By Karl Quinn
JACK Foster loves his Playstation, though he isn't usually allowed to play fighting games on it. But when the Ararat boy awoke to find a man had broken into the house and was assaulting his father with a crowbar, Jack, who was just seven at the time, combined his love of technology, his quick reflexes and his fighting instinct to leap into action. His response probably saved his father's life.
Today, Jack's actions will be acknowledged with an Australian Bravery Medal. The awards are granted twice a year by the Governor-General. Jack is one of 12 Victorians, and the youngest among the 62 national recipients, to be acknowledged in this round of awards.
''What he did was extremely brave for someone of his age,'' said Sharon Prendergast, director of the Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat.
Jack was woken by the sound of his father being attacked around 3am one night in May last year. According to his father, Christopher Foster, the intruder was a drug addict, and was looking to steal Mr Foster's supply of the prescription narcotic Oxycontin, which Mr Foster was taking for the relief of pain associated with crushed discs in his back.
The intruder repeatedly attacked Mr Foster with the tool he had used to break into the house.
''He hit me in the head with the crowbar like a hundred times, then he threw the stereo at me, then he threw the TV. He just went wild,'' said Mr Foster.
The attack left Mr Foster a bloody mess on the floor. ''Jack had to hold my head up because I was choking on my blood. I was just trying to keep myself alive, basically, because of my son,'' he said.
Mr Foster would spend 24 hours in intensive care and receive 52 stitches and six staples for his wounds.
As his father was being attacked, Jack ran to the phone. The intruder grabbed it from him and smashed it against the wall. Jack then found his father's mobile phone, called the police and took photos of the assailant with the camera on the phone. His quick thinking led to the man's arrest.
Jack said he was looking forward to receiving his award, and planned to take it to school for show and tell.
Asked what advice he would offer to any of his classmates who found themselves in a similar situation, he said simply, ''Dial triple 0''.