Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer: RFS fireys honoured with touching memorial

The lives of firefighters Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer, crushed by a tree while fighting the devastating Green Wattle Creek Fire, have been celebrated in the rural town they died trying to save.

A touching memorial for heroes and best mates Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer, who died in Buxton battling the devastating bushfires last summer, has been unveiled.

The memorial stone, between Buxton and Balmoral in the Southern Highlands, is a quiet place for friends, family and the public to come and remember the two popular RFS volunteers who died in December 2019 battling the Green Wattle Creek bushfire.

The Horsley Park RFS volunteers died doing what they loved, fighting bushfires, when a burnt, ‘widow maker’ gumtree fell and crushed the cab of their fire truck, killing them instantly.

Deputy Captain Geoffrey Keaton and firefighter Andrew O'Dwyer died battling the bushfires.

The dignified stone memorial was created and donated by Brad Keeley, a stonemason in Colo Vale.

Wingecarribee Mayor Duncan Gair said the memorial was a fitting tribute to the two firefighters.

“The monument is not ostentatious,” he said.

“It was about recognising and remembering two RFS firefighters who lost their lives protecting the community.”

Kim Hill wanted to help pay tribute to Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O'Dwyer.

Long-time RFS volunteer and National Bushfire Recovery Agency officer Kim Hill was a driving force behind getting the tribute to honour Mr Keaton and Mr O’Dwyer.

“(It was a) thank you to the families for the boys paying their ultimate sacrifice to defend the community,” she said.

Both the O’Dwyer and Keaton families were at the unveilling of the memorial and were appreciative of the small private ceremony.

Memorial to fallen firefighters Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O'Dwyer. Photo: Supplied

Cr Gair said the small ceremony allowed the family to process their emotions and their loss without a crowd.

“There was an emotional outpouring of grief from one of the family members,” he said.

“It will allow them to move on. It closes, to a degree, the chapter on the bushfires and the RFS volunteers.”

The memorial is located at Wilson Drive in Buxton, where Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton had battled blazes and saved lives and property.