What a Start to 2025!
- CEO
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
The first 4.5 months of the year have been incredibly busy for the museum’s small team, but they’ve been incredibly rewarding as well. To celebrate International Museum’s Day and National Volunteer Week our CEO reflects on the year so far.
Museums have a responsibility to not just the histories that they present,but to the wider community that supports their existence.
On Sunday, 18 May, International Museums Day was celebrated. Since 1977, this annual event has called on the international museum community to reflect on how museums adapt and develop to meet the needs of an ever-changing society. ICOM, the International Council of Museums, selects a theme each year for International Museums Day that showcases museums as spaces of learning, innovation and social progress. This year, 2025, the theme was “the future of museums in rapidly changing communities”.
It might be unfortunate to say but we here at the Museum of Fire recognised that our own collection and therefore our exhibitions, needed to advance forward into the 21st century so that it they could be viewed by a contemporary audience. By doing this, we have contributed towards fostering a more inclusive community, and indeed, it is the role of museums to engage with the public to develop an inclusive and welcoming community.
One of the steps we made towards representing a 21st century audience was back in March this year, when the Museum of Fire proudly opened our latest temporary exhibition Breaking Barriers, Battling Blazes: The History of Women Firefighters. This was the first time that the story of women within the NSW Fire Brigade (NSWFB; today known as Fire and Rescue NSW) was shared. Prior to the opening of this exhibition the only appearance women made in our Museum was a small reference to the Women’s Fire Auxiliary (WFA) an organization that was established during World War Two.
This new exhibition features these lesser-known stories such as the WFA and the Armidale Amazons. Though women may not have been permitted to become firefighters until the mid-1980s, women have not been a silent contributor to fire safety in the community across NSW, and this exhibition gives a voice to these stories.
In 2025 it seems slightly ridiculous that we are celebrating the opening of an exhibition about women as a step towards inclusivity. Women comprise 50% of the population after all and have always been contributing members of society, however when placed in the context of the history this museum presents, women have been underrepresented.
In 1985, four women became Permanent Firefighters, however, the next women did not join the NSWFB in a permanent capacity until 1989, at which time two more women joined the ranks. Following this, it wasn’t until 1992 that another three more women joined the Permanent Brigade, followed by another four in 1993. Until the late 1990s, the number of women joining the NSWFB’s permanent ranks remained at these low levels.
With the number of female firefighters remaining low for so long, it isn’t surprising that women featured very little within the museum space. This hasn’t just been the case in the museum’s exhibitions but also within the historical books produced by the museum’s heritage team. Of the 72 books produced, just 14 (that’s less than 20%) feature stories including women.
This is why this exhibition is so important. The voices of women have now been given a platform, and we look forward to finding a more permanent home for them, when the temporary exhibition closes later this year.
To read more about the exhibition please follow this link: https://www.museumoffire.net/single-post/breaking-barriers-battling-blazes-the-history-of-women-firefighters
The opening of this great exhibition is just one event that has kept our team busy over the first few months of 2025! We always kick off the year with a flurry of activity, but this year has been our busiest yet!
With school holidays in full swing, back in January we held our Heritage Morning where we unveiled our 2025 Vehicle of the Year. This year the Museum’s 2025 Vehicle of the Year is the 1975 ERF Snorkel.
Unfortunately, the appliance is too tall to come inside and be placed on display, so to ensure we can celebrate the vehicle all year long it will be showcased at all of our family and heritage days. To read more about the vehicle of the year, check out this blog: https://www.museumoffire.net/single-post/the-cherry-picker-1975-erf-snorkel?fbclid=IwY2xjawI9yl9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdniSIoxttIG77xYpCS2pNUgd7-5yCbQHVoeBKW8DL66vp40Cy_K9tClzA_aem_aimkHGtdo90kpu1AAmigew
Also, in January we hosted the awards ceremony for the 2024 Museum of Fire Art Competition. The theme was Blazing through History, a celebration of the history of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) as we continued the festivities around the organisation’s 140th anniversary. Our Heritage and Curatorial team had a hard time selecting the final shortlist which was testament to the artworks entered into the 2024 competition. This year, 2025, the theme is Women in Firefighting to coincide with the 40th anniversary celebrations of women joining the NSWFB.
To read more about the 2024 competition check out this blog: https://www.museumoffire.net/single-post/winner-s-announced-for-the-museum-of-fire-2024-art-competition
Our heritage team have been kept busy not just with internal projects but with four FRNSW brigade projects. Earlier in the year the team celebrated 100 years of both Corrimal and Merrylands Fire Brigade, as well as the re-opening of Ulludulla after station renovations. Most recently, the team attended the centenary celebrations of Taree Fire Station. With Taree Fire Brigade dating back to 1893 it was great for the museum to support the celebration of the station building that has now stood for 100 years. For all of these events the museum’s Heritage team provide complete historical works and books about the individual brigade. The team won’t be slowing down anytime soon with at least eight more celebrations in our calendars for 2025!
A usual event our team attended was the Australian Dragon Boat Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre where two of our vehicles were used to transport the state flag bearers in the event’s opening ceremony. It was great to support the event and promote the museum amongst all of the international and interstate visitors.
The museum also returned to the Sydney Royal Easter Show and the Hawkesbury Show with our pop-up shop. Both events were very successful, and our team enjoyed being a part of the FRNSW display. Both of these events come at our busiest time of year with the Easter Show occurring during the Autumn school holidays and the Hawkesbury Show taking place at the same day as the FRNSW flagship event, Open Day.
During the school holidays the museum once again hosted Junior Caretaker’s Day to coincide with World Earth Day. This annual activity is always popular with our visitors, and we look forward to continuing to foster the development of the gardens on our grounds into the future.
Most recently the Museum was proud to be a host venue for FRNSW’s Open Day. When it comes to museum’s being beacons of inclusivity it was great to see the growing and diverse community of Western Sydney come out in force to support this special day. Over 5,000 people passed through the museum gates with FRNSW personnel putting on demonstrations of their skills and the organisations capabilities. This event highlights the important relationship between FRNSW and the Museum of Fire.
All of the events I’ve noted here and especially Open Day would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of the museum’s volunteers who work tirelessly to support our events and ensure the museum is able to offer them to the community. This week we celebrate National Volunteer Week and acknowledge the incredible impact that our volunteers have on creating the museum community that exists today. Volunteering is a great way to create and foster lasting relationships with others and strengthens communities. I am incredibly proud to be a part of this community, and I appreciate the support that our volunteers provide to not just the museum but myself, especially as I move towards maternity leave later this year.
-Blog by Museum of Fire CEO Belinda McMartin
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