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*This information is an extract from the colour-book produced by the Museum of Fire's Heritage Team to celebrate the opening of the new Wallsend Fire Station at an event held in 2018. Should you wish to use any of the information and pictures provided we ask that you please reference the Museum correctly and contact the Museum for permission where applicable. The Formation of the Wallsend and Plattsburg Fire Brigade The town of Wallsend developed after the Wallsend Coal Compa

*This information is an extract from the colour-book produced by the Museum of Fire's Heritage Team to celebrate the opening of the new Batlow Fire Station at an event held in 2018. Should you wish to use any of the information and pictures provided we ask that you please reference the Museum correctly and contact the Museum for permission where applicable. Before there was a formalised Fire Brigade Before the Fire Brigades Act was even extended to Batlow there was a local “t

In the lead up to this year’s Olympic Games, we are excited to be able to share some fantastic fire-related content with you. So, you might be thinking – how could there possibly be a link between an international multi-sport event, such as the Olympic Games, and fire? Well, the emergency services have their own version of this major biennial sporting event: the World Police and Fire Games. A World First: The 1985 World Police and Fire Games at San Jose, California While perh

-Story by Bill Rowlings OAM Deputy President, c. 1984 It was all the doing of the first female to take on a senior role in fire brigade management in NSW. In 1982, the NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Peter Anderson, appointed Kristine Klugman BA (History) MA (Community Studies) as the first female to serve on the then 98-year-old Board of Fire Commissioners, and made her Deputy President. At the time, she was also the President of the Australian Museum Trust,

*This information is an extract from the colour-book produced by the Museum of Fire's Heritage Team to celebrate the centenary of Blayney Fire Brigade at an event held during FRNSW Open Day on 15 May 2021. Should you wish to use any of the information and pictures provided we ask that you please reference the Museum correctly and contact the Museum for permission where applicable. Over the years, Blayney residents learnt of the devastating effects of fire. Calls for the estab

*This information is an extract from the colour-book produced by the Museum of Fire's Heritage Team to celebrate the opening of the new Abermain Fire Station back in 2017. Should you wish to use any of the information and pictures provided we ask that you please reference the Museum correctly and contact the Museum for permission where applicable. A Brief History of Abermain Fire Brigade The first account of fire in Abermain was on Sunday 24 July 1904 when a two-room family h

For this week's blog, Championship Historian John Hand takes a look back at the first annual Fire Brigades "Demo" held by the Victorian Brigades in 1896, 125 years ago. Competition between Fire Brigades in Australia began in the latter half of the 19th Century. In colonial Sydney, there was fervent competition between the Insurance Fire Brigades and the Volunteer Fire Brigades which resultantly saw the emergence of 'Demonstrations' being conducted to showcase the firefighting

*This information is an extract from the colour-book produced by the Museum of Fire's Heritage Team to celebrate the centenary of Windsor Fire Station and the opening of the new Windsor Fire Station back in 2016. Should you wish to use any of the information and pictures provided we ask that you please reference the Museum correctly and contact the Museum for permission where applicable. Last week we shared the story behind the disasterous 1874 Windsor Fire. To read more abou

With most of the Museum's team at the Sydney Royal Easter Show we haven't got a big blog for you this week but we thought we'd take a look back at the 1874 fire that ripped through Windsor and was the catalyst for the creation of a number of other local regional fire brigades. Windsor Fire Brigade was established in 1863 but it wasn't until this fire ten years later that the brigade was truly tested. On 23 December 1874 strong winds were experienced in the Windsor region and

What’s in a name? Well, quite a bit if you’re known as the ‘flying pig’... The Ace chassis was first manufactured in 1933 by the vehicle specialist company, Dennis Bros. It was considered to be quite revolutionary at the time, with unusual features such as a setback front axle, bevel pinion diff, and hydraulic brakes. The engine was mounted well forward and so the protruding ‘snout’ (bonnet) of the Dennis Ace soon earned the model the nickname of ‘flying pig’. Funnily enough,