The Buckingham’s Department Store Fire: Sydney, ANZAC Day 1968

On 25 April 1968, one of Sydney’s most unforgettable fires lit up Darlinghurst, capturing the attention of thousands of city residents and leaving a lasting mark on the city’s history. The fire destroyed Buckingham’s Department Store, an iconic building on the corner of Oxford and Riley Streets, which had been a familiar presence in Sydney since it was established at the start of the twentieth century by Ashley James Buckingham. The store had earned a loyal following among the “respectable working class” of the surrounding suburbs, offering quality goods at affordable prices and pioneering one of the city’s earliest easy credit systems, which encouraged customers to buy now and pay later. Young women and working families alike passed through its doors, drawn by its accessibility and reputation for dependable merchandise. The Buckingham family retained ownership until 1967, when the building was sold, and within a year, it would be consumed by fire.

Buckingham's department store on Oxford Street, Sydney, c. 1920s [Courtesy of the National Library of Australia]

The Fire and Response

At the time of the blaze, Buckingham’s building had been empty for several years and was in the process of demolition to make way for a modern development. What began as a routine demolition site quickly became a scene of chaos and spectacle. Flames erupted from the Oxford Street wall shortly before 2:00pm, racing up the five-storey building with an intensity that blistered the paint on nearby fire engines and shattered the windows of surrounding shops. The building’s contents included gas cylinders, which detonated with explosive force, sending shockwaves through the streets and showering debris across the area. Despite the danger, no one was injured, a fact that amazed both the firefighters on the scene and the thousands of spectators who had gathered to witness the inferno.

Fire crews arrived from multiple brigades, including Headquarters, Pyrmont, Redfern, Darlinghurst, Waterloo, and Randwick, under the command of Chief Officer V. A. Lowther. Superintendent Victor Crum, who responded to the call, later recalled in a 2011 interview: “The attitude I took was, it’s no good saving this building – they are going to pull it down. So I concentrated on all the surroundings. We did pretty well. We had a constant line on the hotel on the opposite corner. The damage was limited to some plate glass windows… I was expecting a wall to come down, and it did exactly what we wanted it to do.” A striking photograph from the scene shows Superintendent Crum in his red helmet, calmly directing operations as walls of the store began to collapse around him, embodying the composure and courage of the city’s firefighting force.

Buckingham's Fire, 25 April 1968. Firefighters run from a collapsing wall of Buckingham's store when a spectacular fire gutted it during demolition [Museum of Fire Collection, Courtesy of Bauer Media]

The fire quickly drew an immense crowd of spectators - estimated at 10,000 people - who struggled to keep a safe distance as the blaze roared and exploded. Police cordoned off a 400-metre radius around the site, and additional officers were called in to manage the throngs of onlookers. Heat from the fire could be felt 800-metres away, and firefighters sprayed water on each other to avoid burns while manning hoses dangerously close to the inferno. Moments after the first explosion, a second, more violent detonation rocked the area, sending sheets of iron floating on the updraft and igniting the top floor of the Brighton Hotel across Riley Street. Earlier, the hotel’s patrons had been safely evacuated, and though parts of the building suffered fire and water damage, everyone remained unharmed. A third massive explosion shook the streets further, as collapsing floors and walls sent debris hurtling for hundreds of yards, narrowly missing the firefighters who had worked tirelessly to contain the blaze.

As the fire reached its peak, the building’s structure became increasingly unstable. Two huge sections of wall began to teeter, prompting cries of “She’s going!” from the crowd as firefighters scrambled to safety. Within minutes, the walls collapsed, showering bricks and rubble across Oxford and Riley Streets. Despite the destruction, the firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control within a couple of hours, though isolated pockets of fire continued to smolder.

Only a smoking, steaming shell is left after a fire ripped through the Buckingham's store on Oxford Street, 25 April 1968 [Museum of Fire Collection, Courtesy of Bauer Media]

A Fire Remembered

The Buckingham’s Department Store continues to be one of the most dramatic fires to have occurred in Sydney City. Flames and smoke were visible as far away as Sutherland, 30 kilometres from Darlinghurst, while photographers struggled to take accurate readings as their light meters seized in the incredible heat. Though the building was lost, the surrounding area was largely spared thanks to the bravery and quick thinking of Sydney’s firefighters, leaving behind memories of a city both horrified and mesmerized by the spectacle.

View showing the demolition of Buckingham's Department Store, one week after the 25 April 1968 fire [Museum of Fire Collection]

In the years that followed, the site of Buckingham’s Department Store was cleared, and now it is home to the Oxford Village shopping complex. But for those who remember Sydney in 1968, the Buckingham’s fire remains a defining moment—not for loss of life, but for its sheer drama, the heroism of the firefighters, and the image of flames and collapsing walls etched into the city’s collective memory.

-Blog by Acting Curator Ella Murtagh