A knife-wielding man attacked her pregnant daughter. So Angela Ferullo did something remarkable.

Trigger warning: This post deals with violence against woman and may be triggering for some readers.

A woman who died protecting her pregnant daughter from an armed assailant and a tour guide who helped defend and rescue trekkers from a violent attack in Papua New Guinea have been honoured in the 40th Australian Bravery Awards.

The women, the late Angela Edith Ferullo and Christiana Jane King, were awarded the Star of Courage in the national honours system that recognises the actions of Australians who have placed others’ lives ahead of their own.

The Star of Courage is the second highest decoration recognising conspicuous acts of bravery in extremely dangerous situations.

Ms King, from Queensland, was leading her first large trekking party in Papua New Guinea in September 2013 when they were attacked by a group of men armed with a shotgun and machetes along the Black Cat Track in Morobe province.

Ms King spoke to the ABC about the “frenzied bloody massacre” which left two local porters dead and several other trekkers seriously wounded.

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“They crashed our camp, we had no shelter, potentially it was going to keep on raining, so what was I going to do?” she told Australian Story.

Christy King’s horrific PNG trek ordeal

When Australian nurse Christy King, 39, was employed as a trek leader on the remote Black Cat Track in Papua New Guinea, she thought it would be her dream job.

“And at that stage in my head I thought: ‘Well, I will try and get them out. Get these people out.'”

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Ms King identified herself as the group’s leader and negotiated and pleaded with the attackers to stop the assault and leave the camp.

She then led the trekkers on a five-hour hike to safety, mostly in darkness, where she took the most vulnerable position at either end of the group in case of another attack.

Ms King paid tribute to the 19 Papua New Guinean men who were the porters on the track.

“I would like to thank them for looking after myself and the eight trekkers,” she said.

The eight trekkers hailed Ms King a hero for her bravery but she said she would not have managed to get though the ordeal without them.

Angela Ferullo posthumously awarded Star of Courage

The Star of Courage was also awarded posthumously to West Australian Ms Ferullo for defending her daughter Selina Bello, who was 22 weeks pregnant at the time.

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In June 2013, Ms Ferullo’s former husband James Payet entered a Como hairdressing salon, where both women worked, wielding two hunting knives.

He began stabbing Ms Bello, prompting Ms Ferullo to throw herself onto her daughter to protect her.

Ms Ferullo, 43, was repeatedly stabbed to death.

A 67-year-old client, Margaret Alexander-Kew, has also been awarded a bravery medal for trying to help during the attack.

“I saw the knife and I thought ‘this is very serious, I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to help them’,” she said.

“I picked up a hairdressing chair and thought I’ve got to knock him out.

“I brought it down on his head and I cut his eye, and of course he turned on me then and punched me across the head and I went flying backwards.

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“When he did leave, I locked the door and called triple-0.”

Ms Alexander-Kew said she never set out to be brave.

“I can’t tell you how honoured I am and I am so pleased for Angie because I would assume any mother would come their daughter’s aid,” she said.

“He would have killed Selina as well.

“I am really, really happy that Angie is being recognised, it will be something for her grandchildren to learn that their grandmother did that for them.”

Kayaker who saved a tourist, UN paramedic honoured

Twenty-six people are being honoured with a Bravery Medal this year, while 36 are receiving commendations for brave conduct.

Victorian Jonathan Cawood has been commended for his brave conduct in assisting with the rescue of a man who slipped and fell into a narrow crevasse in Mariua Falls, New Zealand.

Mr Cawood and his friend were preparing to kayak over the falls in January last year when another tourist slipped and fell head-first into the crevasse.

The injured man lay unconscious with his face submerged in water on a small ledge about four metres below the top of the crevasse.

Mr Cawood and his friend set about rescuing the man using a range of safety and first aid skills.

“Mitch set up an anchor, so basically anchored the rope to something solid up the top while I jumped down the crevasse,” Mr Cawood said.

“[We] got to him, pulled him out the water, put a harness on him so we could pull him up, just did basic first aid to get him back conscious. And called an ambulance, waited for Helivac.”

Mr Cawood assessed the man’s condition and immobilised him due to suspected spinal injuries.

“It’s nice to be recognised for doing something like that,” Mr Cawood said. “There’s a lot of people that I am sure go unnoticed.”

Benjamin Nelson from Queensland has been commended for his work as a UN paramedic in Kabul, where he dodged Taliban gunfire to secure and treat the bodies of six colleagues killed in an attack in October 2009.

In an attempt to disrupt the Afghan presidential elections, Taliban suicide bombers stormed the Bakhar Guesthouse.

After a two-hour battle which killed 12 people including six UN employees, Taliban insurgents detonated suicide vests.

“The people that [were] involved that day were our friends. These were people that we were on the road with, in the office with within the last 24 to 48 hours, so at the time that was probably most important to us,” Mr Nelson said.

Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove expressed his sincere gratitude to all recipients and paid special tribute to those who lost their lives because of their courage.

This article was originally published by ABC Online. It has been republished here with full permission.

What do you think of this year’s ‘Star of Courage’ award recipients? 

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