Kelly Foster (policewoman)

Kelly Ann Foster BM (1 July 1981 – 2 January 2021) was an Australian police officer who served with the New South Wales Police Force. While off duty on a canyoning trip in the Blue Mountains, Foster drowned attempting to rescue Chinese international student Jennifer Qi from a whirlpool in the Wollangambe River.

Foster was posthumously awarded the New South Wales Police Commissioner's Valour Award in 2021, the inaugural Gold Great Wall Commemorative Medal from China's Ministry of Public Security in 2022, and the Australian Bravery Medal in 2025.

Police career

Foster joined the New South Wales Police Force as a student police officer on 19 January 2010. She attested as a probationary constable on 27 August 2010 and began general-duties work at Newtown. She was confirmed as a constable in May 2012.

In May 2014, Foster became an intelligence analyst in the State Crime Command's Property Crime Squad. She was promoted to senior constable in May 2016 and joined the Real Time Intelligence Response Team that July. The team provided continuous tactical and operational intelligence to officers responding to serious crimes and emergencies. In September 2018, Foster moved to the intelligence team of the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad. Her work included investigations into kidnapping, armed robbery, organised burglaries of jewellery businesses and a historical abduction and sexual-assault case. She also worked in a Major Incident Intelligence Cell concerned with organised-crime kidnappings.

Foster received an Advanced Diploma of Police Intelligence Operations in May 2020. Later that month, she transferred to Lithgow Police Station, returning to general duties and moving closer to outdoor recreation areas. Her career had previously been interrupted by treatment for breast cancer, after which she returned to duty.

During her career, Foster participated in the police response to the 2014 Lindt Cafe siege. She received a Commissioner's Unit Citation for that work. Her other service decorations included the National Police Service Medal, the National Medal, the New South Wales Police Medal and the Commissioner's Sesquicentenary Citation.

Death

On 2 January 2021, Foster, who was off duty, joined a guided canyoning trip through Wollangambe One Canyon at Mount Wilson. Shortly after midday, the group entered a water section using inflatable air mattresses. Qi, a 24-year-old graduate of the University of Sydney, fell from her inflatable and was pulled beneath the water by a whirlpool. Foster responded to calls for help and dived underwater in an attempt to find her, but was also pulled into the whirlpool.

The remote terrain and lack of mobile-phone reception delayed notification of emergency services. Poor weather forced rescuers to suspend their search that evening. Police divers located the bodies of Foster and Qi around midday on 3 January; both were believed to have drowned.

Foster received a police funeral at Hoskins Memorial Uniting Church in Lithgow on 14 January 2021. Residents lined the streets as the funeral procession passed, and buildings in Lithgow were decorated with blue balloons and streamers. Police Commissioner Mick Fuller posthumously conferred the Commissioner's Valour Award on Foster at the service.

Honours and legacy

Foster is included on the New South Wales Police Force Roll of Honour, which describes her death as occurring while she was attempting to save another person's life. On the first anniversary of her death, her family and colleagues unveiled a memorial wall and garden at Lithgow Police Station.

On 24 February 2022, Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian presented Foster's parents with the Gold Great Wall Commemorative Medal on behalf of Ministry of Public Security of China. The medal, numbered 0001, was the first gold medal awarded under the programme, which recognises foreign law-enforcement officers for contributions to the safety of Chinese citizens. The presentation was reported as a symbol of people-to-people ties during a period of strained relations between Australia and China.

In March 2025, the governor-general of Australia announced a posthumous Bravery Medal for Foster. The official citation stated that she had displayed "considerable bravery" during the canyoning accident.