White Pages Covers Program

Courageous Australian Brian Jones to feature on Newcastle's Yellow Pages® and White Pages®

June 18, 2010

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Each year, locals are featured on the covers of the Yellow Pages® and White Pages® directories in recognition of the contributions they make to their communities. Under the theme Courageous Australians, this year 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, Adamstown resident, Brian Jones has been selected to appear on the cover of this year’s Newcastle directory which is distributed to the Newcastle area.

Brian showed tremendous courage and bravery during the 2007 Newcastle floods which was one of the worst natural disasters the region had ever experienced.

Working at the time as a retained fire brigade officer, Brian performed a number of rescues at the height of this disaster to help many community members including his own family.

He was first called out to rescue a woman who was trapped in her car with water rapidly rising. Upon arrival, Brian smashed the passenger door window and managed to pull her to safety.

Shortly after, he received a call to his own family address. He tried to speedily make his way on foot down flooded streets but the journey home took more than two hours as Brian stopped to help many others along the way. When he was almost home, Brian was suddenly swept away in the raging waters for 200 metres. Exhausted from his efforts of the day, he battled on to eventually reach his family and helped them to safety before courageously returning to carry out many more rescues.

“Apart from going home to rescue my family, the rest of that day is a bit of a blur. There were so many people in need of help that I just went from one destination to another. I just did my absolute best to make sure I got to as many people as possible so I’m very humbled by the nomination and selection to feature on this year’s directory cover,” said Brian.

For his courage Brian was awarded a Royal Life Saving Society Certificate of Commendation and the Unit Commendation for Meritorious Service and Commendation for courageous action from the Commissioner of NSW Fire Brigade.

Brian is now a qualified paramedic, devoted to saving the lives of others in emergency situations.

Distribution of  Newcastle Yellow Pages® and White Pages® is planned to start on 19 June 2010 and it will take approximately six weeks for the directories to be delivered to all households. 

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. 

Did you know? The past three local people who appeared on the Newcastle Yellow Pages® and White Pages® cover were: 

2009/10: Newcastle resident, Kristi Street, featured on the 2009/10 White Pages^® cover under the theme ‘Creative Australians: Inspiring our Communities’. Kristi was selected for co-founding The Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival which encourages young people to get involved in the arts through film. 

2008/09: Neil Slater, from Newcastle appeared on the ‘Celebrating Australian Flavour’ theme directory cover, recognised for operating one of the region’s best restaurants, Scratchley’s on the Wharf. 

2007/08: For the ‘Champions of our Community’ theme, Merewether resident, Margaret McNaughton, was celebrated on the cover for her volunteer work with numerous charitable organisations including the Ronald McDonald House and the children’s health network, Kaleidoscope, at the John Hunter Children’s Hospital