Four years later, the charismatic John Friedrich was employed as an engineer by the National Safety Council of Australia. He found in its Victorian Division a sleepy association, relying on volunteers. He became its CEO in 1982 and made it an independent not-for-profit organization. When the catastrophic ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires swept the State of Victoria, he saw his opportunity: to create the best, biggest search-and-rescue organization that would save lives and combat natural disasters in this vast country. He began an extraordinary expansion program, which continued until 1989. By then, the NSCA (Vic) had become a dynamic semi-paramilitary organization complete with an array of glittering aircraft, helicopters and boats all painted in snazzy yellow. There was even a submarine.

Unfortunately, John Friedrich was concealing something - the NSCA (VIC) was desperately short of money. He courted the military and security system, making the Council available to the various government organizations.

Friedrich set about an ever-growing deception by borrowing from banks, using shipping containers full of rescue equipment as collateral. Most of them were in fact empty. Like a consummate poker player, a gambler of the highest of stakes, he remained confident, inspiring and calm.

In 1989, when finally pressured to answer questions, Friedrich resigned abruptly and vanished. While the police chased him, and the media played a wonderful game of speculation – was he somehow linked to intelligence organizations? – his creditors realized how badly they had been had. At least $300 million was missing. The whole country also realized he had no name, no identity – a man without a past. A month later, he was caught in Western Australia. Meanwhile, indefatigable detectives discovered his true German identity.

Yet Friedrich never spent much money on his personal life. To many, he was a modern day ‘Robin Hood’ building a huge empire ‘to do good’. The members of that organization, 430 strong, courageous and committed, dedicated themselves to saving lives under the nickname “The Thunderbirds”.

Necessary or not, his search-and-rescue empire was pulled to pieces. Three days before his day in court, Friedrich apparently took his own life.

We have interviewed NSCA (Vic) members of staff, who mostly remember him with affection. We have talked to his lawyer, forensic psychologists, and the detectives who finally gave him a name, a country and a history. Some call him a crook, a delusional character, a boss who led his organization into the abyss. But many others see him as a visionary and incredibly intelligent man who was building something really important for Australia and the world at large.

Either way, the NSCA (Vic) was a powerful force for good and not everyone is convinced that its collapse is all is what it seems...

A documentary by SMP Productions.
Developed with the assistance of Film Victoria.

Stay tuned...