Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Person of the Month: Dean Oswald

Rotorua Daily Post
14 Feb, 2013 10:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The mother of one of the boys rescued by Whakatane police officer and former Bay of Plenty Steamer Constable Dean Oswald says she can't thank him enough for what he did.

The Auckland woman, who did not want to be named, said her 11-year-old son may not be alive today had it not been for Mr Oswald's heroic actions.

Mr Oswald is today named The Daily Post Person of the Month for January for his efforts in rescuing three swimmers stuck in a rip at Ohope.

Mr Oswald was on duty as part of an Ohope summer patrol on January 2. Just before 8pm, he and his two colleagues were about to finish work when they were told about three people stuck in a rip opposite the Ohope Golf Club. As there was no easy beach access nearby, Mr Oswald got hold of a quad bike and raced along the beach.

"I headed towards the Ohiwa Harbour mouth. It must have been about 500m to 1km when I came across an upset man and an aunty who were pointing and saying 'my boys, my boys'. I jumped on top of the bike and could see a hand up in the water so I stripped down to my jocks and jumped in."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Oswald said the people on the beach had called other family members and two relatives came down to the beach with lifejackets. They followed Mr Oswald into the surf.

"The closest kid was about 40m out and it was quite a rough sea. At that point, I'd only seen the two kids and didn't realise their uncle was in the water as well. The three of us headed into the water, we got to the first kid, gave him a life jacket and strapped him in it. The other two were behind me and got to the other boy. The kid I was with kept saying 'my uncle, my uncle', that's when I realised there was a man out there."

Mr Oswald managed to get the man back to the beach.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A 36-year-old Hastings man, who now lives in Whakatane, the 11-year-old and a 13-year-old boy were admitted to Whakatane Hospital and later discharged.

The mother of the 11-year-old boy said Mr Oswald went "above and beyond the call of duty" and the family kept a newspaper clipping of Mr Oswald's rescue efforts on their fridge to remind them how lucky the family was.

The woman said Mr Oswald deserved the recognition.

Mr Oswald said he had received texts and emails and strangers approached him on the street to shake his hand, which he said had been embarrassing.



Being named The Daily Post Person of the Month was "pretty cool" but he was not looking forward to the "ribbing" he would get from his colleagues.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty

Rotorua Daily Post

'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure

Rotorua Daily Post

Kea Kids News: The small rugby player making big moves

Watch

Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty
Rotorua Daily Post

Small town's mayor says campus closure would condemn locals to poverty

Toi Ohomai Te Pūkenga put forward a proposal to disestablish the jobs of 166 people.

15 Jul 06:00 AM
'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure
Rotorua Daily Post

'Shocking' cuts: 160-plus jobs at risk, campuses face closure

14 Jul 11:58 PM
Kea Kids News: The small rugby player making big moves
Rotorua Daily Post

Kea Kids News: The small rugby player making big moves

Watch
14 Jul 11:26 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP