Decades on the beat and the search for Samantha Murphy: police officer's life of duty

After being on the front lines of countless tragedies, such as the search for Samantha Murphy, and community triumphs, Sergeant Anderson from Buninyong in Ballarat has worked his last shift, retiring to "enjoy life" after receiving a life-saving lung transplant a few years ago.

Mr Anderson has been embedded in Victoria's Ballarat and Buninyong communities since 1993, working at both stations. Buninyong has been his home for many of those 32 years.

He said he had been able to see all ways of life while on patrol.

"I think Ballarat has always had the best of society and the worst of society all wrapped up in one city - and I don't mean that in a negative way," he said.

"I think as a result of that, we have always had, I think, a little microcosm of everywhere else. We've had our really bad times and our really good times - it's like a giant country town.

"There are no secrets. Everybody knows everyone else, and then there's times where it's unrecognisable."

For Mr Anderson, a perfect example of this was the weeks and months after the disappearance of Samantha Murphy in February 2024.

Buninyong was a hub of activity during the search for Ms Murphy's body in the bush. Mr Anderson was in the thick of it as everyone from all walks of life gave up their time in the hope of finding her.

"Everyone just pulled together. It was wonderful to see. That is the great part of Ballarat coming right out there," he said.

"We see some pretty rotten things, but we see some really, really fantastic things as well. That was certainly one of them - no question about it."

Mr Anderson was working in his capacity as the Municipal Emergency Response Coordinator for the City of Ballarat during this time. It's something he had been doing for several years before that.

In that role, he said, he had attended most of the major emergencies in the city, going back to the 1990s.

"I think this city is in really great hands with just the variety of people who are engaged whenever things go bad. We have a fantastic team of people in the background," he said.

"They're not in the foreground; they're in the background, working very hard for the safety and welfare of this community.

"It's great to have been a part of that. And I will miss that the most probably."

Looking back on his distinguished career, Mr Anderson said policing in 2025 was vastly different to how it was done in the 80s, when he started his career as a 16-year-old cadet.

"It's so easy to say that there were great times, that it was a bloody magnificent time. It's not that it was better, it was different," he said.

"Today, police are much more professional. They go about their jobs in a much smarter way than we ever did.

"We just went out there and drove around until we caught someone, but now it's all very driven by good policing practice."

Despite all of the trauma witnessed in his career, Mr Anderson said he had probably done more laughing than crying.

"It's probably a good thing ... I can see the funny side in most things and if you can't get a laugh out of the day-to-day then you aren't trying very hard, really," he said.

"It keeps you sane, it keeps you grounded."

His life and career haven't been all smooth sailing, though.

In 2021, Mr Anderson received a life-saving lung transplant after he was diagnosed with Interstitial lung disease (ILD), an autoimmune disorder.

"It's not caused by anything in particular, but it basically turns the lungs into scar tissue, so my lungs just shrank," he said.

"I went on the transplant list in January, just before Australia Day, and I was operated on in February."

He returned to full duties since then and continued to work until his last shift in September.

Mr Anderson said he plans to stay in the Ballarat region during his retirement.

"I'm going to fix up old tractors and stationary engines. I'm doing up an old Land Rover, Series 1 - that'll probably take a bit of time. I'll do a little bit of travel," he said.

"Probably, one of the key factors in retiring now is to live a bit of life post-transplant."