Richard Harris
Cave Diver, 2019 Australian of the Year, and the recipient of the OZTek2017 Tech Diver of the Year and OZTek'09 Outstanding Achievement award
Dr Richard Harris (“Harry”) works in anaesthesia and aeromedical retrieval medicine around the world.
His passion for cave diving goes back to the 1980’s and has taken him to the corners of the globe in search of new adventures. An interest in accident investigation, and search and rescue activities has been a theme during his diving and caving career.
Harry and his colleagues have explored caves to 245m depth, and shipwrecks to over 150m, in dives lasting over 16 hours. He is an enthusiastic UW photographer and videographer who is now also building a career in documentary films.
He is an enthusiastic but inferior UW photographer and videographer who is resigned to capturing opportunistic images via helmet cams.
Harry helped in the rescue operations as a diver in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand, and won the 2019 Australian of the Year with long-time friend and fellow cave diver, Craig Challen.
Harry has a professional and voluntary interest in search and rescue operations, establishing the first sump rescue training course in Australasia. By building relationships with emergency services in Australia, he has been preparing for such an event, and the 2018 Thailand Cave Rescue was an opportunity to put this training to work.
In 2009, he was the recipient of the OZTeK'09 'Outstanding Achievement' award to mark his exceptional contributions to cave diving exploration and in 2017, he won OZTek2017 'Tech Diver of the Year'.
