Senior Sergeant Nicholas Lehmann farewelled after leukaemia battle

A decorated Sunshine Coast senior sergeant who worked tirelessly to save lives in the Peregian bushfires and Toowoomba floods has been remembered as a loving mate.

Senior Sergeant Nicholas Lehmann with his children Harry and Darci.

A Sunshine Coast police officer is being remembered as a heroic and loving mate, father and partner after tragically losing his battle with leukaemia.

Senior Sergeant Nicholas Lehmann was farewelled by family, friends and colleagues from the Queensland Police Force at his funeral service on Friday, June 9.

Sergeant Lehmann left a lasting legacy in the Sunshine Coast disaster management organisations after 12 years of service, largely as the unsung hero who worked to save countless lives during the Peregian Beach bushfires as well as the 2011 floods in Toowoomba.

Senior Sergeant Nicholas Lehmann.

Queensland Police Service Assistant Commissioner Darryl Johnson said everyone thought of Sergeant Lehmann as a mate before a work colleague, adding the father-of-two knew how to make people laugh when they needed it most and was the “glue that held disaster management together”.

“Nick Lehmann first of all was a mate, you didn’t think of him as work colleague because he was always there, always giving support to you and he did it in a way that was compassionate, considerate but allowed you to get the job done,” Assistant Commissioner Johnson said.

“When times were tough and we were in the trenches that is when Nick’s true character came through.”

Assistant Commissioner Johnson said he remembered the tireless and lifesaving work of Sergeant Lehmann during the Peregian bushfires in 2019.

“Nick throughout that was the strength, he worked for about five days without too much sleep, bringing everyone together,” Assistant Commissioner Johnson said.

Senior Sergeant Nicholas Lehmann with his partner Sergeant Christine Fox.

Sergeant Lehmann’s partner Sergeant Christine Fox said her partner’s cheeky spirit and generosity lived on in his two children Harry, 12, and Darci, 8.

“He just had a crack everything, he was a very accomplished skydiver, scuba diver, he played every code of football, surfed, he was a mad-keen fisherman but once he had kids and his time was not quite his own it became things that involved the kids,” Sergeant Fox said.

“He was always dancing around the kitchen despite the fact he was a rotten dancer, making the kids laugh.

“What we are doing at the moment is just keeping him alive through talking to the kids about him everyday, he has left a pretty impressive legacy behind.”

Sergeant Lehmann received a number of awards and recognition for his work including the Queensland Police Service Excellence in Performance 2015 Bronze Award, National Emergency Medal Clasp in 2017 and National Emergency Medal Queensland for the floods in 2010/2011.