By Andrea Louise Thomas
Barry Randall was three months old the first time he splashed in the sea. Ever since, the ocean has had a magnetic draw. Growing up in a little town on the Central Coast of New South Wales meant Barry and his five siblings spent a lot of time at the beach. They were swimming, surfing and participating in junior surf lifesaving when they weren’t golfing, playing rugby, tennis or any of the other sports they frequently enjoyed. Their Mum clocked up a lot of kilometres on the family car.
The sea remains a solace and salvation for Barry, a decorated Sergeant of over 30 years with the Mornington branch of Victoria Police. But that is only part of his service. In 2021, between COVID lockdowns, Barry established a surf therapy program called Operation Soul Surf (OSS), giving professionals from police, fire, ambulance and the defence forces (current and veteran) an opportunity to experience the healing energies of the sea and surfing to treat work-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
PTSD is something Barry knows a lot about. At 22, with less than a year in the police force, he and his partner were called to attend ‘a rowdy party’. It was something entirely different. The call was a domestic violence case. In the pitch dark, they were charged by a knife-wielding woman. He and his partner quickly found themselves victims of attempted murder. The perpetrator was shot and killed moments before attacking Barry’s partner. This incident haunted him, resulting in severe PTSD.
Returning to surfing was transformative in my healing journey
“Returning to surfing was transformative in my healing journey. I wanted to pay it forward to other first responders,” he says. So, he founded OSS. “Two hundred men and women have now come through the program. Participants have found healing and made friendships with strangers who understand what they are going through,” he says.
The program has been so successful that Barry was awarded Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 2025 Community Inspiration Award at the Local Australia Day Awards.
‘Healing minds one wave at a time’ is Barry’s OSS motto and he lives it. Barry’s mental health advocacy and community service are literally saving lives. Police officer Ben said, “OSS was by far the happiest, most relaxed and tired I have been all in one.” Paramedic Lisa wrote, “OSS has been life changing. I felt joy, inner peace and freedom for the first time just being in the ocean.” One firefighter, housebound with PTSD, was able to return to work and engage with friends and family again because of OSS.
OSS lessons are held at East Coast Surf School in Point Leo. Thanks to sponsors, the lessons are free of charge, including all equipment and a post-surf lunch. Classes run across four consecutive weeks on Saturday, catering for 10 participants.
Barry goes about his work with such quiet humility that when the names and accomplishments of others were being read out at the 2025 Victorian Rotary Emergency Services Award, where he won Officer of the Year, he turned to the woman next to him and said, “Am I in the right line?” Barry has always been in the right line. He knew he wanted to help people from the time he was seven and has dedicated his entire life to it.
He could have chosen many paths, including professional sport. He’d won four junior rugby league premierships with the Toukley Hawks by the age of 12. A year after that, he was NSW Junior Surf Life Saving Champion. At 16, he was trialling for several NRL clubs, but his pull to public service was greater. He moved to Victoria at 20 to begin his police career.
Barry has worked as a specialist detective in the painfully complex field of the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Unit, finding himself confronted with the most horrific of all crimes. He was appointed to the Prime Minister’s Task Force, Themis, working with Australian Federal Police in the Northern Territory for a year. He’s worked across various fields within the police force.
Sport has always held an important place in Barry’s life. His passion for rugby has remained front and centre. “In 1999 I became the first Victoria Police officer to be chosen to play rugby league for Australia,” he says. He took unpaid leave to travel to the United States and England, becoming a Rugby 7s World Champion in Los Angeles. He also surfed in LA—no mean feat considering the notoriously cold water off the Pacific Coast.
He returned to his position in Mornington where he has been ever since, serving the local community and fellow first responders through OSS. While he would shy away from advertising it, Barry is a recipient of the National Police Service Award Medal, Youth Police Officer of the Year, 2022 Outstanding Service to People With Disabilities Award, 2025 Victorian Rotary Emergency Services Officer of the Year, and 2025 Mornington Peninsula Community Inspiration Award.
Barry approaches all of his work with compassion, kindness and humility. He’s not about accolades. “I see myself as a husband, father, ‘rugby league gypsy’ and surf therapist,” he says. These things are wonderful in themselves, but he is also a person who has dedicated his life to police work even when it meant putting his physical and mental health on the line.
Sounds like a hero to me, but don’t tell Barry I said so.
operationsoulsurf.com
Originally published in Peninsula Essence Magazine.
