Hydrants at the Ready: How Water Shaped the Fire Brigade

CEO
Sep 16
5 min read

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 theme to guide our conversations and celebrations. For 2025, the theme is “Water Stories”, inviting us to reflect on the fundamental and enduring role of water in shaping the lives, communities, and histories of people across this state. For some, the stories of water are about floods, droughts, dams, creeks, and rivers. For us at the Museum of Fire, water is inseparable from the very existence of fire brigades and firefighting itself.

Firefighting Begins with Water

It is a simple yet profound truth—there can be no firefighting without water. The history of the fire brigade is, at its core, a history of access to water. While today we take for granted the sight of sophisticated pumpers and aerial appliances spraying high-pressure jets from built-in tanks and hydrants, firefighting once began with nothing more than human chains and buckets.

Dating back to the 16th century and continuing well into the early 19th century, bucket brigades were the only defense against fire in most towns and cities. Men, women, and children would line up in a human chain, passing buckets filled from a nearby well, stream, or river, hoping to douse the flames or at least slow their spread. It was physically exhausting, painfully slow, and tragically often ineffective.

But this is where our “water story” truly begins: with the struggle to move water faster and more efficiently. This desire led to innovations that would forever change firefighting—starting with one of the most overlooked pieces of urban infrastructure: the fire hydrant.

From Fire Plugs to Hydrants: An Overlooked Innovation

The modern fire hydrant, as we know it today, has mysterious origins. Two names are commonly associated with its invention—Frederic Graff Sr. and George Smith. While both have claims to the title, Graff, who served as Chief Engineer for the Philadelphia Water Works, is often credited with the earliest working hydrant model around 1801.

However, hydrants in that era were far from the sleek underground valves we see today. They functioned more like public taps. And before even that? We had fire plugs.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, cities like Philadelphia and London used water mains made from hollowed wooden logs. When firefighters needed water, they would dig into the street, bore into the pipe, and draw water into a shallow pit. Once done, they’d hammer a plug back into the hole—hence the term “fire plug.”

Busby's Bore, under Oxford Street Darlinghurst [Courtesy of City of Sydney Archives]

Sydney’s Early Water Infrastructure and Fire Protection

And what about here in New South Wales? Believe it or not, Sydney’s earliest water systems mirrored those rudimentary methods. In the colony’s infancy, the Tank Stream—which ran through what is now Hyde Park—was the city’s first source of piped water, fed through timber channels.

In the 1820s, water was redirected from Lachlan Swamp via a massive tunnel called Busby’s Bore. And by the 1850s, modernisation brought iron and steel mains and expanded reservoirs like Prospect, pulling water from the Nepean River system to serve a growing city.

This leap in water infrastructure coincided with the emergence of organised firefighting. By the 1840s–1850s, volunteer and insurance-based fire brigades were forming, but crucially—only where water infrastructure could support them. Water was not just helpful; it was essential.

Hydrants in Sydney: A Quiet Revolution

By 1896, newspaper accounts show that Sydney had hydrants installed across the city—though many were already ageing and failing under pressure. These hydrants were being adopted over the older plug systems, which were officially phased out. Sydney moved toward the underground hydrants that firefighters now access with a standpipe—a tool every pumper still carries.

This transition may seem technical, even boring—but the impact was revolutionary. With reliable water access in the street, firefighting shifted from reactive to proactive. Engines could arrive and immediately hook into the main supply. Response times improved. Fire losses dropped. Insurance rates stabilised. Communities became safer.

The Rural Connection: Reticulated Water = Fire Brigade

What about outside Sydney? Here’s where the story becomes even more human.

Through our partnership with Fire and Rescue NSW, the Museum of Fire has the unique responsibility of documenting the history of hundreds of fire stations across the state. In researching these histories, we consistently find a pattern: communities wanted fire protection, but couldn’t achieve it without one key ingredient—reticulated water.

Small towns might form committees, raise funds, and lobby their councils for years—but without a piped water system, a fire brigade was impossible. In many cases, water access determined the very timeline of when fire brigades could exist.

Take Mullumbimby, for example. Though first settled in the early 1800s, the town didn’t form a brigade until 1924, and even then, their water infrastructure was considered insufficient. They relied on the Brunswick River for some time until a full hydrant system was installed in 1938.

Mullumbimby Fire Brigade, c. 1980s [Courtesy of Mullumbimby Fire Brigade]

This scenario plays out across dozens of NSW towns. It is a powerful reminder of how closely our firefighting history is linked to the broader story of water in this state.

Firefighting Today: Rescuing in Water, Not Just With It

Of course, the fire brigade’s relationship with water isn’t only about putting out fires. As the scope of Fire and Rescue NSW has expanded, water has become both a tool and a threat.

In 2001, Senior Firefighter Tony Waller—now a member of our Board—undertook a prestigious study tour to Los Angeles, examining their swift water rescue programs. His findings transformed our approach here in NSW. Upon his return, Tony helped design FRNSW’s water rescue training curriculum—first implemented in select units and later rolled out statewide.

Swift water rescue training, Penrith, 2013 [Courtesy of Fire and Rescue NSW]

During the devastating 2011 Queensland floods, Fire and Rescue NSW deployed these specialist crews, setting a precedent that would repeat in many future flood events. By 2015, water rescue training became mandatory for all FRNSW recruits, and 50 stations were designated as specialist water rescue units—a milestone in the evolution of the modern firefighter.

Today, water is both the medium and the mission. Firefighters now work in water, around water, and against water—whether that be in flood rescue, storm response, or mitigating HAZMAT emergencies in waterways.

In reflecting on this year’s theme of Water Stories, I am struck by just how inseparable water is from the history of firefighting. Without water, the fire brigade would not—and could not—exist. From hydrants to hoses, from rivers to reservoirs, from bucket brigades to standpipes, the entire firefighting profession has evolved in tandem with how societies manage and distribute water.

And yet, this is not just a technical story. It is a human one.

Behind every hydrant is a city that planned for safety. Behind every river bucket was a neighbour trying to help. Behind every fire truck is a team ready to risk their lives—and behind every museum is a team, like ours, working to remember them all.

Thank you for joining us for our annual History Week Keynote Presentation.