In an exclusive interview with the Mercury ahead of Ms Bryce's visit to the Illawarra next month, she revealed how her father Norman Strachan's heroism led him to pursue a job in the wool industry.

It was this position that took the family from Austinmer to Sydney and eventually Queensland, where she and her siblings were raised.

"My dad was born at Austinmer on the 29th December, 1899," Ms Bryce said.

"He was one of six children of Cornelius Strachan and his wife Sophie Jean Macauley."

Sophie, a school teacher in Appin, was from the pioneering Illawarra family, while Cornelius was a master mine carpenter who immigrated from Scotland in 1887 to make framing and other timber works for the mines around Wollongong.

The couple owned 3ha of land in Moore St, Austinmer, where they raised their children.

Norman attended Austinmer Public School, Woonona Public School briefly, and later graduated from Wollongong High School.

In 1917, he represented Austinmer at the first meeting of the South Coast Bathing Association and the same year was appointed as a permanent lifesaver.

"When he was captain of the Austinmer Surf Club he rescued a child from the surf," Ms Bryce said. "The child's family - the Whiddons - offered him a job in their Botany woollen mills and trained him in wool technology and the management of wool processing operations.

"It was there he gained the knowledge and experience that equipped him to manage the Ilfracombe scour in central western Queensland."

It was in Queensland where Norman and wife Naida's four daughters, Diana, Quentin Alice Louise, Revelyn and Helene were born.

Ms Bryce said she had visited Austinmer on many occasions and had "learnt why my father and his family loved the beach so much".