerbside recycling services. Visit www.recyclingnearyou.com.au to find out about recycling services in your area.

Residents and businesses can choose not to receive a copy of the White Pages and/or Yellow Pages® by calling Sensis on 1800 008 292.

Did you know? The last three local people to appear on the Adelaide White Pages® cover were:

2009/10: Influential arts figure Anthony Steel AM featured on the White Pages^® directory cover under the theme ‘Creative Australians: Inspiring our Communities’. Anthony was the first general manager of the Adelaide Festival and most recently, worked with the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre, Barossa Music Festival, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and State Opera of South Australia.

2008/09: Stephan Knoll from Magill appeared on the ‘Celebrating Australian Flavour’ theme directory cover, recognised for his work as Chairman of Flavour South Australia. 

2007/08: For the ‘Champions of our Community’ theme, Anna McInerney from Glenelg graced the directory cover due to her significant fundraising efforts for the Australian Red Cross.