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On Sunday 14 September 2025, the Museum of Fire hosted our annual History Week Keynote Presentation. At the Museum of Fire, we have always embraced the opportunity to contribute to History Week. As a museum devoted entirely to the preservation and interpretation of firefighting history in New South Wales, events like this are the lifeblood of our work—just as water is the lifeblood of firefighting itself.   Each year, the History Council of NSW selects a thought-provoking the

On Sunday 8th September 2024 the Museum hosted our annual History Week Keynote Presentation with this years theme being "Marking Time". As the official heritage partner to Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) the Museum is in the habit of commemorating and remembering the role of firefighters and the history of firefighting each and every day. This year marks 140 years since the establishment of FRNSW with the passing of the Fire Brigades Act 1884. We remember this milestone with spec

On Sunday 10th September 2023 the Museum hosted our annual History Week Keynote Presentation with this years theme being "Voices From the Past". With this topic we chose to highlight the history of women in the fire brigade in NSW. Our CEO Belinda McMartin gave our keynote address with our special guest speaker being Dr. Kristine Klugman OAM. To watch our Keynote Presentation in full visit www.museumoffire.net/history-week-2023 Women have always had a role to play in the fir

On Sunday 4th September 2022 the Museum hosted our 2022 Annual Keynote Presentation. Our guest speaker for 2022, returning by popular demand, was Station Officer Ian Grimwood from FRNSW Lismore. Everyone knows about the devastation that has faced the town of Lismore this year and Ian discussed how members of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) have worked to keep their hands on the brigade’s history and make sure it isn’t lost. This is an extract from Ian's presentation: "The Februar

The 1820s in Sydney Before we begin an exploration of Sydney’s fire protection in the 1820s, let’s set the scene. The year was 1821, 200 years ago, when the first steps were made to ensure Sydney’s protection against fire. Two appliances were purchased by the authorities and by the end of 1821, they had arrived in the colony. The year, like most before it, brought great change to the colony. Amongst other things, the Australian Magazine made its debut, Australia’s greatest ex

By Guest Writer Ian Grimwood This blog is a modified extract from Ian’s recent History Week presentation. To view the recording please visit https://www.museumoffire.net/copy-of-history-week-2021 In this piece, I will highlight the close association that the Australian Military Forces and the Fire Brigade in NSW have had since the nineteenth century, up to contemporary times. If we start with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) back in 1884 a portion of the senior leadership

During History Week earlier this month we shared our first " digital day". With a lot of people unable to travel and limits on the amount of people we can have on site at the moment we had to look at new ways to engage with everyone. One of the things we did during our digital day was to share some history about NSW's oldest fire stations. If you missed out don't worry as we will share some of these pieces that were put together by our heritage team over the coming months. To

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Museum for History Week 2020! This was a new concept for the Museum but given the topic was “what is history good for?” we could hardly pass up the opportunity to showcase history as we continue to rebuild after the COVID closure and loss of our CEO Mark White. We had been rebuilding slowly but in the few weeks before History Week we were hit by the Government decision to halt all school excursions. Whilst we all understand and supp

Whilst the closed No. 1 Volunteer Company Fire Station in Haymarket is the oldest surviving purpose-built fire station, some of Sydney’s early stations remain operational. This blog will look at the oldest active fire stations and the brigades that continue to operate out of them. These buildings are all located in Sydney and include City of Sydney (1888), Balmain (1894), Lidcombe (1899) and Ashfield (1901). Join us at 2pm today for a look at the #5 oldest active station in N