Blog

This week, to coincide with the annual celebration of International Women’s Day, the Museum is proud to officially open our latest exhibition which pays tribute to the role women have played within firefighting in NSW. This exhibition has been produced to celebrate the 40th anniversary of women being permitted to join the NSW Fire Brigade (NSWFB, today Fire and Rescue NSW, FRNSW) as firefighters. This is the first time that an exhibition has showcased this largely forgotten p

Last year for Ask a Museum Day 2022 we introduced you to the Heritage Team which at the time had some fresh additions to the team, Ben as the new curator (that’s me) and Ella as the Assistant Curator. A year has passed, and we still get questions each and everyday from people asking us about what it is we exactly get up to in our jobs, so we wanted to take the opportunity this year now that we have been in our roles for a little while to answer some of those questions! Interv

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

Did you know? The Women’s Fire Auxiliary (WFA), established in the 1940s, was primarily formed to aid the NSW Fire Brigade on the home front during World War II? Albeit an interesting little tidbit of history for you here, you may be thinking: pray, what is the connection between the WFA and a 1942 “mobile canteen”? The Mobile Canteen in question, is a rare example of motorized canteen services used by the Metropolitan Fire Service from 1942 to 1974 and was supported, enthus

Last week we shared some of the history of Narrabeen Fire Brigade but did you know that the station was home to a WFA (Women's Fire Auxiliary) unit? During the war Narrabeen Fire Station had 15 women enlisted in the WFA. These women were: E. Duker, S. Ford, J. Harris, M. Jones, A. Kirkwood, B. Kirkwood, O. Kirkwood, M. Haynes, L. McLean, P. McLean, I. Moss, I. Sims, V. Slater, A. Ward and M. Williams. All, except one member of the Narrabeen WFA were appointed on 1 April 1943