Life Under The Bells by Metropolitan Fire Brigade

A History of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne 1891-1991

Life Under the Bells celebrates the

centenary of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne. In this book Sally Wilde describes something of the comedy and tragedy of the everyday life of generations of firefighters. Compiled from dozens of personal interviews and a wealth of documentary evidence, the book traces the evolution of attitudes, equipment, living conditions, firefighting and fires themselves, over the last hundred years. A fine collection of photographs, many from the nineteenth century, illustrates the text.

Cover photo shows a fire at the Cairns Memorial Church in East Melbourne, on 15.8.88. Photo by SO Rick Merrin.

Life Under The Bells

A History of the Metropolitan Fire

Brigade, Melbourne 1891-1991 Sally Wilde

Longman Cheshire

Longman Cheshire Pty Limited Longman House Kings Gardens 95 Coventry Street Melbourne 3205 Australia Offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Associated companies, branches and representatives throughout the world. Copyright ÂŠ Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board 1991 First published 1991 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Edited by Adrienne Linley Designed by Mark Davis Set in 10/12 pt Bookman Light Printed in Hong Kong National Library of Australia Cataloguing -in -Publication data Wilde, Sally, 1949 Life under the bells: a history of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne 1891-1991. Includes index. ISBN 0 582 87023 2. 1.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Melbourne, Vic.). 2. Fire -

departments - Victoria - Melbourne - History. 3. Fire extinction - Victoria - Melbourne - History. I. Title. 363.378099451 Margin photos by Barbara McCumisky. Margin photos on pages 24 and 52 courtesy of the La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

Contents

Foreword vii Acknowledgements

Introduction Part 1

viii

Before the Metropolitan Fire Brigade

Volunteers versus paid servants Insurance 3 Gold 8 Yan Yean

The volunteer boom

Part 2 The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne The first half century 29

and change 31 Getting to fires 32 Notification of fires 43 Fighting fires 52 Preventing fires 73

2 Technology

Stations 76 Head Station 76 Districts 80 Districts and stations: names, dates and numbers 108 4 Brigade life under the first three Chiefs 112 1891-1908 D.J. Stein: 'A man of strong personality and determined will' 112 1908-27 Harrie B. Lee: Keeping the family happy 119 1927-40 J.T. Wilkins and the Brigade of Champions 128 3

Part 3 The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne The second half century 139

Industrial relations 141 Prelude 141 The strike 149 Continuing strife 157 6 Technology and training 166 5

Technology 166 Training 194 Tradition and change

205

7 Not just putting out fires: the wider role of the Brigade Fire safety 210

Response time 222 Management 229

Appendices 1

2 3 4 5 6 7

233

The MFB Band 233 Board Members 236 Presidents 245 Board Officers 248 Chief Fire Officers 249 Deputy Chief Fire Officers Union Secretaries 251

Information sources Index 261

252

250

210

Foreword

organisation has its own culture. It is built over years by the interaction of people, institutions and events which produce a type of collective consciousness. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade is no exception. Its culture is especially moulded by the 24 -hour a day, 365 days a year service it provides to the community. This gives its culture a continuity which is different from other organisations which do not operate on continuous shifts. The centenary history reveals much of the personalities, the changes to equipment and firefighting techniques, the political and industrial processes, and the fires themselves, which have shaped the Brigade into what it is today. The history demonstrates the extraordinary forces which have continually changed the Brigade into its present form. Even if that were all that Ms Wilde's history did, it would be a valuable record of the past. However, I believe that her work does an even greater service. The processes of change are continuing, and at an even more rapid rate. Just as the present is the result of all the changes of the past, so the future will be built on the present. A good history is an opportunity to create the future. Our actions today, building on the legacy and tradition of yesterday, will create the Metropolitan Fire Brigade of tomorrow. Inevitably, a history focuses on comparatively few people. In our case they are the Chief Fire Officers, Board Presidents, United Firefighters' Union, Secretaries and the like. But behind the few named are the many who, decade after decade, constituted the great bulk of our organisation. There are thousands of firefighters, engineers and mechanics, clerks and secretaries, special service officers and tailors, carpenters and computer operators whose names do not appear. This is also their story. EVERY

J.B. Parry

President

Acknowledgements

on this book began in 1985 when the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board commissioned Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson to begin interviewing retired firefighters and their wives. Those taped interviews and the accompanying notes formed an invaluable starting point when I began work on the history in 1988. Many more interviews followed and this history would not have been possible without the generous assistance of a great many people whose lives have revolved around the Brigade. As might be expected, at times they disagreed about the past and wherever possible I have attempted to represent people's differing views in their own words. I hope that none of them feel that I have done a grave injustice to the story that they tried to tell. A full list of those who were interviewed appears elsewhere, but a particular debt is owed to the following: Duffy Plummer suggested the title of Life Under the Bells; Lawrence Bottomley, Warren Doubleday, Ray Godfredson, Ian Hunter, Marjorie Leonard, Barbara McCumisky, the Melbourne Fire Museum, Rick Merrin, Ken Rainsbury, Alan Richards, Shirley and Neville Van Every and Norm Wadeson all generously provided photographs; Toni Lyon produced the appendices and Marilyn Buchanan drew up the index; and Rod Benjamin, Peter Cox, Warren Doubleday, Andrew Forbes, Lionel Frost, Judy Hibble, Eric Jones, Barbara McCumisky, Alan Richards, Pat Traviston and Jenny Webbe were all especially helpful at various stages of the project. In addition, I would never have found my way around the various sources of information without the assistance of the staffs of the Department of Police and Emergency Services, the Insurance Council of Australia Library, the London Fire Museum, the Melbourne Fire Museum, Melbourne University Archives, the MFB Archives, the MFB Training College Library, the Public Records Office, the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria [La Trobe Collection]. Thanks must also go to those who read and commented on drafts of the manuscript, including Gordon Blair, Jeff Godfredson, Laurie Lavelle, Brian Parry, Alan Richards and Bob Wright. None of them, of course, are responsible for any remaining errors. Sally Wilde Worzx

Introduction

1891 until 1950 Melbourne's firefighters worked a system of continuous duty. They lived on or near the fire stations and if they were lucky enough to get Brigade quarters, so did their wives and families. Otherwise, the married men visited their families on their time off, which in 1922 was increased to forty-eight hours a week. We sort of lived around the Fire Brigade,' said Olive White. When you're living on the job, you make that your life,' said Jean Steel. Before 1891 Melbourne had a system of volunteer fire brigades in the suburbs and an insurance company financed brigade in the City. This pattern is described in chapter 1. In December 1890 the Fire Brigades' Act was passed by the Victorian Government. Under its provisions two boards were set up, one to cover rural Victoria and the other for the metropolitan area. The Metropolitan Fire Brigades' Board first met on 6 March 1891, in the library of the Melbourne Town Hall. There were nine members, three each appointed by the Governor in Council and the insurance companies, and one each appointed by Melbourne City Council, the North of Yarra Municipalities and the South of Yarra Municipalities. Finance was split between the represented bodies on the same basis. Under the system of continuous duty operated by the MFB Board, fire stations were homes as well as places of work. Living and working side by side could lead to great tensions, but it also produced lifelong friendships. Many of the single men used to spend their hours of leave together, as well as their hours of work. 'Well I liked the company ...' said Bill Seabrook. 'A wonderful set of people ... mainly because they had to live together anyway.' It was like a little family on its own in those days,' said Bill Cooke. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the work of the Brigade in this period and how it varied between the various stations, and chapter 4 looks at the wider context of Brigade life. After 1950 the firefighters worked a system of forty -hour shifts and 'lived privately', while officers continued to live on stations and work continuous duty for many more years. The new system produced a significantly different fire brigade and the change from continuous duty to shifts was accompanied by considerable conflict FROM

between the officers and the men and between the United Firemen's Union, as it was called then, and the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board. Chapter 5 examines this period of conflict. The work of the Brigade grew at a particularly rapid rate during the 1950s, but changes in equipment did not fully reflect this new workload until the 1960s. These developments, training, and the rapid changes in equipment since the 1960s are discussed in chapter 6. The 1980s saw an increasing emphasis on the wider role of the Brigade in contributing to fire safety in the community. There was also something of a revolution in management style, and chapter 7 outlines this process of change. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne, celebrated its centenary at a time of significant change, as it prepared to meet the community's need for continuous protection of life, property and the environment from the effects of fire, accidents and other hazards; to improve fire safety standards for property; and to increase community involvement and awareness in hazard prevention into the twenty-first century.

Before the Metropolitan Fire Brigade

Insurance years ago, one of Melbourne's Chief Officers was reported as saying that all you needed to put out fires was guts and water. Few would agree with that assessment now, if only because of the ever-increasing complexity of chemicals involved in fires. But if the factors of experience and organisation are added to guts and water, this is exactly what put out fires in the nineteenth century. Melbourne never seems to have suffered from a shortage of guts, but in the early years experience, organisation and water were all frequently lacking. Melbourne's first recorded fire was on 28 April 1838, in the wattle and daub guard room just off Collins Street. The fire was started by Aboriginal prisoners as a novel means of escape, or so the story goes. If true, the fire was a great success. The gaoler, who according to one version of the story was the worse for drink, made no attempt to put the fire out himself, but ran off to the barracks for help. When he returned, the guard room was a pile of ashes and all but one of the prisoners had disappeared. A Newfoundland dog was holding the sole failed escapologist. Melbourne's entire detachment of soldiers turned out to the fire, but they had no water, and no means of transporting any from the Yarra River. The only system of water supply was through a group of carters, who filled up barrels from the Yarra and then drove around the town selling water to whoever was prepared to pay. The small community of businessmen in the young settlement realised that they were completely unprotected from fire and so a group got together in June 1839 to form the Melbourne Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Melbourne at this time was a township of about 3000 inhabitants. The settlement had the benefit of soldiers and policemen, but no fire brigade. Two of the citizens who had the foresight to take out policies with the newly formed Melbourne Fire and Marine Insurance Company were Dr J.B. Clutterbuck and Mr A.H. Hart. Dr Clutterbuck's house on Collins Street East burnt down on 2 October 1842 and Mr Hart's house and shop, at the other end of Collins Street, burnt down two weeks later. The Melbourne Fire and Marine Insurance Company never recovered from the combined loss of over ÂŁ4500 and was wound up two years later. However, Melbourne's limited experience of fires was significantly increased. SOME

The Sun Insurance Co. fire mark

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W.F.E. Liardet's painting of the fiery end to Melbourne's first gaol, in 1838. Liardet was not in Melbourne at the time but he recorded this story about the gaoler. His 'whiskers having caught fire roused him up, when he rushed out bewildered and beheld his escapees in full retreat. His faithful dog, seeing the awful predicament his master was placed in, gave chase and caught one by the leg.'1 Whatever the truth of the matter, the gaol burnt down and Melbourne's firstfire and marine insurance company was formed the following year. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. 1Quoted in Weston Bate (ed.), Liardet's Water-Colours of Early Melbourne, captions by Susan Adams, Melbourne University Press, 1972.

Interestingly, the press blamed the insurance company for the extent of the devastation. The Port Phillip Gazette argued that an insurance company which failed to provide some means of putting out fires was guilty of neglect. It was noted that Sydney insurance companies had both fire engines and fully paid firemen. Such pointed remarks helped initiate the Melbourne tradition of insurance company involvement in firefighting. In December 1842 the Melbourne Fire and Marine Insurance Company bought axes and leather buckets and a few months later they paid 4s 6d 'for iron work for ladders'. The ladders and the buckets filled with water were hung at the door of the watch house. It is not recorded whether the forty or so leather buckets were ever used to fight a fire. They were sold in 1844 when the company wound up its affairs. The next recorded piece of firefighting equipment in Melbourne was a manual fire engine belonging to the Launceston -based Cornwall Fire Insurance Company. This engine made its debut in some style. Condell's brewery on the corner of Swanston and Little Bourke Streets went up in flames on 15 July 1845, and the fire quickly took hold, fanned by a strong north-east wind. Passersby saw smoke coming from the malt -house and gave the alarm at about 8.30 p.m. The Mayor was among the

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Firemark of the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company. The Cornwall provided the first manual fire engine to be used in Melbourne, and unlike the system in some other parts of the world, its use was not confined to buildings bearing this firemark. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

first to arrive at the scene, followed by members of Melbourne's police force and soldiers of the 99th Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Blamire. These gentlemen got to work with buckets, until the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company's engine arrived. With the aid of supplies from the water carters, the engine then produced a useful stream of water and the fire was out in an hour. The resulting damage took considerably longer to clear up. Alderman Condell's fire was fought by men with rather more enthusiasm than experience. Adventurous citizens ran along the burning roof with buckets, anyone who considered himself a gentleman was ready to give orders to whoever would listen, and water was thrown at the fire with little regard for where it might be most use and cause least damage. As was typical for the time, property was removed from endangered buildings and thrown into the streets, which gave plenty of scope for looting. Condell's brewery fire prompted the citizens of Melbourne to organise their first fire brigade. The Mayor, Henry Moor, called a public meeting. Several members of the Town Council were there, including Moor, who chaired the meeting, and Henry Condell himself, who was an Alderman and ex-mayor. The Melbourne Fire Prevention Society was formed, and it decided to appoint a fire brigade consisting of an inspector, a foreman, and six men. The brigade was to have the use of the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company's engine. At the meeting it was noted that much damage was done to Alderman Condell's property by 'over zeal and mischievous tendencies'. The members of the proposed brigade `would exert themselves and keep a space clear and not allow a repetition of the confusion that occurred at the late fire. Each man should be paid ten pounds per annum.' Chief Constable Sugden was appointed as the first superintendent

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

of the fire brigade, with Jeremiah Dalton as foreman. Their salaries were raised by a combination of public subscriptions and donations from the Town Council and the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company. Some of the money thus raised went to reward the water carters and engine operators at Condell's fire. The brigade fought its first fire in January 1846 and, so long as the engine did not break down or get stuck in the mud on the way to a fire, was an effective force. Manual fire engines required a number of men working constantly on the pump handles on either side to keep the water flowing from the tank out of the nozzle on the top of the engine. It was exhausting work and men usually only pumped for a few minutes before being relieved. As a result, relays of pumpers were required to The Melbourne Fire keep up a constant stream of water. The terms of reference of the Insurance Co. fire mark Melbourne fire brigade therefore authorised the superintendent to employ and pay as many hands as he needed at a fire to work the engine. The superintendent was also authorised to pay water carters. There was a bonus of ten shillings for the first load of water at a fire, six shillings for the second load and four shillings for the third. After that, carters were paid whatever was the going rate for their water. In England, it was a well established tradition that all men working the pumps were supplied with beer for the duration of the fire. This tradition also seems to have applied in France where they have a saying 'as drunk as a fireman'. The Melbourne procedure was possibly similar. At an inquiry in 1885 the captain of a volunteer fire brigade was asked about drinking at fires. He said he never supplied his men with beer but the publicans did. In the late 1840s the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company's engine and helmets were kept in a 'house' provided by Mr McLachlan, treasurer of the Fire Prevention Society. Each fireman had a key. The brigade practised running the engine once a month and in November 1846 they put on a display near Prince's Bridge for Mr Oakden, chairman of the Cornwall Fire Insurance Company. He had come over from Tasmania and wanted to see his company's engine in operation. Unfortunately, the fire engine did not always turn up to fires. In June 1848, for instance, foreman Dalton couldn't find a horse in time to take the engine to a fire in a group of timber tenements in Bourke Street. He and his men tried to pull the engine themselves and got stuck in the mud outside the Post Office. The rest of the police force, aided by the military, various public -minded citizens, and the all-important water carters, put the fire out without them. The Bourke Street fire prompted calls for another insurance company. The Cornwall was then the only insurance company operating in Melbourne and the fact that it was based in Tasmania was something of a blow to Melbourne pride. Accordingly, in October 1848 a group of Melbourne businessmen met to consider the problem, and they launched the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Henry Moor and Henry Condell were among those present and Henry Moor became the first chairman of directors. The Victoria was determined not to make the same mistakes as the Melbourne, ten years earlier, and at their first meeting on 7 March 1849 the directors instructed their secretary `to inspect the (fire) Engine at Messrs Langlands and to report as to its value at the The Colonial Insurance Co. fire mark next meeting also whether Messrs Langlands will sell the same and

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Firemark of the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company. The Victoria provided Melbourne's first insurance company fire brigade and their biggest engine, the 'Australia Felix', was the first appliance at most city fires in the early 1850s. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

at what price.' When they met again on 16 March, the directors decided to buy the Langland engine for ÂŁ125. On 27 March they set up a sub -committee to look into the formation of a fire brigade, and a month later they ordered a second fire engine from Sydney. Messrs Langlands of Flinders Street ran a foundry where they produced Melbourne's first locally made fire engine in 1849. The following year the foundry went up in flames and the engine came back to help control the blaze. In 1851 the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company's brigade was reorganised, with a fire station on Collins Street East and a system of regular payments and inspections. Chief Constable Bloomfield was appointed as Superintendent and Jeremiah Dalton and Daniel O'Reilly were appointed as foremen. This was more or less a transfer of personnel from the Fire Prevention Society's brigade. From 1851 the Victoria's first appliance, the 'Australia Felix', was almost always first at fires. The other Victoria engine, the mounted police cadets with an engine, and the military also turned out to major fires. The Victoria increased the rate of pay for water carriers to twenty shillings for first water by day and thirty shillings by night, with proportional increases for second and third water. This was a substantial incentive, as the normal rate for a load of water was only about two shillings. To further speed the arrival of water, the council passed a by-law that all water carts had to be kept full overnight. All the same, it was not uncommon for the Australia Felix to have to wait ten or fifteen minutes for first water to arrive, while the fire got a firm hold. Most of the buildings of this period were wooden with shingle roofs, and they burn very well. In 1851 the Victoria also ordered 5000 copper fire marks from England. Fire marks were first instituted in England so that insurance company brigades could give priority to their own insured risks when putting out fires. Fire marks were taken up by American insurance companies, where they acted both as a deterrent to malicious arson and as a form of advertising. The Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and earlier the Cornwall, seem to have put up fire marks on this basis. There is no evidence that any insurance company fire brigade in Victoria ever refused to fight a

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

fire in an uninsured property. As Superintendent Hoad of the Combined Insurance Companies' Brigade put it in 1885: 'I have

never asked the question in my career, whether a place was insured or not.'

Gold that was heavily company insurance was an There pattern. by the English influenced brigade of retained firemen, policemen and soldiers also acted as firemen on a fairly regular basis, and the Chief Constable was Superintendent of the insurance brigade. Finance at various times came from the insurance companies, public subscription, and the Melbourne Corporation. In England there was a mixture of insurance company brigades, parish engines, police -firemen, private brigades, municipal brigades and volunteers. This last element was present at all Melbourne fires and the volunteers compensated for a complete absence of organisation by helping with copious quantities of enthusiasm. The momentous events of 1851 were to bring an important new element to firefighting in Melbourne-American ideas on organised By 1851 Melbourne had a system of firefighting

volunteers.

In July 1851 gold was discovered at Clunes and at Anderson's Creek near Warrandyte. Neither find provided much gold, but in August the first big discovery was made at Buninyong, followed rapidly by discoveries at Ballarat. The rush was on. A large proportion of the male population of Melbourne simply downed tools and left for the diggings. Shops were left without assistants, gentlemen were left without servants, and wages in Melbourne began to rise. In the spring of 1851 more gold was found at Castlemaine, Forest Creek and Bendigo, and hopeful diggers had begun to arrive from South Australia and Tasmania. Many of them did well. It was August 1852 before the first rush of gold -seekers arrived from Britain and meanwhile gold was plentiful and relatively accessible. As J.A. Panton (after whom the township of Panton Hill was later named) said, 'We really believed that it could be found all over the country and that we could come back and get as much as we wanted at any time.' Half the male population of South Australia left for the Victorian goldfields and tens of thousands of Britons and Irishmen were not far behind. Numbers were limited only by the availability of ships. Some 290 000 people left Britain and Ireland for Victoria between 1852 and 1860. A tent city grew up on the

beach at Sandridge, and Melbourne and its surrounding suburbs had reached a population of 133 000 by 1857. Fire risks, of course, grew accordingly, and meanwhile it was hard to keep policemen and firemen from periodically disappearing to the latest 'rush' with everyone else. The Fire Insurance Companies' Brigade medal, 1891, belonging to CO Wilkins

Britain and Ireland were not the only sources of migrants. Many also came from America. The Victorian gold rush followed that in California and experienced diggers set sail to try their hand on another continent. They brought with them skills and experience that were not limited to gold -digging. Americans made a significant addition to Melbourne's business community. They knew that profits

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from the gold rush would be more reliable if they supplied goods and services to the diggers, rather than rushing off to dig for gold themselves. They included men like Freeman Cobb, who was among the founders of the famous coach service, and George Francis Train, who was instrumental in setting up Melbourne's first exchange for business information, the forerunner of the modern stock exchange. The Americans also brought experience of a different tradition of firefighting. There, volunteer firemen dominated the scene. Each city had a fire department which elected a chief engineer and which consisted of delegates from a number of volunteer fire companies. The companies were usually specialised-engine companies, for instance, being completely separate from both hose companies and hook and ladder companies. Rivalry between the companies was intense and in later years often violent, which led to their replacement by paid brigades in the 1860s. But in the 1830s and 1840s, membership of an American volunteer fire company was a symbol of status in the community, and many leading businessmen had links with volunteer companies. It was this tradition which two American publicans attempted to introduce to Melbourne in 1854. Samuel Moss came to Melbourne from California, where he had been a member of a volunteer engine company. He took over the Royal Hotel in Collins Street, did it up to include the famous bridal suite, beloved of successful diggers, and renamed it the Criterion. He also introduced Melbourne citizens to the novelty of ice in their drinks. The spring of 1853 was dry and it was not long before Melbourne began to burn. There was a major fire in Collins Street in October and Samuel Moss was conspicuous among those who fought it. He worked from the roof of the adjacent building with wet blankets, until the first water cart arrived and the fire engines could get to work. There was another major fire in Flinders Lane in November; eleven houses were destroyed in a suburban fire in North Melbourne in December; there was a serious fire in Elizabeth Street in January 1854 and another in the same street in February. By this time Samuel Moss had bought himself an engine. When Elizabeth Street went up for the second time in two months, he was ready. He turned out with his private engine, which he called The Volunteer', and with him were most of his staff from the Criterion Hotel. The police cadets were the next to arrive with an engine, followed by the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company's brigade, but Moss's volunteers were already at work. One of them was a young man named Clapp. He was inside the burning building holding the brass spout from the engine, when part of the building collapsed. Clapp died in the fire and Moss's engine seems to have perished with him. Clapp was from Philadelphia and worked as a barman at the Criterion Hotel. In December 1853 a group of Americans had already begun to raise funds to form a volunteer company of the kind they had known in the USA. The group met at Lloyd's Exchange Rooms. By the end of December they were proposing a 'Melbourne Volunteer Fire Department' to consist of sixteen delegates, plus officers. Each engine company would have equal representation on the Department and there would be a Chief Engineer, to be elected annually.

Long service medal to CO Wilkins

awarded

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Glass hand grenadetype fire extinguisher

This was putting the cart before the horse, as there were not yet any volunteer engine companies to send delegates. Samuel Moss stepped into the breach and, two days after Clapp's death at the Elizabeth Street fire, a group met at the Criterion Hotel and formed the Volunteer Engine Company No. 1. The group included James T. Wilson as foreman, Moss as assistant foreman, and Freeman Cobb as secretary. (The Criterion was the starting point for the daily Cobb & Co. coaches to the goldfields.) The Company was to use the old Cornwall Fire Insurance Company's engine and the Cornwall also paid for their water. However, at a meeting on 14 March 1854, members of the company fell out over a number of questions, including what style of uniform they should wear, and records of the Company ceased. It was left to another American publican to take up the volunteer cause. John Caverly Hall of the Royal Highlander Hotel on Flinders Street had been the foreman of an American volunteer engine company. He joined the Melbourne Volunteer Engine Company No. 1 on 7 March 1854, but three days later he was publicly planning to start the Volunteer Fire Company No. 2, and ordered a fire engine from the USA. Hall became foreman of the new company, and Wilson, formerly of No. 1, was assistant foreman. Very soon the name was changed to the Caverly Volunteer Engine Company No. 2, in honour of the foreman. Like Moss, Hall was a great believer in the superiority of volunteers over paid firemen and he managed to gain the support of the Melbourne Corporation. They had just paid ÂŁ120 for a fire engine from London which required thirty men to work it. Hall's volunteers seemed like the very men for the job. They decided to organise a trial of the new Corporation engine and the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company's engine. The Victoria would take its water from the river at Swanston Street and the new engine would set up on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets and play water on the Argus office and the new Town Hall. When the great day arrived in early April, there were seventy-eight members of the Caverly Volunteers. They formed up in front of Hall's Royal Highlander Hotel in Flinders Street West and marched to the new Town Hall, accompanied by the band of the 40th Regiment. There, they took possession of the new engine, which was drawn by four white horses and draped with the company's silk flag, bearing both the US and British flags. The old Australia Felix engine, undecorated, followed, drawn by two black horses. Supporters of the volunteer principle hoped they were watching the demise of the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance brigade. Two weeks later the Caverly Volunteers received a request from the Colonial Insurance Company to form a branch of the brigade at Emerald Hill [South Melbourne]. So was born Melbourne's first suburban volunteer brigade. For the Caverly brigade itself, success was short-lived. In October the company voted to expel Hall for 'ungentlemanly conduct' and members went back to calling themselves the Volunteer Engine Company No. 2. But with Hall had gone Corporation backing, and the engine. By December the volunteers were meeting at Moss's Criterion Hotel again and calling themselves the Volunteer Fire

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Members of the Insurance Companies' Brigade c. 1863. This was Melbourne's only group offull-time professionalfiremen from 1855 to 1891. Photo Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Brigade No. 1. This was because Moss had access to the old Cornwall engine, although he did not retain it long. While the volunteers were parading around the city with flags, the insurance companies had been quietly meeting to organise a combined brigade. Jeremiah Dalton was appointed Superintendent and he was given control of all the insurance company engines, including the Cornwall, so that was the end of the American volunteers. But the seed they had planted grew and suburban volunteer brigades began to multiply. Emerald Hill was the first, and by the end of 1855 North Melbourne, Collingwood, Richmond, Sandridge (Port Melbourne) and Williamstown also had volunteer fire brigades. The suburban brigades were supported by various combinations of insurance company, municipal and private funds. Who pays the piper calls the tune and insurance company support was given specifically in return for co-operation at fires. There was no difficulty in persuading volunteer brigades to turn out to fires. The problem was persuading them to do as they were told by the Insurance Companies' Superintendent when they got there. The old Troopers' Barracks at the corner of Collins Street and King Street was refitted as a fire station towards the end of 1855.

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Glass hand grenade type fire extinguisher

There, Dalton and his fully paid staff kept their equipment, which included four new fire engines belonging to the Government. This meant that Dalton was able to lend the older insurance company engines to volunteer brigades. Two of the new engines were American, and had been imported by G.P. Train, already mentioned in connection with the stock exchange. The Government voted ÂŁ3000 for the pair. They were made by Hunnemann of Boston and were fitted with bells on the top and detachable reels that carried 2022 feet of 'strong leathern hose'. Like the Australia Felix, they had names: Neptune and Deluge. Two new English engines were imported at about the same time and in July 1855 the Government decided to run a trial of its engines. The best English engine threw water the furthest (forty-two paces), but the Deluge delivered a greater volume of water. This was shown when the engines were worked together, one supplying water to fill the other's tank. The Deluge could deliver water faster than the English engine could supply her. Fire engines, like ships, were always female. By 1855 Jeremiah Dalton could lay fair claim to being the most experienced fireman in Melbourne. He had worked at every major fire in the town since he joined its first brigade as foreman in 1845, and over those years he had learned something of the hazards of the job. In November 1853, for instance, he was at a fire which started next door to the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Flinders Lane. While bystanders got merry on the publican's stock as they carried it out to 'safety', Dalton and Sergeant Hadley were inside inhaling fumes from forty jars of arsenic stored in the building. They were both out of action for some time. In their absence, the merry pumpers were rather over -enthusiastic in their handling of the fire engines. One engine was entirely destroyed and another severely damaged. Not surprisingly, Dalton developed a belief in the importance of order at fires and this did not make him a popular figure with the volunteers. An incident from early in 1856 illustrates some of the tensions. On 17 January 1856, members of the Insurance and Melbourne Municipal Brigades were among those attending a fire in Elizabeth Street. There was something of an argument between Dalton and Councillor John McGrath, captain of the Corporation Brigade, and McGrath subsequently took Dalton to court for assault. He said he brought the case because he didn't want Dalton to interfere with him in the execution of his duty. The case was dismissed, but not before one of McGrath's own men had given evidence that he always had co-operation from Dalton at fires. Indeed, at the fire in question, Dalton had held the branch of his hose for him, whilst the witness clambered on to the roof. McGrath, on the other hand, admitted that he had attempted to commandeer a water cart before it arrived at the fire, where Dalton was allocating supplies to the various engines. The Corporation had its own engine and McGrath did not see why Dalton should have any authority over the Corporation brigade at fires. The growth in the number of brigades meant that there was sometimes a problem of too many engines, particularly at city fires. As early as January 1855 the Emerald Hill Brigade sensibly resolved not to turn out to any but major city fires, because Melbourne had

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J.B. Crews, an original member of the Prahran Volunteer Fire Brigade, formed in December 1856. Photo from John Butler Cooper, History of Prahran 1924, p. 252.

sufficient firefighting resources without their aid. Other suburban brigades continued to attend fires whenever they heard an alarm rung, whatever the area. In February 1856 the North Melbourne Brigade received a letter from the insurance companies. It was not to attend city fires unless sent for, and when sent for, members would be paid like the other men. The volunteers were most offended. Members of the North Melbourne Volunteer Fire Brigade saw themselves as operating under the principle of voluntary service and they did not feel that this was compatible with taking orders and being paid like 'hired laborers'. This was despite the fact that the insurance companies provided North Melbourne (and Collingwood and Richmond) with its engine. Such arguments as to whether 'hired laborers' could give instructions to 'volunteers' were to be the basis of conflict for more than thirty years. Nevertheless, volunteer brigades continued to grow in numbers, giving rudimentary protection to Melbourne's burgeoning suburbs. A brigade was formed in Prahran in 1856 and in St Kilda in 1857. The insurance companies tended to provide support in the form of fire engines and payment for water, while municipal councils more often helped with buildings and bells. That left money to be raised for uniforms and repairs to the engine and hose. Red shirts were popular, a tradition apparently begun in America in 1840 by a volunteer brigade called the Old Honey Bees. The Williamstown

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Brigade also went in for brass helmets, which gave the firemen a military appearance but did at least keep the water off the backs of their necks.

Yan Yean

Wooden water main as

used at the turn of the century

After 1857 there was something of a lull in interest in firefighting. This was because of the advent of reticulated water from the Yan Yean reservoir, which officially began supply on the last day of 1857. Many citizens thought their firefighting problems were over, and a number of brigades sold their engines as soon as reticulated supplies were extended to their suburb. There were limited supplies of piped water before 1857 in some areas. A large metal tank was erected at Eastern Hill and from there pipes ran down Lonsdale Street by the end of 1854. This system was extended in 1856 to include a pipe to a solitary fountain in Smith Street, Collingwood. The supply was turned off at night. From as early as 1849 there was also a tank in Flinders Street, supplied by a steam engine which pumped from the Yarra. Here the water carts could fill up, and long queues of carts were a regular feature of Flinders Street until 1858. The Flinders Street tank had the advantage, in drinking water terms, of a rudimentary filtering system. There was a third scheme for the southern suburbs. From 1854 water was pumped from the Yarra to a stand -pipe in Prahran and tanks in St Kilda. Such supplies apart, Yan Yean water marked something of a revolution, although the water was at first piped only to the more affluent houses in the central area. Fire plugs were paid for by the municipal councils. City fire plugs were operational from the beginning, but connections to the suburbs took longer. There were standpipes and fire hydrants in Hoddle Street and the upper areas of Collingwood from 1858, but many side streets on the poorer areas down towards the Yarra were without piped water until 1870. Kew got its first Yan Yean water main in High Street in October 1865. Mains water brought a whole new set of problems for fire brigades. First of all, there was the vexed question of fire plugs and hydrants. The old fire plugs were just that, a plug in a pipe. Once removed, the water came out, rapidly or otherwise, depending on the pressure. The fireman usually got very wet while he forced the end of the stand -pipe into the hole and hammered in wedges to hold it in place. The hose could then be attached to the stand -pipe. In 1848 an improvement on this system was invented in England. The ball hydrant consisted of a wooden ball held in place by water pressure. When the Yan Yean mains were installed the pipes were some distance below ground level, often running down the middle of the street or under the gutter. Covers were then fitted over these ground hydrants, generally called fire plugs, in a vain attempt to keep out the dirt. Firemen carried special stand -pipes which fitted over the top of these plugs, and a plunger could be screwed down to force the ball away from the opening, allowing water to flow up the pipe. The major problem with these ground ball hydrants, or fire plugs, was that they were very hard to find. They rapidly became buried in the mud of the streets. In South Melbourne there was a system of

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Members of the Albion Fire Brigade in 1891, proudly displaying their branches and stand -pipe. The Albion was formed in 1874. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

white painted sticks to mark their position, but the sticks rotted or were knocked over. There were gas street lights in Melbourne from 1857, but their spread to the suburbs was slow. The lamp posts provided a more secure place to fix some sort of indication as to the location of the fire plugs, and the lights also made it easier to find fire plugs in the dark. Once councils began to spread metal on the roads, the problem got worse. One correspondent to the Australasian Fireman in 1887 complained that his brigade had to carry a pick and shovel to all fires. They inspected the fire plugs weekly, but still sometimes arrived at a fire and found they had to dig the plug out 'from several inches, sometimes feet, of closely rolled metal'. Local brigades certainly needed to know where all their plugs were, to find them under those circumstances in the dark. Cleaning fire plugs was a necessary but unpleasant job. Prahran Fire Brigade tried to persuade the council to do the job for them. `The captain, on a dark night, working at a dirty plug, has been taken for a drunken man, lifted up, dusted and sympathised with

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

by a passer-by, who offered to see him home, as he knew how it was, having been that way himself' ran another article, some

months later. Mud and debris covering fire plugs made them difficult to find, but dirty plugs were also a potential health hazard. When water pressure was removed and the ball not held in the opening in the pipe, all manner of undesirable things could find their way into the water supply, including horse droppings. This was a particular problem with the old mains laid in the 1850s. An 1889 report on water supply noted that Carlton was the worst affected suburb. Once the fire plug was found and the stand -pipe put down, the hose could be attached. In the 1850s the hose was leather and had copper rivetted seams. This was heavy and had to be kept greased to prevent it from cracking, which meant it picked up mud and grit. Handling a leather hose was a very dirty job. By the 1880s, leather had been replaced by canvas hose, lined with india-rubber. By then, the typical equipment of a suburban brigade consisted of a two wheeled, hand -pulled hose reel, several hundred feet of hose, brass nozzles or 'branches' and stand -pipes.

The volunteer boom

Brass branchpipe

There was little growth in the number of Melbourne brigades in the 1860s, mainly because there was little growth in the city itself, compared to the spectacular developments of the 1850s. By the late 1870s, however, building was under way again and the 1880s saw a major building boom. Between 1881 and 1891, Melbourne grew from a population of just under 300 000 to nearly half a million people. Open paddocks were subdivided and disappeared under houses and for the first time places like Kensington, Footscray, Hawthorn and Kew found they needed fire brigades. Footscray acquired a volunteer fire brigade in 1875 and ten years later had two brigades, the second calling itself the Footscray Temperance Brigade. Clifton Hill and Fitzroy also had temperance brigades. Perhaps the non-drinkers felt they needed to provide a balance against the Carlton United, Yorkshire and Shamrock Breweries, all of which had fire brigades in the 1880s. The Carlton Brewery Brigade was very active and turned out to most city fires with six men. In 1885 Superintendent Hoad of the Insurance Companies' Brigade put it at the top of the list of those brigades which gave him assistance. In October 1886, however, the Carlton Brewery men failed to attend one fire because the horse pulling their hose reel fell into a cutting in the road. The animal finally had to be pulled out, uninjured, by a crane and tackle. One old firee, William Ingram, divided the volunteer brigades into two groups, depending on whether or not they drank. The temperance brigades were apparently led by Samuel Mauger, who was to be associated with firefighting in Melbourne right up until his death in 1936. Ingram belonged to the Yarraberg Volunteer Fire Brigade No. 2, formed in 1886. The brigade met in Cremean's Timber Yard on the corner of Swan and Mary Streets, Richmond. Their rivals, the Yarraberg No. 1, met in Mitchell's Timber Yard on Burnley Street. By this stage there were literally dozens of brigades. Some were formed by, or associated with, companies. For instance, the

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The members of Hawthorn's fire brigade line up for a group photo. Their uniforms were a major item of expense, with HFB on their caps. The first Hawthorn brigade was formed in 1879. Photo Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Victoria Sugar Company established the Yarraville Sugar Works Fire Brigade in 1877, the same year that Halstead Kirke and Co. set up the Albion Brigade, and the Port Melbourne Municipal Brigade operated out of Swallow and Ariell's factory. Brighton's first fire brigade was formed by a group of boys. In 1883, nine of them with a thirteen -year -old chairman met to discuss the absence of fire protection. They built themselves a hose reel and got council support to buy 100 feet of hose and a stand -pipe. The youthful brigade built their own fire station in Carpenter Street and continued functioning until 1891. By that time, most of the members had reached their twenties. Most of the brigades took the name of the suburb in which they were based but some were more specific, like the Simpson's Road and Hotham Hill brigades, from Richmond and North Melbourne respectively. Some sort of distinction was necessary when small areas like Richmond had as many as four brigades. Records are confusing, but fifty or more different fire brigades were set up in the 1880s. Some only lasted a year or two, but the reports of the Insurance Companies' Brigade mention sixty-eight brigades attending fires between 1889 and 1891.

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The Victorian Railways Fire Brigade, which chose to give its hose reel pride of place in this photograph taken in 1888. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Brighton Volunteer Fire Brigade c. 1887. Fourth from the left is Mr McPherson, the captain. His father provided the wheels for the brigade's first hose reel and theirfirst station was at McPherson's livery stables in William Street, before they built themselves a fire station on Carpenter Street. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

VOLUNTEERS VERSUS PAID SERVANTS

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North Fitzroy Volunteer Fire Brigade and local supporters c. 1890. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

As might be expected, this led to some confusion. Any group of men could get together and buy some hose, call themselves a brigade and turn out to fires. Experienced firemen did not take too kindly to their arrival. Water supplies and fire plugs were limited at big fires and it made sense to give the water to those with some experience in using it. At small fires, water damage caused by enthusiastic newcomers was frequently worse than the fire damage, although without their efforts many small fires would have become a good deal bigger. One of the developments that encouraged so many men to join volunteer companies was the annual fire brigade demonstration. The first of these was held in 1873 and proved a great success. On 26 May, twenty brigades, including several from the country, assembled at Spencer Street station. About 500 firemen formed a torchlight procession, and drew a large crowd as they marched all the way along Bourke Street to Spring Street and then back down Collins Street. Brigades from Melbourne, Prahran, Richmond, Collingwood, Emerald Hill, Sandridge, Carlton Brewery, Ballarat City, Ballarat, Sandhurst Temperance, Geelong, Castlemaine, Daylesford, Creswick, Clunes, Smythesdale, Sebastopol, Newtown, Chilwell and

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Sketches made at a Fire Brigades' Demonstration, Australasian Sketcher, Vol. 8, No. 99, 5.6.1880.

Stawell attended. The following morning Superintendent Hoad, who had been in charge of the Insurance Companies' Brigade since 1864, put the brigades through their paces at the top of Spring Street. Afterwards, all the officers were presented to the Governor and the whole affair was topped off with a banquet that night in the Melbourne Town Hall. Such demonstrations were new to Victoria, although they had been common in the USA for many years and were also popular in England, where the major fire engine manufacturers and members of the gentry gave prizes to the winning brigades. The idea was to provide instruction for the volunteers. At the second annual demonstration, also held in Melbourne, almost double the number of brigades took part. Country brigades tended to win the events featuring manual fire engines, still commonly used in the country, while Melbourne brigades, accustomed to the benefits of Yan Yean, shone in the hose reel races. The 1875 demonstration was held at Sandhurst (Bendigo). None of the Melbourne brigades attended, partly because of the problem of leaving the city unprotected in the event of fire, and partly because of the expense of getting there. The insurance companies and the fire brigades were united in wanting some sort of legislation to make better provision for firefighting in Victoria, and the annual gatherings at the demonstrations provided a good opportunity for discussing the issue. London had replaced its insurance financed London Fire Engine Establishment with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1866 and Melbourne's insurance companies were beginning to argue that their city should do the same.

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They were unsuccessful in getting a Bill through Parliament, but the government did agree to pay for the cost of transporting firemen to demonstrations. In the 1870s there were few opportunities for working men to take holidays and a government -paid trip to a fire brigade demonstration was a wonderful outing. Ballarat demonstration in 1876 was a great success, and forty-four brigades and over 1000 men attended the 1878 demonstration at the Melbourne Show Grounds. By this time, firemen's fares were costing the government ÂŁ1000 a year. In 1881 there was a real bonanza when a fire brigade contest was held in Sydney, and Victorian brigades won all but one of the events. The 1884 demonstration was held in Geelong and that year the cost to the government in fares was ÂŁ2500, and the Insurance Companies' Brigade had ceased to support the event. The insurance companies took the view that the demonstrations had once been valuable for training, but had become something of a circus. Superintendent Hoad went so far as to say that volunteer companies wore out their best hose at competitions and had no decent equipment left for fighting fires, an accusation which the volunteers strenuously denied. Meanwhile, various interest groups were still working on the idea of a Fire Brigades Bill. On 24 May 1883 Captain Kelly of the Prahran brigade convened a meeting of firemen. They formed the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association, whose main objective was to work for the passing of a Fire Brigades Act. As volunteer brigades grew in numbers, so did the Association, but it was not long before there was conflict with the Insurance Companies' Brigade. The issue was control at fires. In 1883, with the specific objective of gaining some sort of control over volunteer brigades at fires, the insurance companies introduced new financial arrangements. In essence, the scheme was the same as the old 1850s system of support, but recognised that by the 1880s many brigades had the backing of their municipal councils. The insurance companies offered each brigade an amount of money equal to half that provided by their council, up to a maximum of fifty pounds per year per municipality. In return, the Insurance Companies' Brigade Superintendent was to be allowed to inspect them and they were not to use large hoses at small fires. They would also be paid five shillings per man for the first hour and two shillings and sixpence for subsequent hours, when requested by the Superintendent to work at fires outside their area. Hotham, Richmond, St Kilda, South Melbourne and Port Melbourne joined the scheme, but many brigades refused in some indignation. Those brigades with council backing were sometimes careful to distinguish themselves from other volunteers in their area. They called themselves municipal, as distinct from volunteer, brigades, and sometimes there was conflict between the two groups. Mainly the conflict was between those who were prepared to take Hoad's orders at fires and those who were not, the latter group generally being members of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association. The Suburban Fire Brigades Union was set up as a rival organisation for those brigades which supported the insurance companies. Throughout the 1880s, tension increased and the Association and the Union competed for members. In 1887 the Australasian Fireman organ of the Association called members of the Union an 'ill-assorted

Brass branchpipe

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

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The United Fire Brigades Demonstration Committee, 1882. Many of these men were subsequently involved in the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

crew', `tarrydiddlers', and 'outcasts from the rest of the Victorian Fire Service'. Into this scene of conflict sailed D.J. Stein. Stein had been a seaman and joined the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, London, in 1873. He resigned ten years later to take up the position of Superintendent of the Margate Fire Brigade and arrived in Melbourne in May 1887. His arrival perhaps needs some explanation. When it became clear that Hoad would have to resign through ill health, the insurance companies sent to London for a new superintendent, because of their business contacts there. They had no similar contacts in America and a local appointment seemed unwise, considering the existing bad feeling, so the insurance companies' London offices set to work interviewing candidates. Stein had a rather chequered career in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, London, and was even suspended twice for misconduct, which included fighting, drinking and allowing women on Brigade premises at night. But once he was transferred to work on London's floating steam engines, his behaviour seems to have improved. Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, Chief Officer of the London brigade, gave him good character references, both when he resigned in 1883 to take charge at Margate and again in 1887 when he applied for the

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position in Melbourne. Stein also had the advantage of a record of having saved an insurance company money over the matter of a fraudulent claim at a fire. Incidentally, Stein's naval background was the norm in London at the time. First James Braidwood of the London Fire Engine Establishment, and then Captain Shaw, preferred to appoint seamen to the fire service. As Braidwood said, 'they are taught to obey orders, and the night and day watches and the uncertainty of the occupation are more similar to their former habits, than to those of other men in the same rank in life.' Stein very quickly made himself as unpopular with the volunteers as Hoad and Dalton had been before him. The Suburban Fire Brigades Union held a Christmas Carnival in 1887 and the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association publicly refused to have anything to do with it. Stein attended, and in a famous speech complained about the dissensions in the ranks of Melbourne firemen, 'but', he said, 'it was an impossibility for genuine brigades to co-operate with larrikins'. If that was not bad enough, he went on to say that while 'some of the brigades in the Association were very useful, their number had increased to such an extent that they had become a perfect curse'. He also said that he thought there were larrikin brigades in both the Union and the Association. Superintendent Mauger of the Clifton Hill Temperance Brigade made a public speech condemning Stein, and other members of the Association were not slow in following. But not everyone took the same view. Superintendent Ballenger of the Carlton Brewery Fire Brigade resigned as President of the Association over the issue. He believed that Stein should be recognised as the chief officer of all the fire brigades in Melbourne. Mauger replaced Ballenger as president of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association. Interestingly, while differences between the Association and the Insurance Companies' Brigade continued, conflict with the Union decreased sufficiently for amalgamation of the two organisations by May 1888. Sensible efforts were also made to restrict the number of brigades, and no new ones were to be admitted to the Association in areas already well covered by existing brigades. The Association sent a letter to all municipalities asking them not to allow unauthorised brigades to use the fire plugs. Fire plugs were paid for and belonged to municipal councils. This still left the issue of whether Stein had overall command at fires. On 28 December 1888 there was a big argument at a small fire in Russell Street. Stein ordered a small hose from his own men and no water at all from any of the other brigades. Unfortunately, one of the Association brigades had been first at the fire and already had a hose and stand -pipe installed before Stein arrived. There was something of a brawl, to the delight of the watching crowd, and blows were exchanged. The brigades had hardly had time to return to their stations when they were called out again, this time to a fire in Swanston Street. Once again, members of the Association disagreed with Stein as to who should put how much water where, and about fifty firemen became involved in a fight. They fought over the fire plugs, and they fought over the hose, and at least one hose -line was cut in the process. Both Superintendent Mauger of the Association Fitzroy City Fire Brigade helmet, pre 1891 and Superintendent Stein appealed to the police for help. One of

-11.11111111.111.1.1111..11.11=111.11111 LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Stein's men was arrested and had to be bailed out, and the fire burned merrily for some time. The result was a public outcry. Sir Benjamin Benjamin, Mayor of Melbourne, issued a public statement the following morning that Melbourne's fire plugs were only to be used under the direction of Mr David John Stein. That answered the question of who was in control at city fires, but unfortunately this did not solve all of Melbourne's firefighting problems. In 1889 a total of six firemen lost their lives, a very high price to pay for the passing of the Fire Brigades Act of 1890.

Sketch of the Bllou Theatre fire, 1889

On 22 April 1889, Captain Parsons of the East Melbourne Volunteer Fire Brigade died at a fire at the Bijou Theatre on Bourke Street. A civilian, Thomas Williams, died at the same fire and six other firefighters were injured. On 10 August 1889, Joseph Fox of the Carlton Brewery Brigade fell from a roof and died at a fire in Collins Street West. On 13 September 1889, John McLeod of the South Melbourne Brigade, and Ernest Johnson and Thomas Laite, both of the Insurance Brigade, died at a fire in the George and George store on Collins Street. On 23 October 1889, John Box died following an accident at a torchlight procession. In December 1890 a Fire Brigades Act, based on the recommendations of the Select Committee five years before, finally passed through Parliament. The Bijou Theatre fire took place Easter Monday and drew huge crowds. The following day, a whole page was devoted to the event in both The Age and The Argus. An inquest was held on the death of Parsons and Williams and it became clear that all was not well with Melbourne's fire brigades. Enormous damage was done by excessive use of water, many firemen got drunk, and most only took orders from the Insurance Companies' Brigade when they felt like it. Stein was on leave at the time, and his deputy McDowall was theoretically in charge, but there was no system by which brigades automatically reported to him. Many simply turned up at the fire and set to work wherever they fancied. Not surprisingly, one of the findings of the inquest was that the current fire brigade system was totally unsatisfactory and that, as a first step, some sort of overall control was required. As a result, the brigades got together and finally agreed to take Stein's orders at fires. This was just as well, for on 13 September they had to fight a big fire. As it was, three firemen died. What might have happened if the brigades had still been fighting doesn't bear thinking about. The final tragedy of the year was not even at a fire. John Box's clothes caught fire from the torch he was carrying in a brigade procession. This series of disasters sobered up proceedings considerably, and while the Fire Brigades Act was going through Parliament, the various brigades worked together at fires. By this stage, the Insurance Companies' Brigade was using four steam fire engines, including the 'Lady Benjamin' belonging to the City Council. They also had five manual engines, several hose reels, six horses and twenty-three firemen. There was a head station on Little Bourke Street, and a branch station on Collins Street East.

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The Shand Mason Steamer the 'Lady Benjamin', bought by the Melbourne City Council in 1889 for ÂŁ888, capacity 600 gallons per minute. The engine

was put under the control of the Insurance Companies' Fire Brigade and passed to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1891. It was named after the Lord Mayor's wife. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Melbourne survived without steam fire engines for a very long time and it was not until the building boom of the 1880s, bringing taller buildings, that the insurance companies were prompted to import their first steamer. In his evidence to the Select Committee in 1885, Superintendent Hoad's main worry was how to cope with the new, taller structures, both in terms of water supply and escapes. All the brigades were, he said, 'very deficient in ladders'. As the later evidence made clear, most suburban brigades had no ladders at all. There was one fire escape, kept at the Carlton Brewery, and another at the Town Hall, which in theory extended to nearly 72 feet, but it took a lot of men to work it and was hardly ever taken to fires. When Stein tested it some years later, it was found to be wormeaten and unsafe. Hoad did have a jumping mattress, but he believed you couldn't get women to jump, so there was no provision for them! Hoad was still waiting for his first steamer in 1885, and said he needed at least two more. The old manuals were fine for one and two storey buildings, but were no use for anything bigger. Several buildings in the city were 98 feet or more high, and manuals would be no use at all. This was made clear in 1889 at the George and George fire in a five storey building, when the Lady Benjamin, the

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

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Bijou Theatre fire, Easter Monday, April 1889. Captain Parsons of the East Melbourne Volunteer Fire Brigade and civilian Thomas Williams died at this tragic fire, which contributed to the pressure that led to the passing of the Fire Brigades Act in 1890. Australasian Sketcher, May 1889.

biggest of Melbourne's steamers, was successfully used for the first time. Paul Ditzel in his history of the American fire service argues that the arrival of steam fire engines meant the end of volunteers. They required fewer men with more training than the manuals. However, in the USA steamers were specifically developed so that fires could be fought without the need for volunteers. The latter had taken their brawling rather further than in Melbourne and some brigades carried firearms on their appliances, so it is not surprising that the authorities wanted to get rid of them. The position in Melbourne was not that serious and neither were volunteers needed to work manual pumps. Indeed, hardly any of Melbourne's volunteer brigades had a fire engine of any kind. They relied on Yan Yean and hoses. However, there were a number of developments in the 1880s which led to a rather more organised system of fire protection than that provided by volunteers. The existence of large factories, particularly cotton mills, had prompted the development of automatic sprinkler systems. The first Melbourne agent for the Grinnell Patent

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Automatic Extinguisher was the firm of Hughes, Pye and Rigby which began marketing the system in 1885, four years after its introduction in England and the USA. The insurance companies were in favour of the extinguishers and offered a 20 per cent reduction in premiums where they were installed. Sir William Congreve had patented a form of sprinkler system as early as 1812, but it was not automatic. The Grinnell system came into operation once the temperature rose above about 122Â°F. This temperature also triggered an alarm. It was a short step from this to linking the alarms to fire stations.

The earliest fire alarms were operated by telegraph and came into regular use in the USA in the 1850s. Boxes on street corners each had a specific number. When they were activated, they rang that number in the fire station. In Melbourne, the most effective method for notifying fires was a man up a tower, continually on watch. This worked well enough for the full-time insurance men and many city fires were spotted in this way, but the volunteers did not have the manpower to keep up a twenty -four-hour watch at their suburban stations. Anyone spotting a fire had to run to the nearest fire station or town hall and get someone to ring the alarm bell. Hoad was aware of the value of street fire alarms and advocated their use, but it was many years before they were installed on a systematic basis. The volunteers were also clearly aware of overseas developments. Captain Kelly of Prahran, for instance, advocated electric fire alarms as used in San Francisco. The advantages over a bell at the fire station were obvious to all, and Richmond had gone so far as to install a form of street fire alarm. There was one on the corner of Church and Swan Streets in 1885. The first private fire alarms were linked to the Insurance Companies' station in the 1880s. There was a telegraphic link between there and the South Melbourne Brigade as early as 1876. By 1885 there were also telephone links between the Insurance Brigade and the government printer, the Exhibition Buildings, the Post Office, the Telephone Exchange, Russell Street Police Station and the Albion and Carlton Brewery Brigades. To operate effectively, all these means of passing on information on fires required firemen continually on duty. There was absolutely no point in having a fire alarm if there was no fireman on the other end when the bell rang. The days of volunteer firemen in Melbourne were numbered.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne

The first half century

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Fire Brigades Act was passed in December 1890 and the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board first met on 6 March 1891. There were nine members, three of whom were already well acquainted with the problems of firefighting in Melbourne. All three had been prominent in the volunteer Fire Brigades Association. Samuel Mauger of the Clifton Hill Brigade and John Ballenger of the Carlton Brewery Brigade were appointed as Government representatives, while Henry de C. Kellett of the Kew Brigade was appointed by the South of Yarra Municipalities. One of the first acts of the MFB Board was to appoint Superintendent Stein of the Insurance Companies' Brigade as the new Chief Officer of the MFB. Stein, Mauger, Ballenger and Kellett were to work together in one organisation. THE

Technology and change

the end of 1890, the Fire Brigades Act passed in to law and 1 May 1891 the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was born. It was in many ways a direct successor of the Insurance Companies' Brigade. Stein was appointed as Chief Officer and his head station at Law Courts Place, Little Bourke Street, became the head station for the new brigade, until a new station was built at Eastern Hill. Stein's first report as Chief of the MFB was a direct continuation of his previous reports as Superintendent of the Insurance Companies' AT

The fire station at Little Bourke Street with the watch tower in the background, 1908. This building was head station for the Insurance Companies' Fire Brigade from 1882 to 1891, and head station of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade from 1891 to 1893. Photo Lawrence Bottomley Collection.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Brigade. He also continued to have charge of the same men and equipment. But 1 May 1891 marked a dramatic expansion in the size of the brigade under Stein's command, for he took over virtually all the equipment, many of the buildings and a significant number of the men of the old volunteer brigades. Among the volunteers who joined the MFB were Christopher Gee of the Carlton Brewery Brigade, Captain Catt of Hotham and William Ingram of Yarraberg. They had all decided to become fulltime firemen and in 1891 (and for many years after) that meant exactly what it said. They had twenty-four hours leave per week and an extra seventy-two hours leave per year. Despite these terms, there was no shortage of applicants. The great building boom of the 1880s had collapsed and Victoria was suffering a major economic depression. Speculators who had borrowed money against the expectation of continued boom were unable to pay their debts. Banks failed, people lost their savings, businesses shut down and unemployment reached unprecedented levels. In all this tale of woe, the MFB was offering permanent jobs. Stein had a permanent staff of fifty-nine by the end of 1891, and eighty-three a year later. There were also 226 auxiliary firemen who were paid a retaining fee of sixteen shillings per month, and rates varying from six shillings to two shillings and sixpence per hour for attendance at fires. This force manned the grand total of forty-nine fire stations, and had the use of five steam fire engines and three of the old manual engines. But the basic equipment at most stations was the same as in the days of the volunteers-a hand -pulled hose reel. In 1892 the MFB had fifty-nine hand hose reels and only twenty-two horse drawn reels. The horse reels were concentrated in the inner city stations, and to pull them and the steamers there were thirty-five horses. Other equipment was very limited. The Brigade had three extension ladders, three fire escapes and four ladder trucks. There were also eight exercise carts for keeping the horses fit, and one salvage van. But it was a beginning, and at least everything was under clear, unified command.

Getting to fires The permanent firemen were, as has already been indicated, continuously on duty. In the early years there was only accommodation for a few of them actually at fire stations. Most lived as close as possible to their station in houses rented by the Board. When they heard the bell they turned out, whatever the time of day or night, and great emphasis was placed on speed. It was at this time that firemen began habits such as keeping their trousers ready tucked into their boots by the side of the bed. Dressed in seconds, they then had to get to the appliance. In multi-storey fire stations an interesting device came into use. Firemen all over the world had long used spiral staircases and sliding chutes for rapid progress to ground level and in 1878 Captain David B. Kenyon of Chicago's Engine Company No. 21 invented the pole. The first fireman answered an alarm down the pole on 21 April 1878 and the idea spread rapidly. A wooden pole was installed at the Quick action horse collar MFB's new headquarters at Eastern Hill, opened on 2 November

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

A view c.

of a dormitory at head station, Eastern Hill

1910. Firemen sleeping with their boots and trousers at the ready. Photo Alan Richards Collection.

The bells go on and the men leap out of bed and into their boots. As can be seen, accommodation in the dormitories was not exactly luxurious. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

1893. Wooden poles tended to give the firemen friction burns on their hands if they weren't careful, so they developed a technique of winding their legs tightly around the pole and just guiding themselves down with their arms. Brass poles were installed much later in Melbourne, although they were in use from at least 1880 elsewhere. There was also the problem of speed in harnessing the horses. A device was used which suspended the harness from the ceiling in front of the appliance. As the alarm sounded, the stable doors opened automatically and the horses trotted out to take their places. The harness was then lowered over their backs and secured. As may be imagined, it took a while to fully train horses for fire brigade duty. They had to rush to their places when the alarm sounded; they had to gallop to fires with all speed; and then they had to stand around in the smoke and water, sometimes for hours, while the firemen worked. On the occasion of the big fire in Flinders Lane, 'Donald' arrived on the scene at 1 o'clock in the morning. At 11 o'clock, the men looked for him. He had got tired of standing still, and had gone out amongst the crowd. The crowd had taken advantage of the seat in the cart, and about 18 large men had used it as a vantage -ground to see over the heads of the rest. When 'Donald' was rescued by the firemen he was very tired and very hungry ... `Donald' remembered the long wait at this fire when he went to ... Troedel's job. It rained steadily all the afternoon and all night at that fire. The old horse had been one of the unfortunates who got there early. In recollection of his skill in losing himself at the Flinders Lane job, one of the wheels was strapped, and 'Donald' was left in charge of the salvage cart with instructions to be a good horse. He waited and waited, and got wetter and hungrier and more out of love with his work than he had ever been before. Strapped wheel and all, he gave leg-bail to the men, and went back to the South Melbourne station by himself. The men on duty there heard the cart wheels, and, without seeing that it was only 'Donald', opened the gates. 'Donald' whinnied with joy, and backed the cart in. They took him out, and gave him his breakfast, and marvelled at the flat he had worn on the strapped wheel. [The Argus 2.7.10]

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

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Head station 1912, showing a motor hose carriage in the foreground and behind it harness suspended from the ceiling for a speedy getaway for the horse-drawn appliances. When the bells rang, the horses knew where to go. As soon as they were let out of their stalls they positioned themselves under the harness, which then simply had to be let down onto their backs and fastened in place. Photo Alan Richards Collection.

Donald was not the only horse who was not too keen on hanging around at fires. Brighton Council complained bitterly in 1908 about their contribution to MFB funding. They said all they got for their money was two firemen, a hose cart, several lengths of leaky hose and a reverse action horse. The horse in question obediently galloped to the fire, but as soon as the firemen jumped to the ground, he turned around and galloped home, hose cart and hose and all, leaving the poor firemen stranded at the job without any equipment. This was going too far, and the reverse action horse was duly replaced with another. The new horse worked well for a year or so, but then one day he didn't make it as far as the fire. The alarm went, he was harnessed up and firemen and horse galloped off. But the horse dropped dead half way there and the firemen had to haul the hose cart to the fire themselves. Every horse was different and over the years the brigade acquired some great characters. For many years, the star attraction at demonstrations at head station was fire horse Titan. He was very good at his job, which was pulling the chemical fire engine, and he was used to help train other horses. He also performed tricks for the admiring crowd, like shaking hands, stealing sugar out of pockets, and kissing the ladies. In the early years, though, many firemen continued to walk, run, or take a cab to fires, just as in the days of the volunteers. In 1891

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Horses galloping out of head station, Eastern Hill c. 1910. Children living on the stations knew not to get in the way of the horses when the bells went, or they were liable to be run over. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

there were only thirty-three horses and forty-eight stations. Over the years, the number of horses rose and so did the number of hose reels, both horse and hand drawn. In 1896, for instance, the number of hose reels peaked at 105, but there were only forty-one horses. After the great fire of 1897, policy changed. The numbers of both horses and men in the brigade began to rise significantly, while the number of hose reels fell. The fire, on 21 November 1897, was something of a turning point in the history of the brigade. It began at 2.20 a.m. and before it was stopped, virtually the whole block

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Curricle ladder extending to 45 feet. Fire horse Friday is in the shafts and A. Fleming, R. Lewis and M. Mulliney are sitting behind him, 1910. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

bounded by Elizabeth Street, Flinders Street, Swanston Street and Flinders Lane had gone up in flames. There was an inquiry but, even before the results were available, it was clear that the strength of the brigade needed to be increased. Ten hose carts, seven steamers, two ladder carriages, one salvage van and 191 men fought the blaze.

Fire horse Titan c. 1910. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

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The Brigade's first motor vehicle, 1901. This steam -driven car was built in the Brigade workshops from a kit supplied by the Thomson Motor Car Company. Its vulcanised pneumatic tyres were the first ever manufactured in Australia. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

That left one steamer, eighty hose reels and a handful of men to cover all of the rest of the metropolitan area. 'After the disastrous fire of November 1897, the Board decided to increase the permanent staff by sixteen men and the number of horses by six, thus, in great measure, anticipating the recommendations of the Fire Prevention Inquiry Board' [MFB Board Report 1898]. From then on, the numbers of both men and horses rose almost yearly until 1911. That was the year that the MFB began to sell its horses. Engines were beginning to pull appliances to fires. The change from horses to motor transport began early in Melbourne. The MFB got its first motor car in 1901, and it was assembled in the brigade's own workshops. The car was largely the brain -child of J.T. Wilkins, an engineer by training, who joined the brigade in 1891. Using a locally built engine, the team under Wilkins' direction constructed a car with pneumatic tyres and tiller steering. The whole work was done by the firemen in their spare time from plans and drawings supplied by the Thomson Company. The car has run several trial trips, which are said to have been satisfactory. The car is fitted with a Thomson double compound condensing engine, and the operating fuel is kerosene.

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LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The horse-drawn Waterous New Century Petrol Fire Engine' photographed outside Hawthorn fire station c. 1910. It was imported from the USA in 1905. It had a 14 hp engine and delivered 200 gallons per minute at 120 psi. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Speed is well developed, as the car travelled from Head Station at Eastern Hill to the Albert Park Station in Cecil Street, three miles, in eight minutes. It is quite within the realms of possibility that before long we will have motor hose carts stationed in all suburbs, always ready. [Weekly Times 3.5.021

Unfortunately, the design of pneumatic tyres still had a long way to go and they blew out every forty miles. There were also problems with the ignition system. The vehicle was never much used, but it

was a start. In 1906 the brigade imported its first motorised hose reel. That had solid tyres and was a great success. By this time, the brigade was also experimenting with petrol -driven pumps and acquired a gasoline engine from the USA and a petrol motor fire engine from England. A combined petrol motor chemical engine and hose wagon was also commissioned, although this appliance was horse drawn for some years. In 1907 the Chief bought a new motor car and, in 1910, the electrical department bought a motor cycle. After 1910 motorisation raced ahead. The number of horses began to fall and in 1914 the Board took out a ÂŁ100 000 loan for building

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The Merryweather combination ladder outside Prahran fire station with two other motor appliances c. 1914. There is not a horse in sight. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

and motorisation and bought sixteen motor appliances in one year. Motorisation was accompanied by a major building programme. At its simplest, this was a matter of removing stables and feed stores and altering the width of doorways, but the whole distribution of the city's fire stations was also affected. Motorisation meant firemen could travel further and faster. Some stations were closed and new ones opened, like St Georges Road, North Fitzroy in 1913 and Glenhuntly, opened in 1917. 'The new Motor Station at Fitzroy, the first in Australia, is nearing completion, and when opened, early in the year, will enable one or more horse -equipped stations to be closed' [Chiefs report, MFB Board Report 1912]. The brigade workshops continued to play a leading role in motorisation. During [1914] six motor hose carriages of the Brigade's own type were built in the shops, and installed in various stations. There are now eight of these appliances in commission. A new inspection car was also built. The horse chemical appliance was attached to a motor, and is now stationed at North Fitzroy. A large body was built and painted for the Dennis-Gwynne turbine pump, and two motor hose carriages are now in course of construction. The motor chemical engine and chassis are now being altered to accommodate the ladder from No 2 Station.

LIFE

THE

As early as 1915 the Brigade could put on this impressive display of motor equipment outside head station, Eastern Hill. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

The Brigade's motor appliances now number 18, and are all under the care of the workshops' staff. [Workshops report, MFB Board Report 1914]

That year the workshops also built three bicycles and overhauled

all the steam engines. There were thirty-six staff employed in the workshops, including two blacksmiths, two farriers, three saddlers and a bicycle builder. The brigade still had sixty-nine horses, but their days were numbered. In 1915 the Board placed fourteen more motor appliances in commission and full motorisation was in sight. Throughout the years of the First World War, the brigade workshops were at full stretch begging, borrowing, converting, adapting and inventing to produce a fully motorised fire brigade. During [1916] fourteen motor hose carriages of the Brigade's own type were built, painted and trimmed in the shop; the No. 2 Station Ladder was mounted on a motor truck; and a 'Brown' car was converted into a steamer tractor and stationed at Hoddle Street. The motor appliances now number 47, and a new salvage van is now in course of construction. A petrol pump from one of the horse-drawn appliances was attached to a `F.I.A.T.' car, and this appliance, as a combined motor pump and hose carriage is now stationed at North Essendon. [Workshops report, MFB Board Report 1916]

The last horse was sold in 1918 and fourteen hand hose reels remained in use in the outer suburbs. Melbourne said goodbye to the last of the horses well before any other major brigade and by

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The Morris Magirus 80 ft 'Ajax' turntable ladder. The ladder was elevated manually, but extended by a 2 hp carbon dioxide motor. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

1919 was fully motorised. The New York fire brigade was not fully motorised until December 1922; Chicago, pioneer in so many areas, was motorised by February 1923; and Philadelphia at the end of 1927. Horse-drawn steamers remained in use in rural areas of England throughout the 1920s. Some were even brought out of retirement to help fight fires during the air raids of the Second World War. A great deal of the credit for the early motorisation of the MFB, Melbourne, must go to the brigade's workshops. During the First World War it was very difficult to get any equipment from overseas, and unthinkable to buy from any of the German firms such as Adler and Magirus which had been pioneers in building motorised fire appliances. It was a case of 'do-it-yourself or nothing. Wilkins believed the workshops could do the job. Unfortunately, he and Stein did not get on, and he was not nominated as Stein's successor. Instead, in 1906 Harrie B. Lee, another ex -naval man, was brought down from Sydney to become deputy chief. Then in 1907 Stein took six months' sick leave and went to Europe, from whence he returned with a new extension ladder and a new motor car. In 1908 Stein had an accident at a fire and retired sick. Harrie B. Lee took over as chief, with Wilkins as his deputy. From then on, it was a matter of organisation and finance. In 1909 the workshops were centralised at Eastern Hill with improved facilities, and separate reports from both the general and electrical workshops began to appear in the Board's annual reports. In 1910 non -uniformed staff were added to the workshops to cope with the load. They included motor mechanics, body builders, french polishers and electrical fitters. In 1911 the chief publicly backed motorisation: 'I trust that within the next few years your Board will so develop its policy in this direction that horse-drawn vehicles will form only a small portion of the Brigade plant' [Chiefs report, MFB Board Report 1911]. In 1913

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The Morris Magirus 'Ajax' turntable 1. dder after motorisation. The conversion was completed in 1916 and the appliance continued in use until the 1950s. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

and returned more than ever committed to motorisation. Before he left, extensive additions to Eastern Hill were planned, to include quarters for both married and single men. Improvements were also planned for suburban stations, motorisation, breathing apparatus and electrical equipment. Lee returned in November, the money was borrowed and the work began. But the brigade could not make all the necessary changes to ensure speed in getting to fires. As Lee complained in 1913, 'Melbourne is the only city in the world that I know of that does not give, by statute or municipal regulation, the fire brigade the right of road to get to a fire' [The Age 31.10.13]. There was also the problem of speed. In August 1908 the city council proposed to put a speed limit of 12 miles per hour on motor cars. As Lee said, this 'was likely to seriously hamper the brigade in proceeding to fires'. The Board resolved to ask for exemption for the brigade. This was put to the test in January 1910 when Lee and his driver, Gordon Lindsay, were taken to court for furious driving along St Kilda Road. They were accused of driving as fast as 25 miles per hour. They won their case, because under the Fire Brigades Act of 1890 they were supposed to proceed to the scene of a fire 'with all possible speed'. The principal turn -out vehicle adopted by the Brigade was the Hotchkiss Hose Carriage. George Niblett joined the workshops as an Lee went on a trip to Europe

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The Brigade Engineering Workshops in 1922. 'We could work on five appliances at once but ... the whole floor was on a slope. If you took the wheels or brakes off at the wrong time, things would roll' [George Niblett 23.4.85]. Photo MFB Board.

apprentice in 1928 when there were about twenty of these vehicles in use, all of them dating from the First World War or earlier. 1913 Hotchkiss ... they were originally used without top ladders or a pump and had brass headlights and a hand bell; no generator, so turning out at night the batteries were on a limited life ... had a device that cut the lights down to a dull glow. No self starter. Some of those you could call yourself a man if you could swing them to start them ... some people, they kicked back and got their face smashed in, teeth knocked out. They were stripping the Hotchkisses down and putting pumps and ladders on them when I joined. [George Niblett 23.4.851

Proceeding to the fire 'with all possible speed' could be a dangerous business for the firemen hanging on to the outside of the appliances. As George Niblett remembered, 'they got thrown everywhere if there was an accident, like unroped barrels on the back of a

truck.'

Notification of fires In the early years, an important means of notifying the Brigade of

fires was a man up the tower, first at the Little Bourke Street Station, and after November 1893 at Eastern Hill. The tower was a

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

steam fire engine with the horses replaced by an ?tabu' car, photographed outside South Melbourne station c. 1920. 'I used to drive a steamer from South Melbourne ... a cow of a thing to reverse. Started driving in 1921 ... the city streets were still [wooden] blocks' Nally Smyth 15.7.88]. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. A

major feature of the new headquarters building and gave a clear 360Â° view over Melbourne. In 1891 about one in four fires were first reported by the man on tower duty, but by 1893 this proportion was already falling. Despite this, the tower remained in use as a lookout, especially at night, for many years. Tower duty was worked in one -hour shifts and there were no chairs or even a ledge up there to sit on. The man on the tower had to walk around continuously, pushing buttons at intervals to prove that he was watching all the time. Even before 1891, fires were also reported by a system of street fire alarms. As early as 1883, Captain Catt of the North Melbourne Volunteers experimented with electric fire alarms, and in 1890 a Bright's Fire Alarm circuit with ten alarm points was installed in the central city area. Almost immediately, two problems surfaced. The first was circuit malfunctions, and the second was malicious false alarms. Melbourne's first recorded malicious false alarm was on 31 March 1890 at 5.24 p.m. The glass was broken in the alarm on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets. In 1892 a fire alarm circuit was installed in the Hawthorn area on an experimental basis. This was a success, and in 1894 a new

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

An early Hotchkiss hose carriage outside head station, Eastern Hill. Minor luxuries such as windscreens were later fitted by the staff of the Brigade workshops. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

system was established covering Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, North Melbourne, Prahran, Brighton, South Yarra and Essendon, and the Hawthorn circuit was extended to Camberwell. By the end of the year, street fire alarm circuits were also under construction at Brunswick, Williamstown, South Melbourne and St Kilda. After that the system of alarms expanded rapidly and until well into the twentieth century was the principal means of calling the Brigade to fires. Over the years, alarm systems were installed throughout the suburbs until every fire station came to have great boards and clocks ringing out the points to show which alarm was activated. In 1904, for instance, a circuit with three alarm points was connected to North Fitzroy Station on St George's Road. Ten years later the station had eight alarm circuits with a total of thirty-seven points. By the same date forty-one alarms were connected to South

Melbourne station through seven circuits. Not all fire alarms were on street corners. There was also a growing system of private fire alarms in factories and major buildings. Increasing numbers of premises also had telephones linked to fire stations or sprinkler -linked alarms. In 1914, there were fifty street fire alarms, seventy-six private alarms, twenty

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The watch tower, Eastern Hill, October 1911. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

telephone alarms, thirty-two sprinkler alarms and ten heat -activated alarms linked to headquarters. This made for a busy and complicated watch There were always two firemen on duty in the watch room. The junior man did watch room duty as part of his normal training, but the senior man was a specialist. He worked a forty-hour week of five eight -hour shifts and knew every alarm in the metropolitan district. In Head Station in the early days there were three senior operators who operated the watch room ... Their names were Collins, Davies and Weatherson ... When a street fire alarm was operated and the Brigade turned out, they knew the locations very well, so they knew which were dangerous, and although they might be talking to somebody in the watch room they'd have one eye on the clock to know that they'd have to get word back from the station turning out to the call within say three or four minutes. If they failed to get that they'd speak to the man up in the tower to look and see if there was anything showing. If they still didn't hear, they took it on themselves to send on another appliance ... These three men knew the whole of the metropolitan area off by heart and if you got a call from a street alarm in Richmond, they knew which was the street of the false alarm points ... It was also these chaps who had the responsibility of giving notification of a fire of any consequence, to ... the press. On one occasion, Davies ... notified the Herald office of a fire, and on talking to the journalist, the journalist asked him 'have you any idea of the cause?' to which he replied 'Yes, a rat smoking in bed.' [Harry Newport 10.8.88]

Most of the work in designing, building and installing fire alarms and watch room equipment was carried out by the electrical department of the Brigade workshops. When Wilkins was promoted from

II TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Unveiling a new type of street fire alarm, c. 1914. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Engineer to Third Officer in July 1906, J. Brims took over the workshops with the rank of District Superintendent. W. Stock remained as Chief Electrician and his department set up a record of innovation and invention rivalled only by the engineering workshops. Besides fire alarms and watch room equipment, the department also designed and built watchmen's clocks. These were installed in various buildings to provide both a direct fire alarm for the watchman's use, and a check on the watchman himself. The idea was that the night watchman had to mark a point on the clock at fixed intervals to prove he was awake. If he didn't, an alarm rang in the fire station and the Brigade sent a man on a bicycle to investigate. Firms paid the cost of a line connecting them to the station, plus one guinea per year, provided their watchman didn't fall asleep too often. Chief Harrie B. Lee believed that the wrong people were usually appointed as watchmen, and that it should not be an old man's job,

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The watch room at head station, October 1911. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

so in 1910 he arranged to provide his own firemen watchmen, especially in theatres. Their pay was covered by those whose property they guarded, but they were trained Special Service firemen and they got the sack if they went to sleep. By 1913 there were twenty -

The electrical department in 1915. From thefront left, H. Boade, W Stock, G. Lindsey. Middle: Roy Burmeister, A. Mauger, H. Burmeister, G. Cass, D. Rimmington, E. Kent, A. Twig. ford. Top: W. Smith, J. Butler. The careful social distinctions in dress are interesting. W. Stock was Chief Electrician and wears a suit. Gordon Lindsey was a young and rapidly rising officer and wears his uniform. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Part of the electrical workshops in 1921. Photo MFB Board. six Special Service firemen and two officers. Their duties changed of them were employed to patrol over the years, but originally

buildings. Special Service firemen didn't fight fires, but the job did have its own particular problems, especially when patrolling the Public Library and Museum at night. We did have some men who were very nervous, and the Public Library

after hours has got certain creaking noises and also when you were patrolling the building sometimes you'd hear patients, which was the Royal Melbourne Hospital [which was next door] scream out, also they had an Indian in a case and if you stared at that Indian long enough you'd be sure that he was moving. We had a chap named Kay ... the taxidermist section was at the Russell Street end, and I ought to mention that in those days you used to carry a hurricane lamp around and when you opened this door to the taxidermist section, all the eyes of the animals that had been treated would all glare at you and the fur would all waver with the wind. This chap Kay tied a rope on to a lion and when he went off at ten o'clock at night and when his relief came on doing his first round he opened the door of this section and to his amazement the lion came out from the animals which were all along the wall, and of course he nearly died of fright. [Harrie Newport 1.3.85]

What with watchmen's clocks, street fire alarms, private alarms and sprinkler alarms, watch room switchboards at city stations became very complex affairs and the electrical department was kept very busy. By 1926 there were 1350 street fire alarms, 1149 private alarms, 209 warehouses and factories linked by sprinkler alarms and 117 combined watchmen's clocks and alarms. This sort of array

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The latest in new fire stations, 1925: the engine house at Coburg. Photo MFB Board.

provided for rapid reporting of fires, but it also provided enormous opportunities for false alarms and generally the bigger the watch room, the busier the station-with false alarms. From 1910 malicious false alarms were listed separately in the Board's annual reports and together with other false alarms they represented an enormous workload for firemen, usually equalling and frequently exceeding calls to genuine fires. If anyone was caught breaking a street fire alarm they could be prosecuted, but this was not much of a deterrent. Magistrates tended to impose paltry fines. In 1920, for instance, at the Brunswick Children's Court, 'five boys were charged with breaking a street fire alarm at the corner of Donald and Barrow Streets, Brunswick on the 20th and 21st April 1920. Each was fined 6d. damages and ordered to put 1/- in the poor box' [MFB Board Report 1920]. As the number of malicious false alarms continued to rise, the Board began to campaign for tougher penalties, including prison. Some adult offenders were imprisoned for periods of up to three months, but most of the offenders were children and they usually got off with small fines. In 1933 there were 1853 malicious false alarms and they rated a whole page in the Chiefs report. Wilkins had been chief since 1927 and he had seen the problem get worse every year. Malicious false alarms were not just a nuisance, they were dangerous: 'practically all serious accidents during the history of this Brigade have happened when responding to a false call' [MFB Board Report 1936]. Despite calls for changes in legislation to allow tougher penalties, the problem remained an everyday part of fire brigade life. On an average day in the 1930s there would be nine false alarms somewhere in the metropolitan area, typically consisting of one sprinkler

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The watch room at Coburg, 1925. Photo MFB Board.

call, two line faults, five malicious false alarms and one 'of good

intent'

Line faults were a serious problem at the time, because they could leave fire stations without communication with headquarters. In 1927 W. Stock reported that: During the year some experiments were made with radio communication to enable a service to be maintained during interruptions caused by cable breakdowns. Two low power transmitting and receiving sets were constructed, enabling two-way wireless communication to be established between Head Quarters and any of the Stations controlled by this establishment. [MFB Board Report 1927]

The leading light in the development of radio in the Brigade was Henry Pearce, who recorded some of his memories of the earliest years on tape. Radio was first introduced in the Brigade in 1924 in an experimental manner. Work was started on a transmitter with a power of twenty five watts amplitude modulated. At this time broadcasting had hardly begun and the only stations experimenting were O.J. Nielson and 3AR in A'Beckett Street whom I was with before joining the Brigade. At that time I was one of the few amateurs who held an experimental first class licence and a station of my own, namely VK3 EN. A frequency of 180 metres was granted to the Brigade to establish a service and after months of testing this proved that radio would be of service in firefighting. After the experimental period had expired we were granted a licence and a power of 100 watts, call signs being VK3 EH and VK3 EJ, 3EJ

being the portable transmitter ...

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

[Henry Pearce worked in co-operation with the police and they had the first base to car service.] Now if you remember at this time cable faults occurred very often and stations could be isolated for quite long periods and radio proved very useful and was used frequently ... Cause of cable faults was found later to be leakage from tramways and railways causing electrolysis to the cables ... ... 200 watts was granted by the P.M.G's Department. Several fault cars were equipped with receivers and proved very useful in speeding up the service. The travelling workshops with Mr E. Lamb and Mr I. Gamble were provided with receivers and a daily test was started with stations having receivers. These receivers were being made and installed as quickly as possible. It is of interest to note that Mr Leonard [later an executive officer] wound the transformers for those sets. [Henry Pearce, `History of Radio in the MFB'. Tape courtesy of L. Gray]

In the 1930s radio was confined to fire stations. It was not installed in appliances until the 1940s, so word back on fires continued to depend on communication through street fire alarms and telephones.

Fighting fires The basic means of fighting small fires was always hose and water and at many of the suburban stations a hose reel was the only appliance. So at some stage all recruits had to learn hose drill. Everyone began work at No. 1 station, Eastern Hill, but procedures for training varied over the years. Walter Smyth joined the Brigade in 1918 and Harrie B. Lee put him on three months' trial. Smyth was not supposed to turn out to fires until after that period. But when he had been in the job two weeks, there was a ship fire at South Wharf. 'This particular night ... they sent word back for a pump to go on ... the Dennis pump. The driver was on his own, so I dragged a coat off the rack, just caught the appliance and went' [Walter Smyth 15.7.88]. After the fire he was called before the Deputy Chief and thought he was in trouble, but Wilkins told him he was OK as a fireman and could apply for his helmet and turningout gear. Most firemen had similar experiences in their early months in the job. They first got to fires on second line appliances-pumps, salvage vans, ladders. The first appliance out from No. 1 was always the hose carriage, which was manned by experienced men. Well there were four men used to be on the carriage,' for instance number one, he had a job, he had to take the branch; number two had to ship the stand -pipe and get the water on; number three had to run out the hose and connect it to the stand -pipe; number four was the orderly. He followed the officer around and took any instructions ... You knew what your job was as soon as you got there ... if I was number two, I wouldn't worry about the fire. All I'd do is I'd look for a hydrant and get my stand-pipe in as quick as I could, then wait for number three to bring the hose to me. When he brought the hose, we'd couple

Eastern Hill Fire Station watchtower

l's hose carriage was usually also manned by a driver, a District Officer and a senior officer, in the earliest days the Chief himself, but later the third or fourth officer. Mr Cooke is talking about ordinary firemen. No.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

up and turn it on. Now number one at that particular time is going to the fire and he's making sure he's got plenty of hose around so that when he does get water on and he wants to go in further, well he's got the hose ... Number three, when he's run the hose out and it's coupled then he goes on and helps number one so actually you've got two men on the branch fighting the fire and the officer standing by to give instructions. [Bill Cooke 28.2.85] In those days the hose carriage at No. 1, that was the flagship and they used to have four regular men on that and about two or three relievers and no one got on the hose carriage without years and years of service ... and the great day came when you were put on the hose carriage and that was the time when everyone came up and shook you by the hand and wished you well; it was like you were selected for the Test team. [Jack McKimm 28.2.85]

Walter Smyth remembers that in 1918 there was very little training and not much drill. 'You used your own initiative, took your pattern from the officers.' In later years, firemen had to learn all their drills by heart and be able to write them down in their drill book, as well as carry them out in practice. Drills covered everything from the mechanism of the big pumps to the right way to carry a stand -pipe. Generally, though, the philosophy was 'throw him in and let him swim'. 'You virtually got your training at the fires.' Recruits often began on the salvage van which was used for protecting equipment from water damage and for cleaning up after fires. You went straight on the gear. I joined up on the Friday morning and in the afternoon I was catching the salvage van ... You were taught such

as running out the hose and changing a length and all those normal things they do today ... The rudiments of course was to go on to the fire and you always hit everything above you ... with a branch with the pressure of a hose you always swung it from side to side ... then anything loose, the force of the water would shear it off. [Ray Godfredson 17.6.85]

When only one or two men were taken on each year, there was minimal formal training, but after 1937 intakes were larger. You were taught down in the yard at Eastern Hill ... the first man that's in, number one's on the branch and number three is behind him so as you've got two men, so when you come through the door, before you

come into the room you get a line of hose and you push it across above your head, now that will knock down any debris that's above you and bits of timber and then you can come forward ... and the first fire I ever went to was in Brunswick Street just up here ... a big wholesale grocery store and I was on the branch and a bloke was behind me ... they had lines of hose in other areas and Wilkins said go in the front door, and we went in the front door ... and as I'd been trained, I put the line up and all hell broke loose. The roof fell in and I tried to back out and my mate tried to back out and we were really shocked and the officer came and asked 'What's this?' I said 'Oh, everything's fallen in on us,' and what had happened was they had a little mezzanine floor and it was stacked with old fashioned biscuit tins ... and of course I'd hit them with about eighty pounds of pressure and about 200 biscuit tins came down all over the place. [Bill Webber 18.7.88]

Pistol -type fire extinguisher

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Firemen were taught to watch that the roof didn't fall on them, and they were also taught to check the floor didn't give way either. You never, if you couldn't see, you never walked. You always put your foot out and took a step to make sure there was something there to stand on. I had an experience at a fire, I hadn't been in the job that long, and it was at a factory or a warehouse in Flinders Lane and there was a partition and I got through and I remembered just not to move and I said to one of the boys 'Give us a lantern.' We had these electric torches and they were pretty heavy and I got it through and showed it onto the floor and the floor had been burned through. If I'd have stepped through, I'd have gone down a floor. [Ray Godfredson 17.6.85]

Another basic principle that firemen learned early was the best angle to attack a fire. You virtually got your training on the fires and usually they placed you so as you were with an experienced person and the old timers used to tell you the practical things, for example of not getting on the windward side of a big fire where you get all the heat and you couldn't do much use, but to come in from the back. [Jack McKimm 28.2.85]

Unfortunately, it was not always possible to get in to a fire from the back. In the 1890s the block bounded by Elizabeth, Flinders and Swanston Streets and Flinders Lane was an insurance company's nightmare. In the early hours of New Year's Day, 1891, the Mutual Store on Flinders Street went up in flames. Several brigades fought the fire, including the Insurance Companies' Brigade under Superintendent Stein. They managed to stop the fire before it spread to any of the surrounding soft goods warehouses, but Stein had a premonition about the dangers of the area. might say the whole of this block is one which the insurance companies are very careful about. The stocks are so enormous and so valuable and the risk of fire so great. There is scarcely what we call a proper fire break in the whole block-that is, a wall built up and finished in a parapet without any windows or openings in it. A fire breaking out in Craig, Williamson and Thomas's in Elizabeth -street, might, if a strong wind were blowing, sweep the whole block right through to Swanston-street. [Stein, quoted in The Argus 2.1.1891] I

Brass branchpipe

Nearly six years later he was proved all too right. The street fire alarm on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Streets was activated by a passing policeman at 2.20 a.m. Deputy O'Brien turned out from No. 2 station, Little Bourke Street, with a hose cart and a ladder. He was there ninety seconds after the alarm and the heat was already so intense on Elizabeth Street that the horses refused to go down the middle of the street. O'Brien had to drive almost on the opposite footpath. 'Well alight' was the appropriate phrase. The alarm had been relayed to No. 1 and the man on the tower saw smoke moments later, so Stein turned out with a steamer and a second hose cart. His heart must have been in his mouth when he turned the corner and saw the flames billowing out of the fourth floor windows of Craig, Williamson and Thomas, fanned by a strong north-west wind. He sent word back for all available assistance and

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Craig, Williamson and Thomas' fire, 22.11.1897. The original illustration which appeared in The Age the following day was entitled "The scene from Flinders -Street'. The Brigade's biggest steamer, the Lady Benjamin, can be seen working in the right foreground. Photo The Age 26.12.31.

all over the city firemen leapt out of bed and into their boots. It was still only three minutes after the first alarm, but Stein believed the fire had been burning for hours. There was no watchman in the

building.

While the first steamer went into action, Stein set up the American ladder astride the tram tracks in the middle of Elizabeth Street, intending to use it as a water tower. Within minutes the ladder was on fire and a hose had to be turned on the appliance. Stein sent a fireman up it to dismantle some gear, but the man gave up half way. The Chief was inclined to tell him off, until he saw that the man's face was blistered from the heat. The ladder was moved out of the windward side of the fire, while paint began to blister and windows began to crack all down the far side of Elizabeth Street. By this time, a contingent from Carlton station had arrived with a hose cart

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

MFB officer's

leather

helmet, c. 1890s

and a second steamer. This was set to work to try and save Fink's Buildings on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Streets. This was nine storeys high, one of the tallest buildings in the city, and referred to at the time as a sky -scraper. The roof was alight within ten minutes and despite valiant efforts, the Carlton men failed to save the building. Meanwhile, spot fires were breaking out downwind. Unfortunately, the first place where it was safe to get men and appliances in behind the fire was Swanston Street. Firemen tried to get in down the narrow lanes running from Flinders Street to Flinders Lane, but these were death traps. They were showered with red hot bricks and the narrow rights of way soon became blocked with fallen roofs and walls. Time after time, as the fire progressed east, firemen were beaten back out of these alleys as they acted as immense flues, swirling burning material upwards to be borne east by the wind. Fragments of burnt carpet, paper and cloth were later found as far away as Hawthorn. Men and appliances were arriving all the time, driving lathered horses in from the more distant suburbs, and within thirty minutes Stein had 130 men. He divided his forces, delegating danger spots to groups under Deputy O'Brien, Superintendents Catt and Haydon and Messrs Mason and Loughridge. The Chief himself chose to make a stand at the Mutual Store. Before rebuilding after the 1891 fire, the owners had taken advice from Stein. The new building had fire -proof bricks, a concrete and asphalt roof, metal shutters on the west -facing windows and metal gauze over the windows on the east, water tanks on the roof, its own hoses and extinguishers and a Grinnell sprinkler system. The combination of the building design and the firemen was so effective that the sprinklers were only activated by heat in a couple of places, despite the building being `beset on both sides' by what Stein described later as 'the fiercest flames I have seen in my life'. One reporter described the Brigade's fire appliances as tut toys in the face of such an emergency', and another cycling up St Kilda Road to the scene reckoned he could see two dawns, one where it should be, and the other west of the cathedral. By that time the fire had swirled around the Mutual Store, leaving it standing alone in a sea of destruction, and was well on its way to Swanston Street. The growing crowds were treated to the sight of beer barrels being rolled out of Young and Jackson's to the safety of the cathedral on the other side of the road. Elsewhere, there was little to salvage. The soft goods warehouses all went up in flames. Each one was valiantly defended but, as Stein said, there were no fire breaks and the stacks of cloth and carpets burned very well, frequently fanned by the ferocious up -draughts in open stair wells and lift shafts. As if this wasn't bad enough, there was insufficient water: 'At first the pressure on the mains was first class, but after we had tapped the supply at so many places the pressure naturally became weaker, and at times we could scarcely get sufficient to keep our steamers going' [Stein, quoted in The Argus 22.11.97]. Somehow or other the firemen managed to stop the fire from crossing Flinders Lane, despite a dangerous wind change to the south, and they also saved most of the buildings fronting Swanston Street.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

seven steamers, two ladder carriages and with more than 4 miles of hose. People tend to learn a great deal at a big fire, especially members of the public. The first lesson that they learned in 1897 was that the Brigade just wasn't big enough for such an emergency. Those 191 men were spread terribly thinly around so many burning and threatened buildings. This lesson certainly wasn't lost on the insurance companies. Those buildings were insured for a total of nearly ÂŁ500 000, while the MFB was costing only about ÂŁ27 000 per year. Nearly as much money went up in smoke on that Sunday morning as had been spent on Melbourne's fire brigades since Batman first landed. The second major lesson was the value of fire safety considerations in building construction. If all the warehouses had been built like the Mutual Store, they wouldn't have burnt down. But it was to be many years before this lesson found its way into building regulations. The third lesson of the fire was that Melbourne's water supply was not adequate to cope with a major conflagration. Unfortunately, the MFB Board was only able to take immediate action on lesson number one. The resultant increase in men and horses has already been mentioned. Steps were also taken to provide more and better appliances, but the process was slow. A new steam fire engine was originally ordered from Shand Mason and Co. in London in 1898, but it was 1900 before everything was finally sorted out and the engine went into commission. Until then the Brigade's biggest steamer was the Lady Benjamin. At full steam she could supply four lines of hose, whereas the six other engines could only fill two lines each. The steamers were always kept ready in the station with a fire set in the fire box and kerosene on a piece of rag, ready for the match. This was lit before the appliance turned out so that the engine could begin to get up steam on the way to the fire, but it still took about fifteen minutes to get up full pressure. A total of ten hose carts, 191 men fought the blaze

There is a story told that at Craig Williamson's fire, which was a famous fire in Flinders Street, a steamer was backed up against the kerb and after it had been in operation for some while the water flowing out of the building and the debris banked up in the gutter and put the fire out in the steamer. [Harrie Newport 10.8.881

SHAND, MASON & CO., IMPROVED l'ELESCOPIC FIRE

ESCAPES.

TELESCOPIC FIRE ESCAPE,

iNE.

TELESCOPIC FIRE ESOAPE,

Whether this is true or not, Stein did admit to the press that the Carlton steamer working at the Craig Williamson fire had some minor technical problem for a while. Several fire plugs were needed to supply one steamer, especially when water pressure was low. At another Flinders Lane fire, this time at James Henty and Co.'s warehouse in February 1899, it took six hoses to feed one canvas dam from which the steamer pumped water. Even so, at that fire none of the seven steamers was able to work at full speed. There was simply insufficient water. The fire was stopped in the building in which it originated, but the shortage of water led to a public row between Stein and E.G. Fitzgibbon, chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Fitzgibbon asked why, if

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Advertisement for the Shand Mason ladder

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Shand Mason steamer in 1910. This is possibly the engine purchased in 1900. If so, with a capacity at full steam of 1000 gallons per minute, it remained the biggest pump in the Brigade until it was retired in the 1920s. The crew are A. Andrew, J. Brennan, Lewis (Banjo) Paterson, W. Barton, E. Proctor and G. Davis (driver). Photo Norm Wadeson Collection. A

the Brigade was short of water, they didn't pump directly from the Yarra just down the road. Stein replied that he didn't know he was going to be so short of water until his steamers were in position and working. To move the Lady Benjamin to the Yarra would then have taken too long, and might have allowed the fire to get away. There had been some tension between the Board of Works and the Brigade since the report of an inquiry into the Craig Williamson fire. The Fire Inquiry Board found that as well as a need to strengthen the Brigade, there was a need for larger water mains, and recommended 15 inch mains down Collins and Elizabeth Streets. The Board of Works had no objection to laying the mains, but did object to paying for them. Under its funding arrangements the cost would have been borne by all the municipalities, not just the city, while none of the cost would be borne by the insurance companies and government which contributed to MFB funding. The problem was that the Board of Works was only responsible for providing sufficient water for domestic purposes. The municipalities were responsible for paying for their own fire plugs and nobody, it would seem, was responsible for providing sufficient water for firefighting. Conferences were held in 1899 and 1900 to consider the matter, but they failed to agree over the question of funding. Demands for water for firefighting were, of course, likely to be highest when pressure in the mains was lowest-on hot, dry days. At such times, water pressure was usually adequate in the city, but low in Brighton, Malvern and Williamstown. In 1898 the Board of Works extended the Surrey Hills main to supply Brighton directly, rather than through Malvern, but Williamstown had to wait.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

One of the smaller steamers outside Hoddle Street station c. 1910. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

The Engineer-in -Chief of the Board of Works argued that there was a problem in concentrating sufficient water for firefighting in some areas, particularly in the outer suburbs. He wanted all 3 inch mains replaced by 4 inch mains, and also recommended a number of other changes designed to make large volumes of water available in emergencies. Members of the MFB Board would probably have agreed but they are unlikely to have taken kindly to his suggestion that The Fire Brigade service should be under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works, who should have sole charge of the Brigade, Plant and Maintenance' [MMBW Engineer -in-Chiefs Report for the Period 1901-1903. Information courtesy of Tony Dingle]. The municipal representatives on the MFB Board are also unlikely to have taken kindly to the suggestion that improvements in the water supply should be paid for by increases in the rates in the areas involved. Despite such differences, general working arrangements between the MMBW and the Brigade were both close and amicable, especially at fires. Both the Board of Works and the Brigade were particularly worried about Mondays, when everyone did their washing. When there was a big fire, Board of Works turncocks helped the Brigade all they could by diverting water to increase pressure in the mains nearest the fire, but there was little they could do on a Monday. So long as there was no decision as to who should foot the bill for the necessary improvements to the water supply for firefighting, there was a recurring problem. Every year Stein complained in his annual report about the shortage of water and every year nothing was done. He was never to see the problem resolved. He retired in June 1908 and Harrie B. Lee took up the struggle. At a fire in Footscray in December he described the lack of water as 'nothing short of a scandal'. 'Out at Footscray', said one fireman, 'we hardly had enough water to clean the smoke out of our mouths'. The Board of Works replied that it was not responsible for providing a good

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

view of the scene following the Williamstown fire of December 1909. In the left of the picture a hose can be seen still attached to a stand-pipe. Thefire broke out five days before Christmas and lack of water pressure in the mains was the principal reason why thirty houses burnt down and 100 people were made homeless. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum. A

pressure of water for firefighting, which was true, so nothing continued to be done. Then on 20 December 1909, a fire broke out in Williamstown. It was a Monday and there was a blistering north wind. 'Disgraceful Water Failure' read the newspaper headlines. 'Firemen Standing with Empty Hoses'. Thirty houses burnt down and 100 people were made homeless. Harrie B. Lee was incensed. 'When the first hose cart arrived at the Williamstown fire today from a station only a few hundred yards distant, the water just dribbled out of the hydrant, taking quite a minute to fill a bucket' [The Age 21.12.09]. The turncocks did all they could to augment the supply, but it wasn't much. Firemen were joined by sailors and members of the public with wet bags. In terms of the number of homes destroyed it was the worst fire since the beginnings of white settlement in Melbourne. The poverty of the water supply of Melbourne was fully demonstrated in the disaster which overtook Williamstown in December. Public interest in the matter was thoroughly awakened. The Government has decided to appoint a Conference of the several bodies interested to go thoroughly into the question of fully providing an adequate supply of water for fire

purposes. It seems that at last something definite will be done in the matter, and that recommendations of the Conference will render impossible in the future such an absurd spectacle as that of a modern Fire Brigade, in a thickly populated town, beating out a fire with wet bags. [Chief s report, MFB Board Report 1909]

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The conference met in February 1910 and sent the experts off to draw up their proposals. This did not take long. The firemen and the engineers knew perfectly well what they wanted. The scheme they came up with had a price tag of ÂŁ300 000. But the Board of Works, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the insurance companies, the government, the City Council and the other municipalities had no answer to the problem of who would pay-or rather they all did, and it wasn't them. At one set of meetings the insurance companies were not represented, and all the other parties were briefly able to agree that the insurance companies should pay. The 1910 conference seemed dead -locked over precisely the same issue as the 1900 conference, although it was agreed that the government should lend the Board of Works the money. The issue then became who should repay the loan? But at least work began, and suburb by suburb bigger mains were laid. Harrie B. Lee began to find something other than water supply to write about in the

annual reports. Around this time, a revolution was taking place in pumping technology. The old steamers were being replaced by motor pumps. Dennis Brothers of Guildford, England, produced their first motor pump in 1908. John Morris and Sons of Salford, who had built their first motor tender as early as 1903, also built a motor pump in 1908, and Leylands followed a year or so later. There was much discussion at the time as to whether motor pumps would ever fully replace steam fire engines, especially in cold climates where hydrants had to be thawed in winter. Surprisingly, this argument was even repeated in Victoria, although not by firemen. The Brigade bought two gasoline engines in 1908. One was installed at Footscray, where water pressure was a problem, and the other at Box Hill, where it replaced one of the two old manual engines still in service. This also allowed a reduction in the partially paid staff, because fewer men were needed to work it. The Brigade imported a Merryweather motor pump in 1909, and it was a great success. There was, of course, no waiting time for it to get up steam, and it was also faster in getting to fires. The old steamers were very heavy, due to their big boilers, and were difficult to convert to motor traction. In the MFB the big steamers were the last appliances to be motorised, whereas most of the motor pumps were designed as motor vehicles from the beginning. The Brigade imported pumps from both the USA and England before the outbreak of the First World War, but during the war the workshops began experimenting with making their own pumps. They came up with the 150 gallon per minute rotary pump. These were small and designed to fill just one hose. They were very handy and the Brigade began to install them on the new motor hose

carriages. Then in 1919 the workshops put together an overseas engine and a big Victorian -built pump with their own body. The Chief was very proud of it. 'I have certainly formed the opinion that there is now no necessity for the Fire Brigades of Australia to go outside the country for any equipment whatever' [Chiefs report, MFB Board Report 1919]. The workshops continued to turn out small rotary pumps for the hose carriages throughout the 1920s. A Hotchkiss hose carriage

Fire extinguisher

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Merryweather Hatfield motor pump c. 1910. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

with pump became the standard first turnout appliance at suburban stations, to be replaced by Albion hose carriages, also with Brigade pumps, in the 1930s. The Brigade did use a couple of other big Victorian -made pumps, but the pride of the fleet became the big Dennis pump, imported in 1925. On all the early hose carriages and pumps, the men stood or hung onto the outside of the appliance. With improved engines, greater speed and more traffic on the streets, this became very dangerous. There was some talk of an enclosed appliance, but it was argued that firemen would lose time getting out of it at a fire. A compromise was reached in 1934 with the new Albion hose carriage. The men sat in it, rather than hanging on to the outside, but it was still not enclosed. Long before the invention of motor pumps, there were various experiments with ways of extinguishing fires that did not involve waiting for a steamer to get up pressure. Most worked on the principle of excluding oxygen by replacing it with some other gas such as carbon dioxide in which combustion was impossible. Chemical extinguishers of this kind were prominent in the American tradition of fire -fighting from the 1870s, but never had much success in Australia, except as small hand-held extinguishers. However, in 1904 the MFB did commission a combination chemical extinguisher and hose wagon which was based at headquarters, and in 1906 they got a motor chemical fire engine. By the turn of the century a new fire hazard was already obvious-petrol and oil fires which were not easily extinguished by

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The 'Melba' pump outside North Melbourne station. Dame Nellie Melba's Pierce -Arrow car has had a varied life. It toured the USA and Europe with Dame Nellie until it was commandeered by the French Government at the outbreak of the First World War. Dame Nellie brought it to Melbourne in 1918 and the MFB acquired it soon afterwards. In 1919 it was fitted with a 400 gallons per minute pump, assembled in the Brigade workshops. The Brigade sold the Melba pump in 1933 and in 1978 the Melbourne Fire Museum bought it and began the task of restoration. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Dennis pump showing the business end, 1925. Photo MFB Board.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The latest in hose carriages in 1934. For thefirst time the men did not have to cling to the outside of the vehicle, but they still got wet when it rained. The body was manufactured in the Brigade workshops and the appliance carried 1200 feet of hose. Photo MFB Board.

water. Traditional chemical extinguishers were only effective in confined spaces where the gas did not rapidly disperse. Then in 1906 H.H. Lake and A.G. Laurent invented foam by adding liquorice extract to carbon dioxide. Fire appliances began to carry a variety of hand chemical extinguishers for different types of fires: soda acid for small fires; foam for petrol, oil and varnish; and carbon tetrachloride for electrical fires. Another vital piece of equipment in fighting major fires was the ladder. The Brigade began in 1891 with only two extension ladders, one of which was the antiquated Italian ladder that took fifteen minutes to erect. Early in 1892 a new Hayes ladder arrived and was a great success as a water tower, but it was very unwieldy to tow because it was so long. When leaving a fire in 1899, one of the rear wheels ran over a boy who had stepped off the kerb, and killed him. The driver, a full 66 feet away, knew nothing about it until it was too late. The Shand Mason extension ladder was designed to overhang the horses while it was being towed, and had a much shorter wheel base. It featured prominently at the Craig Williamson fire. From the point of view of the watching crowds, there is little to beat the spectacular sight of a fireman holding a branch at the top of a

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Combination chemicalfire engine and hose wagon, Titan and Hotspur in the shafts. The appliance also carried a folded canvas jump sheet, a short extension ladder and a pompier ladder. Photo Norm Wadeson Collection.

ladder, with the flames colouring the water red before turning it to steam. However, neither the Shand Mason nor the Hayes could be used in narrow lanes, as they were both too difficult to manoeuvre. In 1908 the Brigade imported a new Merryweather combination fire escape and hose carriage. The idea was that the ladder itself had only two wheels for maximum manoeuvreability, but was towed to fires on the back of the hose carriage. It could be used both as a fire escape and as a free standing water tower. Appliances built on this principle are still in use in the Brigade in the 1990s. The early ladders were all extended by hand, but in 1909 the Brigade imported the Morris Magirus which was extended by `Carbonic Acid Gas under pressure'. It was not long before the Brigade workshops' staff turned their extraordinary talents to ladders. In 1922 they completed an 88 feet petrol electric appliance. It joined the Morris Magirus and an imported petrol electric ladder to give the Brigade an impressive array of turntables. They were all used at the Payne's 'Bon Marche' fire on 21 July 1929. One of the very big fires was Payne's. It was on a Sunday morning in Bourke Street, all the floors went ... Quite of a few of the men, we were all there together when the floor started to give way in front of us and the whole thing started to fall into the basement. We had to retreat. We

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

A Merryweather motor chemical fire engine with

extra hand extinguishers on the rear footboard, commissioned 5.2.06. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

The Shand Mason extension ladder outside the Exhibition Buildings in 1897. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The Merryweather motor combination ladder and hose carriage, commissioned 1908. The ladder was in three lengths with a maximum height of 55 feet. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

were there for hours. When Payne's went up, the roof and all came in. [Alan Cole 2.4.85]

While ladders enabled fires to be fought from the outside, most of the time firemen fought fires from the inside.

and that and you couldn't see, there'd always be one of the old heads would tell you the lurk of lying on the floor where there was a layer of about a foot I suppose, six inches, a layer of oxygen made it breathable and of course that's all disappeared now. The old firemen in those days had a certain pride in being able to go in and take a beating. It was like a ringer in the shearing shed. He was the top man and you were classified on whether you could stick it. If you could stay with Foy, well he was one of the top chaps, if you could stick with him then you'd done pretty good and they used to know the lurk of laying down on the floor and avoiding the poisonous fumes, well the smokey fumes; but that's all disappeared with plastics now and the best of the old timers, they just couldn't get into some of the fires that you strike now. Breathing apparatus was a thing you only used on ship fires ... and if you thought of using a breathing apparatus in a factory fire you were regarded as a bit of a sissy ... but basically now you just couldn't go into some of those factory fires without breathing apparatus; it would just be suicide. [Jack McKimm 28.2.85] ... when you got in a building

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

A Merryweather wheeled

escape detached from the hose carriage.

Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

We were working 120 hours a week [in the 1930s] so you virtually copped every fire that was on and as you went to those fires you picked

up hints. For instance one officer there was well known as a smoke eater, you know, he'd go in where there was smoke and that, whereas the ordinary chap would say 'Oh, it's too much smoke there' and I got the idea, well, if he can stick it, why can't I, so when I got the opportunity I'd try and chase him in to see how long I could stick it. Eventually I got that way that ... I was able to take the smoke. [Bill Cooke 28.2.85]

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The Brigade

at work at afire

in Friedman's Building, Carlton, in 1922. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

Problems with smoke were frequently worse in bedroom fires than in big fires. When a mattress was alight somewhere and there was a lot of smoke, the problem was to find the fire and heave the burning mattress out of the window. An added problem was unfamiliarity. Firemen got to know most of the factories and warehouses in their area inside and out, through alarm and sprinkler calls and building inspections, but they didn't know the private houses or the ships. Once the problems of water supply were overcome, Melbourne had no really serious fire that fully tested the strength of the Brigade, until on 18 January 1937 the Department of Agriculture Cool Stores on the Victoria Dock, West Melbourne, caught fire. The extensive buildings and contents which were destroyed were of a very inflammable nature and not constructed in accordance with City Building Regulations. Numerous small outbreaks starting in the wharves and shipping were extinguished in the incipient stages. Owing to the heat of the day and the hot dry wind, the whole of the docks and shipping were menaced with destruction. This fire severely taxed the

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

The Morris Magirus (left) and two electric turntable ladders working at the Payne's Bon Marche' fire, Bourke Street, 21.7.29. Photo MFB Board/ Herald.

strength of the Brigade, and it is gratifying to be able to state that your Board has considerably strengthened the Brigade in both men and appliances. [Chiefs report, MFB Board Report 19371 Bill Woolhouse was stationed at Newport at the time, and he spent all the afternoon on the roof doing some painting for extra money in the blistering heat. When he came down at about 4 p.m. he and another man were detailed to go to the fire. ... they had no cars, didn't send

us any help in those days to get you there. I got on my bike with another mate and we pushed our way in ... and it was what they call the wharf fire and there's a row of rectangular sheds right along the wharf along the Yarra and two or three of them had been alight since about two o'clock and they were roaring along when we got there. I've never seen men so beaten up and wet and disreputable and we barracked them as we got in and they said 'Oh, you'll be the same' and

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

1111111\111M*6.\\no

The Leyland -Metz all steel 126 ft ladder. 'In '39 the modern Leyland ladder come in, a wonderful appliance, a beautiful piece of equipment. One of the best appliances ever came to Australia. It had forty-four years service and never let them down once' [Alan Cole 2.4.85]. Photo Barbara McCumisky Collection.

JIM

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Breathing apparatus

1903. Photo N.J. Caire, La Trobe Collection,

State Library of Victoria

we fought there, I was there till midnight. It was butter and cheese and all sorts of dairy produce packed to the roof and you couldn't get at it. You had to wait, tear yourself into it, and you couldn't get at it. It was one of the worst fires I ever attended. It was a very big fire. Some of the shipping got alight but that was put out by some of the sailors and the others round the wharf. The wharf was alight and they put that out but it was this stuff that was really bad. [Bill Woolhouse 19.4.85]

That burnt for eleven days before it was finally under control ... all the turkeys, hams; plenty of looting. The smoke got to it. The watchman, there was a fire at one of the fire alarm boxes in the building. Burnt the back of the box and went into the wall cavity. Went from ham to cheese to bacon to turkeys ... North Melbourne, Eastern Hill, South Melbourne turned out. Had to move two of the ships that were separated by the rail line and wharf from the fire; also rail trucks burnt out ... The insulation in the walls was what burnt. [Wally Smyth 15.7.88]

After that fire the Brigade got twenty extra men and began a long overdue programme of replacing the older appliances that had been built during and just after the First World War.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

The new Morris hose carriage in 1938. Photo MFB Board. In 1937 the Board decided to modernise. We got a fleet of cars then and got the bodies built outside, which was the first time ... we couldn't possibly handle that [volume of work]. We used to get six chassis at a time come in and the bodies would come on and we'd have to fit the pumps and the ladders and all the rest of the gear on them ... Morris hose carriages. We had thirty odd eventually. They were good for their time, a car thirty years advanced on the Hotchkiss, all the electrical system, hydraulic brakes. They were open. At the tail end of them we bought two chassis for wheeled escapes and those were covered in. They had a two-seater covered -in cab and the escape went over the top of them. They were the first appliances that we had that were covered in. [George Niblett 23.4.85]

Preventing fires When Harrie B. Lee retired in 1927 he reported a successful year, when all serious fires were confined to the building in which they

started.

this has been brought about in very large measure by the propaganda that has been carried on in regard to fire prevention, which as you are aware I place more stress on than fire extinction. Your officers are continually inspecting risks especially in the City, and pointing out to the owners of those risks the seriousness of fire waste, thus awakening in them a lively interest in the question of prevention, which after all means that they take greater care of their properties, for it must always be remembered that every fire is caused by some form or ...

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Special Service firemen photographed in 1939 filling the tank truck used for servicing private fire extinguishers. Photo MFB Board.

other of carelessness. That work is going on, not only with the officers of the Brigade, but also by the very fine work that your Special Service Staff is doing work that is not being performed in such an extensive manner in any other part of the world. [Chiefs report, MFB Board Report 1927]

The Special Service department had its beginnings in 1902 when George Mauger was appointed as Theatre Inspector, with a staff of three firemen. Their job was to look after fire safety at theatres in the city, and the theatre proprietors paid for their services. Two more firemen were appointed to theatre duty in 1903, and then numbers remained stable until Harrie B. Lee arrived on the scene. He was appointed Chief in 1908, and by 1909 there were twenty-two firemen on theatre duty. From the beginning, Lee envisaged a much wider role for the men than theatre safety alone. He offered firemen as watchmen in all major city buildings at a moderate cost, an aspect of the service which has already been discussed. By 1926, when Mauger retired from the position of Chief Inspector of Special Services, there were seventy-two men in the department and their work had expanded to include the servicing of fire extinguishers and hose in private ownership. By the 1930s Special Service firemen were working a fortyeight hour week inspecting buildings, maintaining extinguishers and testing hose. Some of them were men who couldn't meet the height requirements of the firefighting service. They had completely separate terms of employment, their own union and their own superannuation scheme.

TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE

Throughout, the service was self-financing. In 1929 the department took over the old Bouverie Street fire station, Carlton, where a hose laundry and drying towers were erected. By 1940 the department was maintaining 14 000 lengths of hose and 35 000 extinguishers, and the Chief Inspector, Tom Mather, joined the various District Officers in making fire safety reports on hundreds of buildings every year.

Head station first headquarters for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was at 447 Little Bourke Street. This had been the head station of the Insurance Companies' Brigade and remained in use by the MFB until 1919, when a new station was opened in William Street. Besides the all-important engine house, the Little Bourke Street station had a square brick lookout tower, three stall stables, a billiard room and accommodation for about twenty men. However, the Board had something bigger and better in mind for the new brigade. In 1892 architects were invited to enter a competition to design a new head station to be built at Eastern Hill. The site on the corner of Victoria Parade and Gisborne Street provided an excellent position for a lookout tower and would allow the horses to get up speed turning out downhill to fires in almost any part of the city. The design had to include three turnout bays to Victoria Parade, stables, a tower 150 feet high and a shed at least 17 feet by 66 feet to house the American ladder. There also had to be provision for offices, a board room, a hay loft, dormitories for the single men, quarters for the married men and suitable accommodation for the Chief Officer. The winning design, chosen by assessors from the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects, was called 'Fire', and the architect was A.B. Rieusset. However, the Board decided to overrule this decision because Rieusset's plan failed to provide for a direct exit from the engine house to the yard. Instead, the Board chose two firms of architects, only one of which had even submitted a design in the competition, and employed them to work together. Not surprisingly, members of the architectural profession took rather a dim view of this decision. The Building & Engineering Journal described it as a `gross miscarriage of justice' and the Australasian Builder & Contractors' News called it 'the most outrageous injustice which was ever perpetrated upon the profession in Melbourne'. But there was nothing they could do about it. Lloyd, Taylor and Fitts got to work to modify the design submitted by Smith and Johnson, and Thomas Cockram and Co. were employed THE

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STATIONS

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FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Ground plan of the new head station August 1893, Lloyd Taylor & Fitts and Smith & Johnson joint architects. Redrawn by Dominique Falla from the Building & Engineering Journal, 16 September 1893.

First -floor plan of the new head station August 1893, Lloyd Taylor & Fitts and Smith & Johnson joint architects. Redrawn by Dominique Falla from the Building & Engineering Journal, 16 September 1893.

to build something that bore very little resemblance to any of the plans entered in the original competition. The new head station was officially opened on 3 November 1893. This complex of buildings became home to generations of Melbourne firemen. The buildings were much extended and altered to make room for workshops and additional quarters and remained in use until 1972 when a new station was built at the other side of the same block, on the corner of Albert and Gisborne Streets. Every firefighter was based at No. 1 station at some time in his career, if only during his initial training. No. 1 was also home to most of the senior officers, including the Chief, although the Deputy Chief traditionally lived at No. 2 station, Little Bourke Street. The other major central station was No. 3, Bouverie Street, Carlton. Appliances from all three stations turned out to city calls. Most of the biggest fires were in the city area and the Chief placed his equipment accordingly. While outer suburban stations had nothing but a hand drawn hose reel, the big

ladders and pumps and later the chemical engines were based at the city stations. This meant that whenever there was a major fire, even if it was outside the central area, No. 1 was likely to turn out if assistance was required. This pattern was meticulously documented in the occurrence books, which record the official life of every station.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

MFB Band drum

Firemen were on continuous duty and Stein set out to carefully order their time, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The essential feature of the job was being continually ready at any hour of the day or night to rush to answer the bells, but even at the busiest stations there were frequent long periods of waiting between alarms. Stein introduced a routine where firemen lived a life ruled by clocks and the only thing that could overrule the clocks was the bells. At 6.45 a.m. the men were woken by muster bells and paraded for roll call at 7 a.m. Everyone had to be accounted for and a note was made of all those on leave, sick, or standing by at other stations. Tasks, especially cleaning, were allocated for the day, and the men were told which appliance to catch if the bells rang. At head station one of the duties was manning the lookout tower. The man up the tower was not allowed to sit down and had to walk continuously around scanning the city for fires and pressing a bell at intervals to prove he was on the job. While Stein was Chief this was manned twenty-four hours a day but over time the increasing network of street fire alarms made this less and less necessary. After about 1920 the tower was manned only from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., in one -hour shifts. By that date very few fires were actually first reported from the tower, but once a fire was well alight it would often show up from the tower, sometimes before there was word back from the first appliance at the scene. This meant that time could be saved in sending assistance. Tower duty finally ceased on 12 December 1935, but when fires were reported a man was still sent up to see if anything was showing. Another part of the daily routine at most stations was testing street fire alarms. This task was traditionally carried out by a man on a bicycle. At head station there were so many alarms to test that one man was fully occupied all day cycling from one to the other. At least testing alarms got him out of the station, and provided a rare opportunity to escape from under the eyes of the officers. Not surprisingly, being late back from testing alarms or taking too long getting from one street fire alarm to another was a frequent misdemeanour. In a life ruled by clocks, stealing time was the great temptation. But even a disciplinarian such as Stein had become could not fill every minute of a fireman's time with cleaning, polishing and drilling. On most afternoons, all except those on watch room duty could please themselves from 2 p.m. until evening muster, so long as they did not leave the station. The major exception to this was the Friday afternoon display at head station for visiting school children and other spectators. In the 1920s and 1930s a particular feature of these displays was the Fire Brigade Band. Bandsmen began arriving from out stations at about 2 p.m. The crowds assembled, the Band played, firemen ran up the outside of the tower carrying their pompier ladders up behind them from window to window, firemen jumped into sheets from first floor windows, ladders were run up and pumps demonstrated, and then it was all over. The bandsmen were on their way back to their stations by 3.50 p.m., everyone counted their pay, and those with a six -hour leave for Friday evening planned how they were going to spend it.

STATIONS

Another regular weekly event at head station was Big Drill on Wednesdays. This was a tradition that Stein brought from the London Fire Brigade, including the day of the week. Every Wednesday, firemen from stations scattered around the city were detailed to report to No. 1 to drill on the pumps and ladders and hose carriages under the eyes of their senior officers. As might be expected, few firemen seem to have looked forward to being picked to attend Big Drill. Most of the work at No. 1, as at any other station, was not actually fighting fires. The great enemy was boredom. Once the station was clean-and clean it certainly was-and the day's drills had been completed, there was very little to do. Firemen devised all manner of ways to keep themselves amused in between the excitement of calls. At head station there were upwards of fifty men, most of them living as single men in dormitories (later converted to single and double rooms), even if they were married. There were simply not enough married quarters. Officially, they were provided with a gym and tennis courts and encouraged to engage in all manner of sports. Unofficially, they did the kind of things that large numbers of men always do when they are thrown together virtually twenty-four hours a day. Some of the stories of their exploits are even printable. remember one time up there, there was a heap of dogs out the front and they were all chasing the bitch ... so this chap's a bit of a wag and he says 'come on' and takes the dog, and he takes it right upstairs ... and all the dogs, every dog, right down the passage, opened the door of a room and put them all in and shut the door and the chap came home ... we were all in the billiard room ... waiting for him to come home ... at eleven o'clock and actually and he came home and you should have heard the row. He opened the door and the dogs went barn and he's kicking them and trying to get rid of them. [Charles White 17.4.85] I

Life at head station was not all practical jokes. On 9 July 1895 District Superintendent Christopher Gee, late of the Carlton Brewery Brigade, died at a fire in the ship Hilaria. The ship was loaded with 2300 cases of kerosene and 500 barrels of resin. Superintendent Gee tripped and fell 30 feet into the burning hold. Deputy Chief Officer William O'Brien, who had already been forced out of the hold once by exploding kerosene tins, went down in a smoke jacket to try and get him out. After nearly fifteen minutes, O'Brien got a rope around the unconscious Gee and then had to be given artificial respiration himself. He was awarded a gold medal for his efforts. Gee was the first of a number of MFB firemen to die whilst on duty. A tragic number were killed in motor accidents whilst travelling to calls, especially in the days when they hung on to the outside of open hose carriages, but several died fighting fires. On 20 July 1925, Fireman Friend Holness was killed by a falling parapet in Knox Lane off Little Lonsdale Street. The fire was spotted in the early hours of the morning by the man up the tower. Harrie B. Lee turned out a total of sixty-one men and a large number of appliances for the fire in a boot factory, but the building had no frontage to any major street, so it was impossible to get the appliances in close. Long lines of hose were run from pumps on Little Lonsdale and Latrobe Streets. When the wall in Knox Place

Deputy CO O'Brien wearing the smoke jacket which he wore inside the hold of the burning ship Hilaria to rescue Supt Gee, 1895

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

St John's Ambulance litter was based at head station from 1897 to 1902. The firemen were drilled in first aid. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

began to fall, Holness, McHenry and Crampton were on a branch immediately below it, while Lee and Deputy Wilkins were just a little further down the lane. Crampton was hit on the helmet by falling bricks, McHenry suffered a broken leg and Holness was buried under the avalanche and killed outright. He was given a fireman's funeral, with his flag -draped coffin on a hose carriage. The Band led the cortege and 200 firemen took leave to attend. They marched in formation with Chief Harrie B. Lee at their head, while members of the Board followed in cars. Mr Holness' widow received ÂŁ600 in worker's compensation.

Districts The number of MFB stations has varied somewhat over the years and so have their locations. As Melbourne's suburbs developed outward in an arc around the bay, new fire stations were built to serve the new areas of housing and factories. This trend was counterbalanced by a pattern of closing some of the older inner stations as motorisation allowed each to provide cover for a larger area. Stations were also moved where the original site proved unsuitable for changing conditions, or where there was insufficient room for rebuilding or

expansion. From an early date, stations were officially identified within the Brigade by a number as well as the name of the suburb or street, and over the period of 100 years a confusing sequence of changing buildings with the same number, or the same building with different numbers, emerged. The fifty or so stations were divided into districts identified by the letters 'A' to `G-', each under the control of a District Officer. There is a list of station names, dates and numbers based on the 1910 pattern at the end of this chapter.

STATIONS

The District Officers were responsible to the Chief but each had considerable power within his own district. There was a certain amount of rivalry between districts as to which had the most or the worst fires, but because they covered wedges of territory radiating out from the city, the differences in fire risks within districts were generally greater than the differences in fire risks between districts. Nevertheless, each district did have its own special character. `A'

District

In 1910 this covered station numbers 3 to 9 in a wedge north of the city. It included Carlton, Brunswick, Coburg and North Fitzroy and, as the city grew to the north-west, the district also covered the new suburb of Broadmeadows. The pattern of stations was continually changing. Brunswick and North Fitzroy were rebuilt in 1912-13 as motorised stations, North Carlton was leased to the police in 1915, and Carlton and Coburg got new stations on completely different sites in the 1920s. The 1890s stations of Moreland and Moonee Vale were no longer needed after motorisation and were closed down around the time of the First World War. This was generally a busy district, and Carlton, Brunswick and North Fitzroy (stations 3, 4 and 9) were amongst the busiest in the Brigade. Fitzroy first had a volunteer fire brigade in 1860. By 1885 there were two brigades in the area, Fitzroy City in Young Street whose captain was Thomas Walter Delves, and Fitzroy Temperance which had three hand hose reels, 1200 feet of hose and 32 feet of ladders. The Temperance captain was Benjamin Lovelace. In 1888 the fire station consisted of a timber shack on St George's Road, which was leased by the MFB, complete with equipment, from 1891. It is easy to see why newspapers in the 1890s continued to refer to `the Fitzroy Brigade' and 'the Carlton Brigade' as if the MFB was some kind of

federation. This attitude did change, though, especially once the splendid new three -bay brick fire station was opened in 1913. Occurrence books survive for a great many stations and they record the continued careful adherence to the kind of rule by clock set up in Stein's day. The records for North Fitzroy in 1945, for instance, show that there were eight permanent firemen based at No. 9, plus four part paid men (PPs). Like the men at all stations, they had a regular daily and weekly routine. Roll call was at 7 a.m., then the appliances had to be checked for petrol, oil, water and tyres. At 8 a.m. the watch room clock was checked, plus all the alarm batteries, the key cabinet and the front door bell. The same procedure was repeated between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. and this was done seven days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year. Automatic sprinklers were tested on Wednesdays, Friday was pay day, and Saturday was the big night for theatre duty for the PPs. Much of the routine of stations has an air of time -filling, but in the summer of 1945 firemen were busy enough. On Thursday 25 January they were woken at 12.20 a.m. with a call for an open circuit in the Car Barn in the Nicholson Street Tram Sheds. They notified Brunswick, the District Station (No. 4) and left. Word back ten minutes later was that all appeared all right and the hose carriage and six men were back by 12.34 a.m. At 1 a.m.

MFB watchman's clock

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

station North Fitzroy, 1929. The men on the hose carriage include four top cyclists (three of them members of the same family), two league footballers, a baseball player and a runner. It was hard to get ajob in those days, and Chief Wilkins liked winners. They used to call it the 'Brigade of Champions'. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum. No. 9

Ferguson went on station duty and Burke returned from eighteen hours leave. At 5.30 a.m. they turned out for a street fire alarm (SFA) call at Gray and Moore Streets, Clifton Hill. Almost simultaneously they received another SFA call for Fenwick and Spensley Streets, so they went on, turned out Hoddle Street (No. 10) and wired Brunswick. At 5.38 a.m. word back by radio from Station Officer White was that it was a fire well alight in a factory at Clifton Hill. Further word back at 5.56 a.m. was from Deputy Chief Whitehead under control. The hose carriage and four men returned an hour later, just in time for morning roll call. During the morning, Senior Fireman Woolhouse was on station duty and Fireman Wilson went out testing street fire alarms. Neither could have had more than five hours sleep, but the afternoon was quiet. Then in the evening they were out again for a fire in a broom factory and returned to the station at 11.10 p.m. On days like that, continuous duty meant what it said. In 1935 there were two tragic incidents in 'A' District within a few weeks of each other. On 12 April Electricity Commission employee

STATIONS

Thomas Lett was working in a tunnel below a sub -station at East Brunswick when he was trapped by an explosion. Brunswick turned out to the incident and found the area full of dense black smoke and fumes from the burning insulation and pitch on the underground cables. They sent to head station for smoke helmets, but meanwhile Thomas Lett was still trapped down in the tunnel and Senior Fireman L.W. Webb decided to go in after him with nothing but a handkerchief over his nose. Several times the fumes drove him back while he attempted to get a rope around the trapped man. He was unable to see anything for the dense smoke and he had to avoid contact with any of the exposed high tension cables. Finally, he got Lett to the surface. Webb became the third fireman to be awarded the Brigade Valour Medal. Four weeks later on 12 May there was a fire in a furniture factory on George Street, Fitzroy. A total of fifty-four men fought the blaze. Men turned out from the local stations at North Fitzroy and Carlton and because it was a big fire men were also sent from head station and from Hoddle Street and Lord Street, Richmond, both in 'B' District. The fire was under control and some men were already returning to their stations when a wall collapsed and four men were trapped in a pile of red-hot bricks. Station Officer William McCurdy died later in hospital, his helmet twisted and smashed by the falling rubble, but Dan Healy, Geoff Crawford and Roy Cooke survived, despite crushed helmets. One of McCurdy's sons was among the firemen who fought to free him. Both Bert and Bill McCurdy had followed their father into the brigade and were PP firemen at Lord Street. and one of my first instances ... a fireman was killed at one of the first jobs I went to in Collingwood. A wall collapsed over and Station Officer McCurdy was killed and there was three firemen very badly injured ... there was one officer sitting on the wall, Banjo Patterson, and the wall fell up to where he was sitting and he was left perched ... the wall went over and all these hot bricks fell on those guys. [Jack McKimm 21.3.851 It was a big family. It was a family of 260

The northern part of 'A' District was not quite as busy as Brunswick and Fitzroy, but Coburg also had some big fires. On 20 July 1925, half the Lincoln Knitting Mills on Gaffney Street went up. The automatic alarm rang at Brunswick and they turned out Coburg. Two men from Coburg were on the scene before the watchman had even had a chance to open the gates, and they found the place well alight. They sent word back to Brunswick for assistance, ran a line from a hydrant and climbed over the big double gates with the branch. Brunswick arrived and burst the gates open, by which time the fire was showing up from the tower and No. 1 turned out with William Street, Carlton, North Melbourne (No. 48) and North Essendon (No. 52).

The fire started at about 8 p.m. and the night shift were set to guard against looting while the police kept the crowds back. For a while the electricity went off all over Coburg and most of the population turned up to watch the blaze. They were not just disinterested observers. The mills employed about 1000 staff and at

Cup won by Fitzroy City Volunteer Fire Brigade, second team

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

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No. 6 station Sydney Road Coburg, opened 3.9.25. Oakden and Ballantyne were the Board's architects for many years. At first they designed mainly in red brick with stuccoed string moulding. They produced a number offire stations where the red brick is highlighted by lighter bands in this way, especially above windows and doors and in the typical horizontal panel bearing the words Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Those stations follow a range of ideas already used in the Insurance Companies' Brigade Headquarters well before 1891. The stations built in the 1920s depart from this considerably and many, like Coburg, look rather like overgrown private houses with particularly large and prominent garages. Photo MFB Board Report 1925.

least half of them were thrown out of work immediately. The brigade managed to save the spinning mills, so some jobs were still there in the morning. The factory had been fitted with automatic fire alarms, but not with sprinklers. That fire was the same day that Friend Holness was killed. 13'

District

This district covered a wedge from the city out to the north-east. Hoddle Street (No. 10) dated back to before the MFB, and Clifton Hill, Preston, and Lord Street, Richmond (Nos 11, 12 and 17) were almost as old. Hoddle Street underwent major extensions in 1916 when quarters were built to replace the old feed store for the horses. Hoddle Street seems to have had a series of particularly competent District Officers and had almost as much of an air of being at the heart of things as No. 1. Men based at Hoddle Street took pride in the speed with which they turned out and in their wide experience of serious fires. It was also at various times a rowdy station, with big parties and a few notable fights. The stations at Hoddle Street and Lord Street, Richmond, covered some of Melbourne's oldest workingclass suburbs with their mixture of small factories crowded in with small houses, and the firemen were a part of the community in which they lived and worked. The central area of 'B' District got a third station in 1907 on Somerset Street, Burnley, which was given the number 16. The

STATIONS

No. 10 station Hoddle Street, 13' District headquarters, showing men repairing hose in the store for fodder and general repairs, c. 1915. Photo by N.J. Caire, donated to the Melbourne Fire Museum by Dr and Mrs Pitkethly.

location was basically a mistake, and it was closed due to motorisation changes in 1916. The older Clifton Hill station also became unnecessary once stations were equipped with motors rather than horses. To the north, Preston and Northcote (Nos 12 and 13) were better sited to meet the changing face of Melbourne and although

the stations were rebuilt, their names, numbers and locations survived a century of firefighting. The main changes in the District came with suburban development to the north and ,east. Heidelberg (No. 14) was opened in 1906 and Ivanhoe (No. 15) in 1909. Heidelberg was closed in 1953 and the building moved to Deer Park. A new No. 14 was built further out in Lower Plenty Road, Rosanna. Greensborough was also built in response to suburban development to the north-east. A reel house, No. 16, was opened in 1931 and a full station in 1939. Much of 'B' District was grass fire country, and sometimes fires got out of hand. On 19 March 1933 a group of four boys aged about seven went fishing for yabbies in the Merri Creek. That was fine. The problems arose when they decided to cook their catch in jam tins. They started a grass fire which spread to C.A. Graves' timber mill. Northcote (No. 13) turned out, but they were severely handicapped by low water pressure. A total of twenty-eight men from five stations

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

Horse rescue drill at the livery stables opposite Hoddle Street station. Photo Ian Hunter/ Sandy Ross Collection.

worked at the fire, but it was two and a half hours before it was under control. There was a strong wind along the creek and Third Officer Lindsay had them working in relays in the intense heat. That little yabbying expedition ended up costing thirty timber workers their jobs-no minor problem in 1933 with unemployment at record levels.

Fighting grass fires could be a real problem in some areas where there was no water at all. For years the only answer was to fill up a knapsack and walk the water to the fire. Fire beaters were also standard equipment on hose carriages in outer areas. The first appliances with their own water tanks were not introduced until

1949. This was too late for Dr Symes and her mother. The stove in their house on Panorama Avenue, Lower Plenty, caught fire on 10 January 1935 and the flames spread rapidly. The house was outside the MFB area, but Ivanhoe (No. 15) turned out with the volunteer brigade from Eltham. They arrived to find the nearest hydrant,2 miles away, and attempts to pump water from a 500 gallon tank were only partially successful. Mrs Symes was burnt to death, despite Dr Symes' attempts at rescue, and Dr Symes herself died some days later. Fighting a fire in a weatherboard house in January without water-it was back to the days of the bucket brigades. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were repeated requests from the outer suburbs to extend MFB coverage. Harrie B. Lee was keen both to erect more street fire alarms within the existing area and to extend the boundaries of the MFB, but cost was a problem

STATIONS

No. 17 station Lord Street, Richmond, 1929. Station Officer McCurdy is sitting beside the driver, N. McAulfffe. Both McCurdy's sons were partly paid

firemen at the station and they are standing on the back of the hose carriage with Firemen L. Peters and G. Tory and the other PPs at the station-Bracken, Highett, Musgrove and Oliver. Station Officer McCurdy died at a fire in May 1935. 'We lived over the station ... We moved further up Lord Street when father died. Bert stayed on as a PP, but I left after a year and got married ... I wasn't big enough to be a permanent fireman. Tried building up my muscles but failed ...' IWJ. McCurdy 15.3.891. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

and the Board was always more cautious than the Chief. Requests for increased MFB coverage were also refused on the grounds of inadequate water supply and/or roads. For example, in 1924: The cutting up of large areas for building has proceeded swiftly, and the subsequent building of houses also, but the provision of a water supply and desirable conditions for heavy motor traffic has not kept pace, and until this happens little can be done in answer to the many requests [for SFAs]. [MFB Board Report 1924]

By the time Wilkins took over

standard response.

as Chief, this had become the

In many instances an inspection of the district from which the appeal is received for greater protection revealed the fact that the streets were unformed, and in many cases there was an absence of water supply. It should be understood that reasonably good roads and a water supply are first essentials. [Wilkins, MFB Board Report 1929]

Despite these reservations, the MFB area was extended to the north and east on a number of occasions. Such changes left 'B' District with an enormous range of risks to cover. The inner areas were very different from the outer suburbs. Hoddle Street in particular had a

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

station Northcote, 10.10.05. Firemen Frank Moorman and Walter Griffiths with Esther Moorman aged four standing on the kerb. Walter `Jumbo' Griffiths was the first recipient of the Brigade Valour Medal. On 11.12.18 he rescued an MMBW employee from a sewer in Richmond where three men had been overcome by gas. Griffiths had nothing but a wet sponge over his mouth and was himself overcome while trying to rescue the others. He was saved by other firemen wearing gas helmets. Photo donated to Melbourne Fire Museum by Esther Lees, nĂŠe Moorman. No. 13

reputation for having the toughest firemen to fight the toughest fires. Lord Street, Richmond, was similar. On 26 October 1940 they turned out to a fire in a waste paper store in Gipps Street,

Collingwood.

bad show this. Australian Paper Mills had a storeroom in Gipps Street Collingwood, a three storey building, and this was storage for paper. I'd been to Lodge and I got home somewhere round about twelve o'clock, midnight, and the chappie on duty said 'Oh, there's a big fire round Gipps Street and they'd like you to go round there.' Well I went around and it was a fire all right, big fire, but they had it pretty well subdued shortly after I got there and I went in on the ground floor to have a look see and the ceiling above, that had collapsed, fallen down, and Fourth [sic] Officer Fred Cooke, that came down onto him and killed him and his orderly. Morton Wright was his orderly, followed him through, and he was also there underneath, six feet away from Cooke's body, so I got hold of Cooke and dragged him out and also Morton Wright, but that was a bad show. The fire was almost out and he was just going through to the final survey. Cooke was a hell of a good fellow A

too. [Bert Manning 7.3.85]

Bert Manning was based at Lord Street (No. 17) at the time, while No. 1, which was also where Third Officer Fred Cooke was based.

Jack Steel was at

STATIONS

was at the fire the night Mr Cooke and Fireman Wright got killed. Our son was in the bassinet at the time. We'd just moved into quarters at head station. That was 1940, about October or November. I was at that fire, Gipps Street Collingwood ... the station officer at the time, he said `I want you to operate this pump'. I got taken about 500 feet away from the fire in charge of this pump and we had our streams coming out of it, only two of them off this appliance and I was down there for about the next four or five hours ... After an hour or two one of the fellows who was a station officer came down and he said 'Have you seen Mr Cooke and Morton Wright? We can't find them.' and I said 'No I haven't, I've been down here for an hour or two' and I didn't know what was going on, but I remember seeing a great ball of fire come out of the building ... Later on I got told what happened and this was a lesson that you learned by experience ... the water going into the paper ... it made it too heavy for the building and the first floor just collapsed ... Mr Cooke and Morton Wright, it just came down and killed them. There was all hands to the pump and men came off leave. They eventually recovered them some time during the morning. It was devastating. We had not long been allocated quarters at Eastern Hill. Mr and Mrs Cooke, they had quarters right in the front of the place above the old engine room and our quarters were just along from them. We'd been married about a year ... We turned out about seven o'clock. I wasn't home by ten o'clock and eleven o'clock and the wife got a bit worried and went out on the balcony to see if she could see me or see someone to ask what was going on and Mrs Cooke came along, a lady in her sixties at the time. She said 'Don't worry Mrs Steel. He'll be all right. When you've been here as long as I've been ...' She didn't know, of course, that her husband was dead ... She had a son who was a station officer, Roy Cooke. [Jack Steel 24.6.851 I

`C'

District

This district covered the old eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and some of the stations such as Hawthorn (No. 18) followed on from volunteer predecessors. Canterbury and East Malvern (No. 22 and the No. 26) were opened just after the turn of the century, reflecting rail suburban the between and growing population density along lines. Over the years the focus of the district shifted east. Stations in the west of the district were thinned out during the process of motorisation. Canterbury closed in 1914 and East Malvern in 1919. Meanwhile, suburban development was proceeding ever further east. Ringwood got a fire station in 1926 (No. 22), while a reel house was opened at Croydon (the new No. 26) in 1929. older Most of the equipment in the district was concentrated in the new A splendid Station. suburbs and Hawthorn was the District complete 1909-10, in Street two -bay station was built on William with quarters. A horse drawn Waterous' petrol pump was installed in the new station. The outer areas were not totally neglected. One It of the two old manual fire engines was based at Box Hill (No. 20). very used not was and it needed two shifts of sixteen men to work new often. Early in 1909 this antique was replaced by a brand per gallons 260 capacity Waterous New Century' petrol pump, to needed was horse one minute. One man could work it and only make to had however, 21), tow it to the fire ground. Surrey Hills (No. do with a hose reel.

Old telephone as used by the MFB

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

station Hawthorn. The official opening of the District Station in 1910, District Officer Brinns in charge. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library

No. 18

of Victoria.

My earliest recollections are at Surrey Hills fire station where my father was the first permanent fireman. That was Russell Street and I can remember exercising the horse every morning at approximately half past six up and down Russell Street in the cart and the horse's name was Spangles ... My father tells me that when he went there as the first permanent fireman the station had to be altered to do away with a hand cart, hand pulled cart, to the horse vehicle. A man called Charlie West put up the scaffolding around the doorway of the station so he could enlarge the door. When he knocked off at five o'clock at night he went and left the scaffolding up so if my father got a call, before he could turn out he had to dismantle the scaffolding. [Harry Newport 1.3.85]

The alterations and additions to accommodate horses and a permanent man were made in 1910. The Newports lived next door to the fire station until 1914, when Mr Newport was transferred to Hoddle Street. The outer stations of 'C' District were seldom busy, even in summer, but they did have their little dramas. passed the examination ... and I finished up, I was a Senior Fireman and transferred then to be in charge of Camberwell. I thought I was getting somewhere in life and it was a decent start. Senior Firemen were usually put in charge of the smaller stations ... Camberwell was only a three man station when I worked there and then they built the new fire station on Camberwell Road, but the old fire station was where there used to be Regal Taxis ... We were living in quarters there ... my daughter was born there in 1929. I was there from 1924 to 1931. I

[Walter Smyth 26.7.85]

U STATIONS

station Surrey Hills. Mark Percy Newport and Spangles are probably in the picture. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

No. 21

One day in the early spring of 1928 Mr Smyth was involved in a rather embarrassing incident for a fireman. The morning of Saturday 22 September was quiet and two of the three permanent firemen were on leave, but two of the PPs were on duty with Senior Fireman Smyth. Early in the afternoon they turned out for a grass fire in High Street, near the Glen Iris railway station. Mrs Smyth took over station duty answering the phones and the three men drove off. The hose carriage and three men returned after only twenty minutes, having successfully put out the grass fire, but their firefighting activities were not finished for the day. After another twenty minutes Senior Fireman Smyth noted in the Occurrence Book: 3.20 p.m. Wired District Officer Devine that we have had a fire in our hose carriage at the rear of the driver's seat, six fire beaters, rear board of seat & scaling ladders damaged by same 4.19 p.m. DO Devine arrived here with 6 fire beaters & inspected damage to Hose Carriage & ladders & asked for a report to be sent to him on same

The report was duly sent in, the damaged beaters and scaling ladders replaced, and Wally Smyth ordered to head station to explain himself. Wednesday 26 September ... be 3.42 p.m. District station wired in future all fire beaters must to also and use after carriage hose on replaced examined before being station. to return on be again examined

111111..--

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

22 station Ringwood. This temporary station on Melbourne Street, behind the Town Hall, was opened on 15.3.26. It was equipped with a 1916 vintage Hotchkiss hose carriage, with Fireman T. Harrigan in charge. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

No.

In May 1925 a campaign was launched to extend MFB coverage to the Ringwood area, to protect the new suburbs of Blackburn, Tunstall, Mitcham, Croydon and Doncaster. The first request for MFB protection, three years earlier, had been rejected. 'Since then adequate water supply for the higher area of Mitcham and elsewhere had removed any difficulty with regard to the water pressure. Consequent upon the electrification of the railway to the district, the shire had grown at a rapid rate' [The Argus 15.5.25]. In 1908 Ringwood had only six shops. By 1925 there were sixtyseven and the population had grown from 200 to 2500. The MFB Board agreed to send representatives to visit the area and they subsequently recommended that the Board area be extended right out to include Croydon. Ringwood was provided with a temporary station in 1926 and in 1930 a new building with two sets of quarters was opened on Whitehorse Road. The old Sunshine station was moved to become the new Croydon reel house on Railway Avenue. It was opened in 1929. Croydon, the furthest outpost of 'C' District, was even quieter than Camberwell. It was manned entirely by PP firemen and equipped with a hand pulled hose reel. The six PPs assembled at the station every Tuesday night for drill, and every other week Senior Fireman King came along from Ringwood to put them through their paces. On Tuesday nights one of them was also sent out inspecting ball hydrants. In 1931 bonfire night, 5 November, fell on a Thursday, so they varied the routine and SF King came over for drill on Thursday that week, just in case. But there was no call. In fact the station was only turned out to one fire between 16 June and 15 December 1931.

STATIONS

station Croydon, 1936. The hand reel broke down on the way to a call. It took eight men holding up the broken side and running with one wheel to get it back to the fire station. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

No. 26

Saturday 5 December 1931 ... 7.33 p.m. Turning out hand reel for a passer by call to a fire in Oxford Road near Railway Bridge Croydon. Wired No. 22 Station 7.34 p.m. Mrs Costar on station duty 8.11 p.m. Wired No. 22 Station hand reel and 5 men returned

They were not so lucky in 1936. The reel broke down on the way to a fire and had to be hauled back on one wheel, by hand. 1935 was even more exciting. On Sunday 11 February there was a 'sensational

train crash' at the railway station just opposite the reel house. At 8.10 a.m. the train from Ringwood ran out of control and crashed into a stationary train. There were no passengers, but some members of the crew were injured and the leading carriage caught fire. Fireman Anderson lived opposite the station and he saw the crash coming as the train hurtled through. He rang the fire bell before the fire even started, wired Ringwood for assistance and rushed down to the fire with the hand reel. Even so, it was half an hour before the fire was under control.

D' District D' district covered the south-eastern suburbs and the pattern of stations in the 1980s bore very little resemblance to that of 1910. Of the eleven stations in 1910, only the four bayside stations survived

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

into the 1980s with the same name and number and only one of those, Brighton, was on the original 1910 site. The character of 'C' and 'D' districts was similar, with a number of small stations and a preponderance of grass and house fires, although both Prahran (No. 27) and St Kilda (No. 37) had some spectacular fires in public buildings. Sandringham (No. 36) illustrates the pattern of life at one of the smaller stations. Most of the women were part of the job. I was shifted down to Sandringham. I was in charge down there. In those days there was only a couple of men on duty, you know, and you'd turn out to a fire and the women'd come down, after a bit of instruction, they'd come down and take charge of the watch room ... I had an off-sider there, a bloke named Joe Parmley, he was a good bloke ... he wouldn't be an officer but he was a Senior Fireman and I'd just pass on to him something that had to be done today and he'd do it. When I came on he would tell me something that's cropped up and I'd look after it. So we worked in pretty well there. Those places we were good cobbers, just worked together. You take a pride in your station, used to have to keep the station clean and that. I remember once when the officer came out to pay us ... on his way out he lifted up the doors on me hose carriage to have a look and see how me gear was. Well it was clean, you know, I made sure it was clean. And he didn't comment. He just put the door down and went out. But you felt good about it. You'd say 'well, I'm doing me job' and that's the main thing. I used to take the job seriously as far as that's concerned, and me station clean, and done everything that had to be done according to regulations. [Bill Cooke 28.2.85] A firefighter's life was rather mundane most of the time, and it was not long before each new fire became just another job. The tragedies were the exceptions.

No. 27 station (Windsor), Albert Street, Prahran, opened 1892. Prahran was built in the same tradition as many of the older stations-red brick decorated with horizontal lines of lighter stucco. The adjacent quarters are set back from the road, with balconies and a garden. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum;

STATIONS

No.

30 station Glen Eira Road, Caulfield, was opened in 1893 and closed in 1919. The paling fence around the garden gives a domestic look to this

smaller suburban station. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

At about 2 a.m. on Saturday, 24 March 1934 a fire broke out in

wooden stables on Latrobe Street, Mentone. In the stables were Garryowen and a young race horse. Garryowen was a beautiful little horse, bright bay, and he and his owner Violet Murrell had won almost everything it was possible to win on the show circuit, including the 14 hands hack championships at both Sydney and Melbourne. Violet Murrell and her husband William were asleep in the house about 65 feet away. They were roused by a neighbour and Mrs Murrell rushed out in her nightgown. By this time the stables

29 station Glenhuntly, opened in 1917 and closed in 1988. The white pillars and facade above the engine bay doors of this Oakden and Ballantyne station emphasise the difference between the working area of the station and the residential parts of the building. Photo Alan Richards Collection. No.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

were well alight but she went straight in. The horses would not go back through the flames with her so she tried to get them out of the rear door, but it was locked. Her husband went in after her and carried her out. It was only at this stage that the brigade was called. Cheltenham (No. 34) and Mentone (No. 33) turned out. They put out the fire, but by then it was too late. Station Officer W. Mansfield from Cheltenham gave first aid to Mr and Mrs Murrell while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. The horses were already dead. Violet Murrell died the next day and William Murrell died on 4 April. Their deaths are remembered every year at the Royal Melbourne Show in the premier ladies' riding event, the Garryowen.

`E' District This was the smallest district, covering the area due south of the city, between the Yarra River and the bay, and it had the longest tradition of volunteer firefighting. South Melbourne had two stations of that name, No. 38 on the corner of Cecil and Little Park streets and No. 39 on the corner of Moray and Hanna streets (now Kingsway). To avoid confusion, or perhaps to cause it, the latter was known as South Melbourne No. 2 and it was taken over directly from the volunteer brigade. By the turn of the century it was in a rather dilapidated condition. This unsightly and antiquated relic of the Volunteer Fire Brigade system is quite unworthy of a fire department in a city like our own & should be entirely removed. It is in a splendid strategic position commanding the wharves and factories adjacent & is also at the gate of the city proper & should be equipped with an up to date plant. [Report from District Superintendent Harry Bunn to Chief H.B. Lee 4.11.08]

This recommendation was not accepted, although the new motor salvage van was based at the station from 1910. No. 39 station remained in use until 1919, when the new No. 2 station in the city opened on William Street. A report on the rented quarters at No. 39 dated October 1910 mentions leaks in the roof, plaster falling off the walls, and vermin. Living conditions were clearly terrible and other conditions may not have been that good either. Relationships between the firemen at No. 39 seem to have been strained. No. 39 Station May 1909

Report of Fireman A. Price relative to delay in sending word back. To H.B. Lee Esq. Chief Officer MFB

Sir, Standpipe with hose and branchpipe attached

I have the honor to report for your information that at 8.14 pm on the 22nd I received a message from Senior Fireman Nilsson to tell No. 38 Station that we were turning out for a small fire in the Austral Otis

STATIONS

37 station Brighton Road, St Kilda, opened in 1927 and closed in 1989. The architects for St Kilda were Seabrook and Fildes. Unusually it is the

No.

quarters that front onto the main road and not the engine bays. The open work screens around the terrace areas of the quarters give them an exotic, almost Mediterranean, flavour perhaps considered appropriate for a bayside suburb. The difference from the Oakden and Ballantyne stations is dramatic. Photo MFB Board. Engineering Coy, and we don't want any more assistance. I did not hear Senior Fireman Nilsson tell me to send any further word back ...

The fire was 330 feet from the station and clearly visible. Nilsson told a rather different story from Price. as soon as we arrived there & I saw what the fire was, I told Fireman Price to run over to the station and wire fire under control & no more assistance wanted; with the assistance of Fireman Antonie I reached the seat of the fire & extinguished it in a few minutes, to my surprise Fireman Buntz came and informed me to at once go to the station & explain to the D.C.O. why I had not sent word back ... ...

Harry Bunn, the District Officer, blamed Price. The first word back he sent reported the fire and said he could see it, so No. 38 turned out. He did not say that they did not want assistance. The second word back was never sent. Six months later there was a similar incident, this time involving B. Woods, the Station Officer at No. 39. to beg to report that at 7.20 p.m. on the 9th inst No. 38 Station wired Street York reaching On Streets. Moray and Bank for reel turn out hand to work we received a lift from a passing wagon. On reaching & getting to Price Fireman told I control at the fire, & seeing the fire was under On spot. the left he that noticed I control. send word back under word back meeting District Officer Bunn I informed him that I had sent if he had sent I asked through Price. On seeing Price shortly afterwards I

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

word back, he informed me that he had done so through a man on horseback. Thinking it strange, I informed Mr Bunn. [Report from Station Officer Woods to Chief H.B. Lee 9.11.09]

Fireman Price also had to write a report to the Chief. ... report re sending word back from late fire in Moray Street which I know nothing about. I turned out with the hand reel and when we reached the fire Fireman Antonie took the stand pipe off the hand reel. Station Officer Woods took the branch and I pulled the hand reel back to Fireman Antonie to break the coupling and turn on. I did not see Station Officer Woods for about five minutes.

This time, Bunn was not so sure Price was to blame. 'Price is a most unreliable man' he reported, 'but from what I can judge the matter seems doubtful and calls for enquiry.' Fireman Price seems to have been in and out of trouble almost all the time. When the new salvage van had a minor accident in March 1911, guess who was driving. The District Station was No. 38, which was also the home of the brigade workshops until the end of 1909. In those days workshop staff were all uniformed firemen on continuous duty like everyone else. In 1909 the only 'outside hands' were Langenberger, Rippingale and Ryria. The rest were tradesmen/firemen like Robert and Henry King, father and son, both blacksmiths. Robert King suffered an accident in October 1909, but not in the blacksmiths' shop. Fireman King was leading a horse (harnessed) along City Road Sth Melbourne; when passing under the viaduct a motor car driven by a Mr Knox coming along behind frightened the horse which reared & in plunging about threw King against the brickwork & injured him; he went on however & brought back the engine he had been sent for & on his return I thought it advisable to send him to the Brigade Doctor who has certified his unfitness for duty. [Report from District Officer Harry Bunn to Chief H.B. Lee 22.10.09]

The workshops consisted of stables, farrier and blacksmith's shops and forges, carpenter's shop, storeroom, kerosene store, lumber shed, manure pit and covered shoeing yard. All of these and the water closets needed rebuilding by 1908. They were indeed rebuilt, but at head station. The departure of all those bricklayers, carpenters, coach -painters, house -painters, plasterers, plumbers, saddlers, farriers and blacksmiths made South Melbourne a much quieter station. Walter Smyth moved there from head station in 1920. There were only about ten or a dozen men, altogether different [from No. 1] The routine work was the same-testing alarms-and there was no drill, only on the steamers and the appliances that we had there ... We used to get our meals next door. There was a ... Miss McKenzie who used to run this place & she fed the firemen for about twenty or thirty years. Meg McKenzie-she was a dear old soul. She did all the cooking. Joe Palmley, the bike rider, was about the best eater she reckoned she ever had. He used to have five chops at a time. [Walter Smyth 26.7.85] .

Pistol-type fire

extinguisher

STATIONS

No.

38 station South Melbourne c. 1920. Robert King is on the far left and DO Harry Bunn on the far right. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

On 3 July 1915 the hose cart from Port Melbourne (No. 41) and the motor hose carriage from No. 38 attended a fire in an empty house in Port Melbourne: `... when we were approaching the fire

which was in 217 Heath St adjoining Hoars Butchers shop, the roadway was obscured by dense smoke & we suddenly observed a wash stand or similar article of furniture in the road way in front of the motor ...' Harry Bunn was 'sounding the bell so that we should not bump into any of the crowd' but the wash stand was smashed. Mrs R. Cross, the owner, appealed to the Board for compensation. Her appeal ground through the Finance Committee and the full Board and was then referred to the Plant and Buildings Committee. Harry Bunn sent them a lengthy report which showed that he had visited half the residents of Heath Street, collecting evidence. Besides Mrs Cross, Mrs Kelly and Mrs Farrelly were also claiming compensation from the Board for damage to furniture at the time of the fire. None of their houses were actually burnt, but the neighbours hauled all their furniture into the road, just in case. these people are wretchedly poor and any losses they sustain are severely felt, especially during thee bad times when work is intermittent later & hard to obtain, but to pay claims like these would entail trouble ...

on ...

... Mrs Cross has no conception of the status or scope of the Board's powers & imagines that it is for helping the sufferers in these cases. [Report from District Officer Harry Bunn to Chief H. B. Lee 24.8.151

for the wash stand and a wire mattress. The She was claiming Plant and Buildings Committee met on 26 August and resolved to inform Mrs Cross 'that the Board is not responsible for alleged damage to furniture'.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

100

`F' District

This district covered the western and south-western suburbs, including risks such as the oil storage depots along the Yarra River. In 1925 Chief Wilkins was asked by a reporter to put the fires he had seen into rank order. The two biggest (Craig Williamson in 1897 and Wallach's Buildings in 1907) were in the City, but the next two were both in 'F' district: the Williamstown fire of 1909 when several acres of wooden houses were destroyed, and the Spotswood fire of 1922 in the depot where the British Imperial Oil Company stored several thousand drums of oil. So intense was the heat that molten bluestone ran like water. The danger lay in the fickleness of the wind. Shielded by sheets of iron and wet bags, the firemen worked up as close as possible to a sheer wall of flame and black smoke, several hundred feet high. Had the wind suddenly changed and blown the flames down on them they would have been shrivelled up like ants. There would have been little hope of escape. Once the wind did alter slightly, and every man fell flat on his stomach. [Wilkins, quoted in The Sun News -Pictorial 9.5.25]

Ten years later there were fears of a similar conflagration in the Shell Company's depot, when there was an explosion in one of the storage tanks. On the morning of 19 July 1932 the oil tanker Murex on the Yarra River had just finished filling a 1.5 million gallon tank with kerosene. As the ship pulled away there was an explosion in the storage tank. The warning whistles at the depot went off and were heard at the Newport fire station seconds before a street fire alarm call. They turned out with Williamstown and No. 1 and got to work with foam generators. The foam was pumped into the kerosene tank by firemen up ladders, while water was played on the outside of the tank to cool it down. Fortunately, it was a cold, damp day, which helped prevent a second explosion. The fire was under control in an hour and half. At Newport we had a fire in Shell and it was a kerosene tank was alight and we used about three and a half tons of foam on it and it was very dangerous because it was hard to get at. If I remember, I went up with the District Officer and we went up on top with the manager and we opened the lid up and let the air off. We took a risk because it had rocked and it was a bit rocky, but we kept at that ... for an hour or so, but we got that out all right. But that was a dangerous fire. Had a few fires similar to that while I was at Newport. One, the tank blew up and two welders were up top. They'd been welding the tank on top and it was still being filled. Threw them both off. Killed the father,

Fire extinguisher

poor chap. Another one we were pumping petrol. We were standing by. There was no hope of trying to get the petrol out. The petrol had overflowed and those tanks are built on pits on old quarries and it was all down into the ground underneath and she was really ready to go, but fortunately although they were wielding picks and shovels and things there was no spark. We were standing by with the foam. It would have gone with a flash ...

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101

station McBain Street, Altona. The photograph was taken c. 1978 and shows members of the Historical Society wearing period uniforms in what used to be the No. 3 pump. Photo Barbara McCumisky Collection.

No. 46

We had a fire in Yarraville. It was a tar fire. Bitumen was on fire on top of the tank and we had to go up about twenty feet and go across and the whole thing was thick with tar. You could hardly stand on your feet because the stuff was hot and you couldn't see where the pit was. That was one of the most dangerous situations I think I was in. We finally put it out with foam; cooled it down and put it out with foam, but it was almost impossible to see. You had to feel with your feet. After a while ... fireman's feet become, you know how in the dark you can feel with your hand? Well, your toes get like that. [Bill Woolhouse 19.4.85]

A ton of foam was always kept at Newport and supplies at No. 1 and at the oil depots. Of course not all of 'F' District was quite so

there were additional

dramatic, or at least not all the time. Altona, for instance, was rather less hectic. The local progress association first requested MFB coverage in 1919 and was told that, without water, there was little point. The Shire of Werribee applied again in 1929 once the MMBW had extended reticulation through the area, and offered the Board a free site, but 1929 was not a good year for asking anyone to spend money, and it was 23 February 1933 before a PP station was opened in McBain Street, Altona.

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

102

station Willis Street, Yarraville. This was built as a volunteer station and taken over by the MFB in 1891. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

No. 45

The volunteers at the new No. 46 station seem to have had something of a disagreement with the District Officer over what was appropriate behaviour for firemen. From Wright, DO, No. 42 station 1 May 1933 To Chief Wilkins re volunteer staff at No. 46 Station The volunteers at Altona station have been asked to obey certain necessary rules, such as Lights Out, at a reasonable hour, no carousing on the premises and obedience and loyalty to the officer -in-charge. As they have not been allowed to do as they think fit, the majority of them have resigned. We have about three decent fellows left, and with promises of support, we shall be able to build up to a small number of good men who will be of more use and credit to the service, than the ones who have seen fit to withdraw. [Report from Whittaker Wright, District Officer, to Chief Wilkins]

In October 1933, G. Irwin was put in charge as the senior PP fireman. He had at his disposal one hand drawn hose reel, 1200 feet of hose, two branches, a 'Y' coupling, a stand -pipe, two hand extinguishers and some beaters. That remained the equipment at Altona until 1939 when the old weatherboard reel house was rebuilt to accommodate a Bedford motor hose carriage.

STATIONS

103

P101.1011

ff,

station Hampshire Road, Sunshine, 1928. This is the type of building now being erected to house men and appliances at outer suburban Fire Stations.' As was appropriate to a grand scheme to turn the Brigade into one big family, Sunshine looks like a large house with an overgrown double garage. Photo MFB Board.

No. 44

There was another No. 46 station, many years before Altona. The heart of 'F' District was the old industrial suburbs along the lower Yarra. There were fire stations at Yarraville and Footscray for years before the MFB was formed, and the original Footscray volunteer reel house remained in use until 1915. A description of it in 1913 survives. No. 46

stn. Charles

Victoria streets

This station consists of an old Wooden Reel House rented by the Brigade at the c/r Charles st & Victoria st Footscray, being in charge of P.P. Fireman G. Billin who is the owner of the property. If a motor appliance was stationed at Footscray or Yarraville this station could be closed down. Otherwise I would recommend that a new station be built in the locality. [Report from C. Lindsey, District Officer, to Chief H.B. Lee 31.12.13] No. 45

stn Yarraville

The above station requires renovating and painting throughout. The present engine house is too small & should be made larger. The quarters have only 3 small rooms & 2 additional rooms should be built to same. The men at this station are sleeping in an old room adjoining the Engine House on the West side; these men also require new Quarters 3 wardrobes & linoleum. This station was not finished the plans show quarters on each side of the Engine House I recommend this station be sold and a new station built in a more convenient position. [Report from C. Lindsey, District Officer, to Chief H.B. Lee 31.12.13]

The station remained in use for another forty-seven years. It might be noted that these reports were written not long after District Officer Bunn (`E' District) sent in his recommendation to expand and rebuild the old South Melbourne No. 2. After his trip to Europe in

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

104

No. 43 station Cecil Street, Williamstown, c. 1905. While Sunshine had to wait until 1928 to get accommodationfor full time firemen, Williamstown was provided with quarters from 1893. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

1913, Harrie B. Lee embarked on a major programme of rebuilding, altering and extending stations, both to cater for motorisation and to provide accommodation for as many firemen as possible on stations. Clearly he took the elementary step of asking for the views of his District Officers before he did so, even if he disregarded their advice as often as not. `G'

District

This district covered a wedge out to the north and west of the city, and much of the area was similar to 'F' District. It dealt with everything from major chemical risks to grass fires. North Melbourne

STATIONS

105

No. 48 station North Melbourne, with the Melba pump on the left. The architect was Cedric H. Ballantyne. In 1911 he extended the original 1893 design in the same style and added quarters at the back. The courtyard garden can just be glimpsed through the entrance to the yard. Photo Lawrence Bottomley Collection.

was the District Station. This was opened in 1893 as a single bay station, but in 1911 it was enlarged and provided with rather beautifully designed quarters. (No. 48)

In 1952 ... there was a call for a fire in a marine store nearly opposite the fire station in North Melbourne. We went there and were working on it when all of a sudden there was an explosion and I got the lot. I had twenty-six stitches in my face, three in my right eyeball, two in my left eyeball, one in my tongue and I was immediately rushed off to St Vincent's ... and then the Eye and Ear Hospital where I spent about three weeks and then of course back to duty again, but I never turned out to a fire after that. That was the end of my firefighting days. [Walter Smyth 26. 7. 85]

There was magnesium stored there, but we didn't know. Had to go upstairs with several of the men. The hose went into this burning mass of magnesium, there was an explosion, and I got the lot. [Walter Smyth 15.7.88] The knees, where the tunic came half way down the thighs and the boots came up nearly to the knees, you'd think a wild dog had had a feed of them. They couldn't do any stitching with them at all. They just had to let them heal. [Walter Smyth 26.7.85]

Walter Smyth was fifty-nine years old and his sight was permanently impaired. He received ÂŁ1000 in compensation. His knees healed without scars. North Melbourne was the District Station and the main centre of

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106

1,4614,74

The quarters behind North Melbourne fire station, one of the more elegant solutions in Melbourne to the problem of design for living under the bells. Photo Lawrence Bottomley Collection.

activity, but some of the other stations tended to be quieter. Stan McNamee found Essendon (No. 51) very quiet after three years at

No. 1.

In 1942 ... I bought this block of land here at Essendon. I had this thing that it was on the way home to Tarnagulla up the bush ... I paid ÂŁ300. I was on holidays and I was breaking my neck to try and get a shift to transfer to Essendon. In those days there were four men at this station ... I'm up at Tarnagulla on holidays and I get a letter from a good friend ... that there's a chance they might put another man on out here at Essendon, as a Liberator bomber crashed up here ... One fireman and a PP fireman turned out and it was so wet they got bogged, pretty tough ... So anyhow, I came back and put in this application for a transfer to Essendon and I got the shift, I think it was June 1942 [Stan McNamee 29.3.851

Stan McNamee had the bells put on at the house he built by the fire station. Something of the rustic nature of Essendon in the 1940s can be gauged from the story of the day when he had trouble answering the bells.

STATIONS

107

49 station Kensington. Like Yarraville, this pre-MFB station was built with a horseshoe arch to the engine bay. It was closed in 1961 and subsequently converted to a private house. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum. No.

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We had visitors in the lounge and the bells go on so I roar out the front, it was always fairly quick, and I go to take the bend and there'd been a blinking cow or something had left its visiting card, a great dollop on the footpath. I didn't notice it and I must have hit it as I'm taking the bend and over I go, flat on my back. I'd hardly hit the ground and I bounced back and roared on over ... We had about five part paid firemen. They lived within a couple of hundred yards of the fire station ... They were mainly available at night ... They didn't get paid for false alarms. They only got paid for actual fires. Talking of an out station, one of the big improvements at the out stations was when they brought in the two-way radios on the fire engines. I can recall a few times say going out to the back of Keilor, quite a big extensive grass fire and a hot north windy day and when you'd get there, there'd be maybe only you and another fireman, and the trouble then was whoever was the senior fireman, he'd have to go straight back, head straight back to Keilor maybe, a mile or two miles, and send word back ... and you're left on your own. So when they

brought in the two-way radio it meant instantly you sent word back that you wanted further assistance. [The other major improvement was] ... probably carrying the water. They carried about 300 gallons on the engines. You see, when I first came out to Essendon they only had knapsack pumps. You'd strap those things on and you'd be climbing up and down the Maribyrnong River, nearly killing you; terrible job. You'd have to fill it up and go back up the top again. So when they brought in these carriages with carrying water, 300 gallons, that made a tremendous difference. At least you had probably half an hour's pumping. ... Some of the grass fires can be more dangerous than houses or factories. They can double back on you. Terrible heat ... but then they're not as bad as the bush fires ... they're ten times worse. [Stan McNamee 29.3.85]

Districts and stations; names, dates and numbers Central District In 1910 the stations were as follows: No. 1 head station Eastern Hill, cnr Victoria and Gisborne Streets; opened 1893; new station cnr Gisborne and Albert Streets 1972 No. 2 447 Little Bourke Street; existing station 1891; new station William Street 1919; new station 58-64 Batman Street, West

Melbourne 1964

A' District

Glass hand grenade type fire extinguisher

In 1910 the stations were as follows: No. 3 Carlton, Bouverie Street; opened 1893; Special Service 1929; new station Swanston Street 1929 No. 4 Brunswick, Michael Street; opened 1893; rebuilt 1912; new station Blyth Street 1937 No. 5 Moreland, Davis Street; reel station opened 1893; closed 1912 No. 6 Coburg, cnr Victoria and Mary Streets; opened 1894; new

station Sydney Road 1925

STATIONS

109

No. 7 North Carlton, 129 Amess Street; opened 1893; closed 1915 No. 8 Moonee Vale, McColl Street No. 9 North Fitzroy, St George's Road; existing station 1891; rebuilt

1912; closed 1983

Later stations No. 5 Broadmeadows, Camp Road; opened 1961 No. 7 Thomastown; opened 1988

B' District In 1910 the stations were as follows: No. 10 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford; existing station 1891; extensions 1916; closed 1966 No. 11 Clifton Hill, 662 Smith Street; bought 1892; closed 1913 No. 12 Preston, High Street; bought 1892; new station 1913 No. 13 Northcote, Mitchell Street; opened 1894; new station 1971 No. 14 Heidelberg, Cape Street; opened 1906; closed 1953 No. 15 Ivanhoe, Heidelberg Road; opened 1909 No. 16 Burnley, Somerset Street; opened 1907; closed 1916 No. 17 Richmond, Lord Street; opened 1893; new station Church Street 1966 (no. 10) Reel Shed, Richmond Town Hall, no number

Later stations

No. 11 Lalor, Vasey Avenue; old 1907 Mentone Station relocated 1958 No. 14 Rosanna, Lower Plenty Road; opened 1953 No. 16 Greensborough, Church Street; reel house 1931; opened

1939; new station 1963

`C'

District

In 1910 the stations were as follows: No. 18 Hawthorn, William Street; tower 1893; new station 1910 No. 19 Kew, cnr Peel and Walton Streets; opened 1893; new station Belford Road 1941 No. 20 Box Hill, Watts Street; opened 1893; wooden tower 1895; new station 1917; new station Maroondah Highway 1935 No. 21 Surrey Hills, Russell Street; opened 1894; new station

Balmoral Crescent 1920 No. 22 Canterbury, Canterbury Road; reel station opened 1899; closed 1914 No. 23 Camberwell [Boroondara], Cheriton Street; reel shed opened c. 1893; moved to Riversdale Road 1899; new station Camberwell Road 1938 No. 24 Malvern, High Street 1893; new station Willis Street 1906 No. 25 Oakleigh, Atherton Road; opened 1895; new station Clyde Street 1931 No. 26 East Malvern, cnr Waverly and Dandenong Roads; opened 1902; closed 1919

Glass fire extinguisher

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Later stations No. 22 Ringwood, Melbourne Street; opened 1926; new station Maroondah Highway 1930 No. 26 Croydon, Railway Avenue; reel house opened 1929; new station Croydon Road 1959 No. 27 Nunawading, Maroondah Highway; opened 1959 No. 28 Waverley, High Street Road; opened 1960

D' District In 1910 the stations were as follows: No. 27 Prahran, Albert Street; opened 1892; new station 1941 (Windsor, No 35) No. 28 South Yarra, existing station 1891; Davis Street opened 1894; new station Garden Street 1916; closed 1959 No. 29 East Prahran, cnr Williams and Aberdeen Streets; opened 1895; closed 1916 No. 30 Caulfield, Glen Eira Road; opened 1895; closed 1919 No. 31 Elsternwick, existing station 1891; Selwyn Street opened 1895; closed 1925 No. 32 Brighton, Boxshall Street; opened 1895; new station 1939; closed 1989 No. 33 Mentone, Mentone Parade; opened 1906; new station Nepean Highway 1956, old station to Lalor No. 34 Cheltenham, Pt Nepean Road; opened 1911; closed 1957 No. 35 Mordialloc; sold 1941 No. 36 Sandringham, Bay Road; opened 1901; new station Bluff Road 1924 No. 37 St Kilda, existing station 1891 (Balaclava); cnr Inkerman and Greeve Streets opened 1895; new station Brighton Road 1927; closed 1989

Later stations No. 29 Glenhuntly, Glenhuntly Road; opened 1917; closed 1988 No. 30 Templestowe, Foote Street; opened 1971 No. 31 Wheelers Hill, Ferntree Gully Road; opened 1975 No. 34 Moorabbin, South Road; opened 1958

`E'

Fire extinguisher

District

The stations in 1910 were as follows: No. 38 South Melbourne, cnr Cecil and Little Park Streets; opened 1893; alterations 1910, 1927, 1942 No. 39 South Melbourne No. 2, cnr Moray and Hanna Streets (Kingsway); existing station 1891; sold 1919 No. 40 Middle Park No. 41 Port Melbourne, Liardet Street; site leased 1892; new station Williamstown Road 1939 (No. 39)

STATIONS

111

`F'

District

stations were as follows: 42 Newport, Melbourne Road; opened 1906; rebuilt 1979 43 Williamstown, Cecil Street; opened 1893; closed 1957 44 Braybrook, Derby Road; opened 1894; new station, called Sunshine, 1911; new station Hampshire Road 1928; new station McIntyre Road 1987 No. 45 Yarraville, existing station 1891; new station Murray Street 1895; sold 1960 No. 46 Footscray, cnr Charles and Victoria Streets; existing reel shed 1891; closed 1915 No. 47 Footscray, Droop Street; opened 1894; new station 1941 In 1910 the No. No. No.

Later stations No. 40 Laverton, Railway Avenue; opened 1977 No. 43 Deer Park, Ballarat Road; PP station 44D 1940s; new station

1967

45 Spotswood, Highgate Street; opened 1960 No. 46 Altona, McBain Street; bought 1933; rebuilt 1939; new station Akuna Street 1961

No..

`G'

District

the stations were as follows: 48 North Melbourne, Curzon Street; opened 1893; extended 1911 49 Kensington, bought 1892; new station Wellington Street 1896; closed 1961 No. 50 Ascot Vale; opened 1894; new station Ferguson Street 1906; new station Union Road 1927 No. 51 Essendon, Elizabeth Street, Moonee Ponds; opened 1893; sold 1917 new No. 52 North Essendon, Mt Alexander Road; opened 1911; station Bulla Road 1931 No. 53 Maribyrnong Hill, Charles Street; reel shed opened 1906; moved to Mordialloc 1909

No. No.

Later stations No. 41 St Albans; PP station 44A 1945; Taylors Road 1960; new station 1969 No. 51 Keilor, Milleara Road; opened 1966

4 Brigade life

under the first three Chiefs 1891-1908 D.J. Stein: 'A man of strong personality and determined will' Stein was born in 1853 and served an apprenticeship at sea for five years, before joining the London Fire Brigade at the age of nineteen. After a decade there, he took the position of Superintendent of the Margate Fire Brigade, before moving to Melbourne in 1887. When his retirement from the MFB was announced in1908, one of the reporters for The Argus wrote that The splendid organisation that serves Melbourne today is entirely of Mr Stein's up building' [16.5.081. Stein had been a firefighter for thirty-five years and certainly contributed much to the early development of the MFB during his seventeen years as Chief, but the Brigade also owed much to another man whose involvement with firefighting lasted even longer. DAVID

D.J. Stein, Chief Officer of the MFB, Melbourne, 6.3.1891-30.6.1908. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

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Samuel Mauger was born in 1857 and was key -boy and Captain's assistant to the Newtown-Chilwell Fire Brigade from a very early age. When he moved to Melbourne, his commitment to firefighting continued. He founded both the Fitzroy and Clifton Hill volunteer brigades and was eventually elected Superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association which covered most of the volunteer brigades in the city. The main objective of the Association was to get a Fire Brigades Act passed through Parliament, and Mauger worked with Captain Marshall to draft the Bill that became the basis for the Act of 1890. Marshall was subsequently appointed Chief of the Country Brigades. If Stein represented the professional firemen Mauger represented the volunteers and they crossed swords more than once before the founding of the MFB put them to work in the same organisation with Stein as Chief and Mauger as one of the Government representatives on the Board. Two other members of the infant MFB Board had also been keenly involved in the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association: J.R. Ballenger, ex -Superintendent of the Carlton Brewery Brigade, and Sir Henry Kellett, who had been Captain of the Kew Brigade. The volunteers held the purse strings while the professionals did the firefighting. From 1891 until about 1897 the Board provided Stein with money and let him get on with the job of setting up a fire brigade. 'Nothing worthy of special note occurred for the first few years', wrote Mauger in his 1934 brochure on the history of the Brigade. Those were the years when Mauger put his energy into the Anti -Sweating League, which was run from a room above his Bourke Street hat shop. In

1891-1936; Mauger, Government Representative on the MFB Board, Fire Museum. Melbourne Photo 1934. 1924, 1919, 1910, President 1899, S.

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1895 he was able to see the fruits of his labours in the beginning of the Wages Board system. Mauger was a determined social reformer but he was also by all accounts a very kindly man and he omitted to mention in his history that the first Secretary to the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board, J.H. Scattergood, was dismissed early in 1898 for misappropriation of Brigade funds and was replaced by F.J. Gomm. Perhaps the incident was overshadowed by what happened on 2 November 1897. Mauger described the Craig Williamson fire as a 'huge conflagration' and he turned out to help fight it together with Messrs Ballenger and Kellett. Stein put Mauger to work in Paterson Laing and Bruce's warehouse and placed Ballenger and Kellett on a roof near the Mutual Store. After the fire, Stein took the opportunity to ask for more money and the Board didn't argue. So the Brigade grew in men and machines, but three members of the Board at least had realised that setting up a professional fire brigade for Melbourne was not the end of the matter. There was the problem of its continued efficient operation.

The handling of the fire and the way it spread was strongly criticised by interested people and the Chief Officer blamed. The writer was asked to confirm this view but positively refused to do so; his opinion being that under the circumstances all that was possible was done ... Many lessons were, however, learned and improvements started ... At that time promotion to the various offices was by seniority, a practice not by any means satisfactory. The best men were often superseded ... The late Mr. David J. Stein, the first Chief Officer, is worthy of special commendation for pioneering work. A man of strong personality and determined will, he was especially fitted in many respects to do the work of organisation and preparation for better things. He laid the foundations strong and deep on which those who followed built the Brigade as it exists to -day. In due time the Brigade reached such importance in numbers and responsibility, that the Board felt that organisation more fitting the changed conditions was imperative. [Hon Samuel Mauger, JP, The Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria, Australia, Melbourne 1934]

MFB logo, pre 1978

So the Board began to consider the future leadership of the Brigade and called for reports on the senior officers. Stein in particular was keen to look outside the Brigade for his replacement. While the future leadership of the Brigade was under consideration, Mauger was working hard for shorter hours for shop assistants and entered the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1899. After Federation, he entered the House of Representatives as the unopposed choice of the Melbourne Ports. He seems to have made no attempt to introduce the kind of hours he favoured for shop assistants into the Fire Brigade. In this Mauger and Stein would have been in agreement. In 1900 A.E. Moorman from Brisbane was appointed as Deputy Chief after O'Brien suffered an accident at a fire. But Moorman did not prove a success, so the Board set to work to persuade Harrie B. Lee to end his fifteen-year association with the Sydney Fire Brigade and transfer to Melbourne. In 1906 they succeeded, and Lee became Deputy Chief.

.;.

BRIGADE LIFE UNDER THE FIRST THREE CHIEFS

115

Stein was keen to look outside the MFB for his other executive officers and wrote a series of reports in 1907 on that basis. The Board was politely silent on the matter, for the appointment of senior officers was one of the few areas, apart from spending money, where Stein did not have a free hand. 1907 was the year when Stein returned from a health trip to Europe with a very expensive motor car, bought with Board money, for his own use. A few months later he had a minor accident at a fire. Lee was made Acting Chief immediately and Stein never returned to duty. Mr. Stein's age for retiring coming near, and his health not being very good, caused him to tender his resignation. That opened the way for a forward movement, and Mr. Harrie B. Lee, who had served some years as Deputy Chief, was appointed to the vacant position' [Mauger]. Stein retired amidst great public acclaim and with the benefit of ÂŁ1400 from the accident fund. The MFB Board had two committees: Finance, which dealt with finance, and Plant and Buildings, which dealt with everything else.

Samuel Mauger was President of the MFB five times during his forty-four years on the Board, but perhaps more significantly he was almost always Chairman of the Plant and Buildings Committee until well into the 1920s. He probably knew as much about the Brigade as any other man, including Secretaries Gomm and Dudley, and even Chiefs Stein and Lee. It is perhaps surprising that firemen continued to be on duty for up to 140 hours a week for a rate of pay equivalent to that of an unskilled labourer with a man like Mauger intimately involved not only in the birth of the Brigade but also in its running for nearly half a century. Partly the explanation is that Mauger was not unopposed at meetings of the Board. Ballenger and Kellett both tended to be much more cautious when it came to any reform that involved increased expense. Their role as guardians of the public purse was subsequently taken over by Cr Showers who even went so far as to break the facade of unanimity over pay rises in open meetings of the Board. The Chiefs tended to support pay rises, but not reduced hours. In Stein's day, introducing any change without his support was virtually impossible, especially one that cost more money, not less. In the case of both Lee and Wilkins, the Board tended to gain a little power at the beginning of their reigns and lose it by the end. The most important explanations for the long hours concern the nature of Fire Brigade work. Firemen have to be on call twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Either they work very long hours or some sort of shift system has to be introduced, and all the Chiefs were unanimous on the evils of a `platoon' system until they were forced to accept it in 1950. Besides, although firemen were on duty continuously, they were only supposed to work between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. with time off for lunch and breakfast. The rest of the time they were 'free', apart from calls and special watches. It is not clear that anybody ever took this fiction seriously. Firemen were not free to do anything that involved going out of earshot of the bells. They were not even free to do as they pleased within earshot of the bells. Stein set up the Brigade after the pattern of the London Fire Brigade of his youth. If he had been in trouble for 'using improper language and speaking in an impertinent manner to his superior', or

CO Aldridge's silver

whistle

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

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for fighting in the mess room, then the men under his command in Melbourne would receive similar penalties for similar offences. He had a very clear idea that he had the right to decide how firemen should behave, all the time. He did not meet determined resistance. Firemen were a self-selected group who liked living under the bells. New recruits who did not get on with the way things were done in the Fire Brigade left or were sacked within a few months. Those who survived their probationary year learning the ropes tended to stay for a very long time. They lived their lives largely as Stein dictated. General Order Number 4, for instance, specified that: All Firemen sleeping in any of the Fire

are required to provide: 1

Stations belonging to the Brigade

Counterpane

2 pairs of sheets 1 pair of blankets 2 Pillow Slips 1 Bolster Cover

and they are instructed to keep the said articles clean and in good order. [22.2.95]

Deputy Chief Officer's cap, c. 1940

This order was taken seriously for at least the next thirty years. In May 1913, for example, a fireman was fined five shillings for 'having his bed clothes in a dirty condition' and in the 1920s 'Your bed had to be made to regulation ... They gave you a special quilt to put On your bed with MFB on it and by hoakey if you didn't have it proper they'd give you a kick; give you a dirty duty to do or something like that' [Jim Parish 28.3.85]. This order only affected the single men living on stations. The Brigade was divided into two groups-those living as single men with communal facilities, whether married or not, and married men living in quarters or in houses adjacent to the station. Married men did not have their bedclothes inspected by the Brigade, but they did not escape regulation altogether. General Order Number 5, for instance, specified that they were not to take in lodgers or boarders, even to help out in time of sickness, unless specifically permitted to do so by the Chief Officer: 'Quarters are allowed for the use of the Fireman, his wife, and children exclusively' [22.2.1895]. No parents or siblings or cousins allowed. Social life was also bound by what Stein considered to be proper. Card playing on stations was permitted, but gambling was not. Drinking and smoking were allowed, but within limits. When Probationer H. Burmeister Jnr was off sick for nine days after a 'fit', the Medical Officer thought the cause was nicotine poisoning: 'I have warned this youth that if he is ever found smoking a cigarette again he will be dismissed' [Stein to Plant and Buildings Committee 25.3.08]. Perhaps less surprisingly, Stein took a tough line with drinking. 'Fireman Carter was reported for being under the influence of drink while on duty, and was suspended ... On dealing with the case, I fined Carter a week's pay and ordered him to lose his pay during the 2 days he was under suspension' [Stein to Plant and Buildings committee 25.3.08]. Stein maintained his orders by a system of fines, demotions and

BRIGADE LIFE UNDER THE FIRST THREE CHIEFS

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the ability to dismiss at will. Most of the Brigade staff in his day joined in 1891 or 1892 when it was very hard to find a permanent job. Many were ex -volunteer firemen who did as they were told and kept their jobs. Of the eighty-four men who joined in 1891 or 1892, 49 or 58 per cent were still in the job fifteen years later. This was despite the experience of men like Arthur Erck and William Mays who were both promoted from Fireman to Engine Driver in 1892 and then demoted back to Fireman again. Their offences are not recorded, but Stein must have thought they had served their punishment, because he promoted them both again later, to Engine Driver and then Foreman (equivalent to Station Officer). Not all firemen were so firmly committed to the job. Some refused to accept Stein's discipline and 'resigned to escape punishment'. The phrase indicates that the Brigade thought more or less the same of them as they thought of the Brigade. Sometimes it seems to have been difficult to work out exactly what the rules were. Mark Percy Newport joined in February 1899 and was first stationed at Little Bourke Street, then No. 2 station. me father was there they decided to use the billiard room one night. It was pretty cold so they bought coke and lit the fire in the billiard room. The officer in charge, the Superintendent, he came into the billiard room and told them to put the fire out. He was told that they had purchased the coke themselves and he said: 'Put the fire out. You have not got permission to use the fireplace'. [Harry G. Newport ... while

.3. 85]

The officers policed Stein's rules, but the gap between Stein and his officers was enormous. The Chief Officer of the MFB was a person of importance. All reports of fires began 'Chief Officer Stein immediately turned out a strong force of men and gear ...' even when he was on sick leave. There is a story that while he was dining at the Athenaeum Club one evening, he laid a bet with his companions as to how long it would take the Brigade to arrive, and then went to the phone to turn them out. He won his bet, of course. Stein was paid more than three times as much as his Deputy and more than his Engineer and all four of his District Superintendents put together. He doesn't seem to have had a very high opinion of them, either. He did not want Wilkins to succeed him as Chief and of one of the Superintendents he wrote `Mr Loughridge has a record of 301/2 years service; 141/2 in the Fire Insurance Companies' Brigade and 16 years in this Brigade. Mr Loughridge's abilities were never of a very high order, and of late years he appears to have entirely lost his nerve, and is of very little use at a fire ...' Of another Superintendent he wrote `Mr Catt ... is subject to gout troubles, and is, moreover, of a very nervous temperament, and if subjected to much active Fire Brigade work, he would soon break down' [Stein to Plant and Buildings Committee 28.11.07]. These were men who had made the Fire Brigade their life and Stein did not recommend getting rid of them. There was no superannuation system and Stein recognised an obligation to such men. Loughridge was reduced to the rank of Fireman, which was a pension by another name, and Catt was put in charge of a newly created outlying district.

Glass hand grenade type fire extinguisher

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This kind of treatment was not restricted to the officers. Stein recognised a similar obligation to the men. F. Spivey, who had served twenty-four years with the Port Melbourne Brigade and sixteen years with the MFB, was given a job as night watchman at the Public Library. C. Edwards was seventy-one years old in 1907, and in charge of Yarraville Fire Station. 'In spite of his great age, he performs his duty satisfactorily, and I know of no other position that he could occupy in the service. He has 36 years service to his credit, 20 years with the Richmond City Volunteers Brigade and 16 years in this Brigade. The man may break down at any time, but until he does, I would not suggest interfering with him' [Stein to Plant and Buildings Committee 28.11.07]. Stein was a strict Chief and proud of it, but he would not have seen himself as a tyrant, and there is a suggestion that his wife was even more of a disciplinarian. His sons used to go down to the wharves to play on Sundays, to get out of Sunday School. One Sunday one of them lost his coat and knew he would be in trouble. When he returned home to head station he was too afraid to tell his mother, so he told his father instead. Stein was an active Freemason with very definite ideas about what was right and what was wrong, and he seems to have taken it for granted that it was right that he should intervene in many aspects of firemen's lives. If one of his first general orders concerned the state of their bedclothes, one of his last concerned insuring their lives. He had long made it a condition of joining the Brigade that the men take out life insurance policies, but in 1908 he was concerned that they were allowing them to lapse. Life insurance policies were to be forwarded to head station for inspection once a year to make sure they were up to date. 'This order is issued in the interests of the men themselves who from their small rates of pay cannot be

Fred, youngest of David and Hannah Stein's eight children, with two unknown firemen c. 1900. Freddy Stein died of pneumonia in Paris on Armistice Day 1918. Photo Lawrence Bottomley Collection.

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expected to save a large amount of their wages, and in the event of an accident involving loss of life, the money received from the Assurance Company will make some provision for the families who might otherwise be left in distress' [4.2.08]. The problem was a real one, but not all firemen favoured compulsory life insurance as the answer. Years ago there was a memorial church service at which a collection was taken up for the widow of a fireman. The firemen present were so moved by the service that instead of the customary shilling and two shilling pieces being placed in the collection plate, pound notes made their appearance. The firemen had just been paid. Soon afterwards, in a nearby place of refreshment, during a discussion upon the service, I suggested that small regular donations would start a fund to help such cases. The fund was started and grew so much that it actually was the forerunner of the present superannuation scheme of the Fire Brigade. [Bill Griff, 'My Biography']

describing the formation of the Widows and Orphans Fund, possibly after the funeral of Harry Harrison in 1903. Harrison was thrown from a hose carriage and killed while on the way to a fire. He left a widow and two young children who had to move out of their quarters at Kensington Fire Station and learn to live without the bells. In the 1890s and early 1900s, cases of hardship were dealt with by family and friends or charity if you were lucky, and nothing at all if you weren't. The Brigade was no exception to this pattern, but because charity was so important, a wide variety of people and organisations were involved in raising money for charitable purposes. W.A. Griff joined the Brigade in 1891 and his biography records his particular involvement in raising money for the veterans of at least three wars. But he did not confine his efforts to helping soldiers. In about 1893 he was transferred to Richmond Fire Station. `While at Richmond I organised a Dark Town Fire Brigade; the depression was bad then; with the assistance of the Chief and Mr G. Bennett M.P. we raised ÂŁ473 which was for the poor' [Bill Griff, 'My Biography]. Thus began a tradition of fund raising by the MFB that has never really died, but the reliance of the firemen themselves on charity in cases of accident, death and retirement changed significantly four years after Harrie B. Lee became Chief.

W.A. Griff appears to be

1908-27 Harrie B. Lee: Keeping the family happy

continued the tradition of links between the fire brigade and the sea. He was a master mariner when he joined the Sydney Brigade after fifteen years' experience along the coast of New South Wales. In 1906 he brought his salty language to Melbourne and was eventually a very popular Chief-but not at first. He was too outspoken, and because he came from Sydney the men of the Melbourne Brigade took some years to believe that Lee was always on their side. He has been described as 'a real sea captain', 'a man's man', and 'a very dynamic man', but never as tactful. Lee

Silver speaking trumpet

presented

to CO Lee,

March 1909

....11111

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MFB badge from 1979

When Lee took over as Chief, the Brigade was facing a number of staffing problems and it was not Lee who first set to work to solve them, but Sammy Mauger. As early as 1906, Mauger wrote a paper on the need for a pension scheme. Stein's method of keeping men on virtually until they died was humane but hardly efficient. The only alternative at the time was to sack them, which Mauger described as 'heartlessly brutal in the treatment of faithful servants'. So in January 1908 he brought a proposal for a pension fund before the Board. Ballenger suggested they use the money collected at the Friday afternoon displays, which came to the grand total of about ÂŁ180 a year. Mauger was not amused, especially when he found that the Board lacked the legal power to set up a fund. On 1 January 1912, the staff set up their own superannuation scheme, which took over the assets of the earlier Widows and Orphans Fund. In the early years of the century, there were two other major staffing problems: getting and keeping enough firemen when the Brigade was expanding and unemployment levels were relatively low, and finding suitable men for promotion to officer rank. Finding recruits had not been a problem when unemployment levels were high and staff turnover was low. From 1893 to 1896, the total number of new staff was fourteen, but in 1897 staffing levels were increased. Of the nineteen new men who were taken on, five left within twelve months. From then on the Brigade took on about twenty new men each year and about one in four didn't last the year. In 1902 the rank of Temporary Fireman was introduced in recognition of the high turnover of junior men. Promotion remained strictly on seniority, at least until the rank of Foreman. The major change to this system came in May 1907 when for the first time examinations were held for promotion to officer rank. In a small community like the MFB, promotion by seniority minimised tension but hardly maximised efficiency, so firemen were encouraged to attend the Brigade School where many caught up on the basic education they had missed as boys, and some went on to study for the officers' exams. The examination provided a system that allowed some men to jump ahead of others and that was seen to be 'fair'. Fireman J.L. Stein, for instance, was appointed acting Foreman in March 1907 after only four years in the Brigade. Most Foremen had been in the job for more than a decade before they were promoted. In May 1907 James Laurie Stein, oldest surviving son of the Chief, passed out top of the class in the promotion exams and was confirmed as Foreman at the age of twenty-seven. James Kemp was among those promoted with him. He, too, had only been in the Brigade four years. Also on 1 May 1907, George Mauger, Sammy's brother, was appointed as Inspector of Theatres and other buildings. He later became Chief Inspector in the Special Service. The end of promotion by seniority also allowed Fred Cooke and Gordon Lindsey to rise rapidly through the ranks. However, some rose more rapidly than others and, without a system of exams for every rank, there was plenty of scope for bad feeling and accusations of Chiefs and Deputies playing favourites. The qualifications required for success at the higher levels were unwritten. Most of the senior

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officers were Freemasons. Gordon Lindsey was the only one who had any kind of blot on his record. He was demoted from Foreman to Fireman in 1908, but promoted again after the exams in 1912. Mauger described him as a fireman 'after the manner born'. His father was a leading member of the Carlton Brewery Brigade and a District Superintendent with the MFB from 1892. Gordon Lindsey was Third Officer at the time of his death after a fall at a fire in 1936. He was just eighteen when he joined the Brigade in 1903 and twenty-three when he was first made acting Foreman. To the young men who joined in the 1930s, he was something of an idol. Jack McKimm described him as the greatest officer in the MFB, and Alf Stewart thought `G.L.' was the greatest person ever to pass through the Brigade. More than one old firee expressed regret that he never lived to become Chief. Getting and keeping men like that remained a problem. If they came from Brigade families, they knew all about the camaraderie, but they also knew all about the hours and so long as there were jobs to be had elsewhere, the hours were a distinct disadvantage. About 1911, the issue came into the open as it never had in Stein's day, and the men formed a union. The inaugural meeting of what was at first called the United Firemen's Union was on 22 January 1911. By the first week in February the Board was making clear its feelings on the evils of a platoon system and on 24 April, the banner of the United Fire Brigades' Union of Victoria was prominent in the Eight Hours Day procession past Parliament House. A. Collins was President of the Union and G. Tuck was Secretary. Tuck in particular was very active and kept the Union in the news throughout the first half of 1911,

complaining that firemen were overworked and underpaid. In March, Tuck resigned from the Brigade and also resigned as Secretary of the Mess Committee at Eastern Hill. He was retained as an additional member of the Mess Committee until August, when the members of the mess rather curtly 'informed him that his services were dispensed with'. By that time he had told the press that the Brigade was 'seething with discontent', and other members of the Union had come forward to protest that the Brigade was a 'happy family'. Tuck seems to have been rather more militant than some of his members. All the same, Union pressure began to have its effect on conditions. In February 1912 Adelaide firemen went on strike for Union recognition, while from 1 April the Melbourne men had their annual leave increased to ten days. Later in the year, the Sydney Union took its case to the Wages Board and Harrie B. Lee went up to give evidence. life. Its `He expressed the opinion that a fireman's life was a lazy part infinitesimal an was -fighting Fire chief drawback was monotony. of danger the that said also Lee do'. to of the work a fireman had like men my found have I fact, of matter a fires was not great. 'As attending fires. If there are no fires they become despondent. A blaze makes them cheerful and bright' [Harrie. B. Lee, reported in The Herald 29 11. 12]. the All of this may have been true, but it did not accord with firemen but aghast, was Union The standard image of the fireman. scarcely had time to protest before members of the public leapt to .

MFB badge, pre 1978

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Bronco Watson's MFB Serenaders, 1909. From the left: Gordon Lindsey, Jack Leonard, Snowy Steel, Bronco Watson, Charlie Smith (sitting), B. Harding standing behind Bronco, Roger Smith (Tivoli), Jockey Hargraves and Abe Rule, later of the Regent Orchestra. Charlie Smith was conductor of the Serenaders and Australian Champion cornet player. The dog's name was Joey. Photo Marjorie Leonard Collection.

their defence. Even Mr Murray, Chief Secretary, felt bound to say something. 'It should be noted that he [the Chief] did not say that the men were lazy.' A series of jokes appeared on a fireman's lazy life. For instance, after a fire in Bourke Street in November, The Herald printed a little story. The ladders were going up and the firefighters were getting to work amidst the heat and smoke and sparks. -Go on up with you!" exclaimed one fireman to the comrade who preceded him. "Call this an easy life?"' [The Herald 30.11.12]. Essentially Harrie B. Lee and the Union were attacking the same problem from different sides. The hours and conditions of a fireman's life were extraordinary. While the Union began to work to make a fireman's life more like that of everyone else, Lee turned his talents to making the existing way of life more pleasant. Conditions under Stein had been semi -military, or perhaps quasi -naval. In contrast, Lee set out to foster the family side of Brigade life, mainly by embarking on a major building programme to provide married firefighters with quarters. He began by setting off for a tour of Europe and the USA early in 1913. He wanted to see the latest firefighting appliances, but he was also specifically interested in how other countries housed their firemen, with a view to making the best use of the new block of land that had just been purchased next to head station.

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returned to Melbourne in November 1913 and plans for married quarters were drawn up. 'The ideal of the Melbourne Board [is] to provide some substitute for home life.' The approach was a moral one. Married life was to be encouraged. Married firemen had received an allowance in lieu of quarters since 1900. In January 1914 this allowance was raised to ten shillings and sixpence per week. At the same time annual leave was increased to fourteen days. It was also announced that 'Recreation rooms will be provided when practicable at all Stations and bath heaters will be installed at every Station in the Brigade at the earliest opportunity' [General Order 97, Lee

30.1.14]. The onset of war hampered the building programme, but Lee was not deterred. In 1916 he announced 'All married men will notify the Chief Officer through the usual channel as to the number of children in their family. Also of any change in the number either from addition, or from deduction from any cause, so that suitable quarters may be allocated to the various sized families' [General Order 106, 14.2.16]. While the war delayed the Chiefs plans for building quarters, it strengthened the Union's hand. In 1916 most of the log of claims met with a positive response and the details of the Board -sponsored superannuation scheme were finalised. The scheme was made possible by changes in 1915 to the Fire Brigade Act, and it took over the funds of the staff scheme started in 1912. The new superannuation Fund came into operation on 1 January 1917. Staff contributions were initially set at 5 per cent of wages, but there were no fixed Board contributions until 1922. In 1919 the Board allowed the new Union Secretary, Mr Murphy, to attend Board meetings when the Union's log of claims was under discussion. In 1920 the Union asked for a two platoon system and was told that this would involve 'a revolutionary change in the system, administration and cost which the Board cannot entertain', but the Union requests for a pay rise, more staff, an increased rent allowance for married men and an extra twelve hours leave per week were all granted. By 1922 the Union had succeeded in building up to twenty-one days annual leave and forty-eight hours off per week. In February 1918, the Board wrote to the Treasurer asking permission to borrow ÂŁ50 000 to build quarters for married firemen. `Accommodation at present is obtained as near as possible to Fire Stations; this is unsatisfactory, costly, and in many cases, inconvenient. Inconvenience of position to any Fire station is detrimental to the efficiency of the service.' Sometimes, in order to be near enough to the station, 'the men and their families have to live in quarters quite unsuitable for family life'. For the next decade, building quarters was a continual struggle against shortage of funds, but as the special Advisory Committee on buildings reported in 1922, 'the Board's policy on providing quarters for married men was in no way to be violated. This is in the interests of health and morality; and for the maintenance of the present standard of efficiency' [Board Minutes 19.1.22]. The MFB is funded jointly by the Government, the insurance companies and municipal councils. Of these three, the last has always been the most likely to complain about costs in public. Harrie B. Lee became acting Chief in the midst of a storm of protest over MFB estimates. Municipal councils such as Hawthorn,

MFB officer's badge pre 1978

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Footscray, Prahran, Fitzroy and Melbourne believed the insurance companies should pay a higher proportion of rising costs, rather than face increased contributions themselves. Lee battled the same problem for the next twenty years, sometimes even going so far as to make policy statements at variance with the views of the Board. He had their backing over quarters, but all requests to the Treasurer for permission to borrow the necessary funds emphasised the saving in rent. Within the Brigade itself, the men were quite clear on why quarters were being built-for their convenience. Whole career patterns depended on the availability of accommodation. Whenever new quarters were completed, there was a flood of applications from men wanting to transfer to that station. Despite the Chiefs best efforts, the supply of quarters never caught up with demand. The Union didn't help. Successive increases in annual and weekly leave led to successive increases in the number of men to be housed. But Lee did succeed in making family life in quarters the norm, and the men began increasingly to talk about the Brigade itself as a family. Children were born and brought up on fire stations and left school to become firemen or marry firemen. Gladys Tueno, nĂŠe Boswell, saw the full cycle of Brigade life. She was born at South Melbourne station and her father, Robert, was transferred to Little Bourke Street just before the First World War. The family lived in a cottage beside the station. 'We were always warned never to go near the big doors, because the horse would get up on its hind legs and pounce forward and those horses knew just as much as the men.' Her father went off to fight and when he came

Brigade Christmas cake, 1912, baked and iced by the chef at Eastern Hill. Photo Alan Richards Collection.

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back, they transferred to North Melbourne. They lived in a house near a hotel while the new quarters were being built behind the station. 'You knew everybody in the Brigade ... They would look after you ... We used to have Christmas functions. The men used to work very hard raising funds for it and invite all the poor children in North Melbourne ... We never went out of that circle of children that lived in the Brigade. We played with them; we went to school with them. We just took it for granted ... We very seldom brought any outside children in.' Gladys' sister married a fireman, and through him she met Frank Tueno who was stationed at Windsor. They married and he was transferred to Eastern Hill. Quarters were still in short supply and getting them depended on seniority. Mrs Tueno continued to live with her parents at North Melbourne, but she visited her husband in the mess at Eastern Hill. 'All the women used to go up there and sit and talk, but I remember one night I was sitting by the window and a rifle barrel came over me shoulder and I was petrified and I said to me husband "What's that?" and I heard a voice behind me say "It's all right. We're only shooting rats." They were only playing a prank. They were devils really.' One night after a dance they were all in evening dress. They took us up into the lantern and then we climbed the ladder, right up into the top part of the lantern to have a look at the lights of Melbourne.' Taking strangers up the tower was punishable by fines, but only if you were caught. The Tuenos' first child was born while Mrs Tueno was still living as a single woman with her parents in North Melbourne, but eventually they got quarters at head station. 'At Eastern Hill there was only the alleyway for them [the children] to play in. We used to take them to the gardens.' At one stage they were stationed at Carlton. The only scary part was the pole well where the men used to run out and jump down and the kiddies could have tumbled down, but they knew not to go near it. When you look back, it was like a big family' [Gladys Tueno 11.6.85]. May Richards, nĂŠe Creevey, was born into another Brigade family. Her father was a permanent fireman and her uncles were PPs at Lord Street, Richmond. There were 'always oodles of people to play with'. She was never game to jump down the pole, but her brother and the other children did. They were not supposed to play in the station, but that did not deter them. They would just shoo you out if you were in the road. The firemen were always very, very nice.' The 1920s and 1930s were remembered in retrospect as something of a golden era. 'I don't think it's got the atmosphere it had as I was young, the family community sort of business. I still think the fraternity is there-probably not as strong as it was when we were all sort of together' [May Richards 26.6.85]. Bill Leonard followed his father, Jack, into the Brigade. He and his wife Marjorie eventually occupied the same quarters at Eastern Hill as his parents before him. Even the single men living in dormitories at Eastern Hill tended to see the Brigade as a family. The emphasis was rather different from the married men, with more prominence given to sexual adventures and bravado, but the image of family was still strong. Jim Parish joined in about 1923.

Cup won by the MFB Cricket Club, 1932

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The alley between the married quarters at Eastern Hill, familiar territory for Brigade children. Laundries were up on the roofs. Photo Melbourne Fire Museum.

There were twelve of us in a dormitory ... There were three other smaller dormitories. One of the chaps there had just been promoted to Senior Fireman; afterwards he became Chief, Len Whitehead was his name. He was a dry, stern sort of a fellow. He'd been to the war. He had a silver plate in his jaw ... I never got caught with a girl in my room ... It was

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more like a family sort of concern. You made your own fun and it was a long while before you saw the outside world, more or less. If I dream, I'm still dreaming about the Fire Brigade. [Jim Parish 28.3.85].

Harrie B. Lee presided over a 'family sort of concern' and over the years he learnt how to keep the family happy. Partly he achieved this by building the family home, but he also became a brilliant example of 'the Old Man' in the best naval tradition. The men began to collect stories of his exploits and took great delight in telling them to the junior men long after Harrie B. Lee himself was dead. Anybody who ever came within cooee of him would always remember him. He was a very dynamic man and a very good Chief Officer too ... Some while before ... he became a widower ... so he moved out of his quarters and occupied a small room and a little kitchen. He had a fireman to wait on him and Harrie. B. Lee was able to convert space personal to him into money personal to him. He 'sold' the nice quarters as it were ... he vacated the Chief Officer's rooms and flat and lived in two rooms down on the ground floor. Well it came every year that he'd have to go round and see his friends and have a noggin with them and so forth on Christmas Day. Well I believe it used to be true, he called for his driver to bring the car round ... and out would go Harrie B. Lee we'll say with a Christmas pudding ... and he'd tell the driver to go to so and so and the whole of the morning was spent going from A to B to C to D and what happened was he took the Christmas pudding and gave it to A. A gave him a box of cigars. He went to C, gave him the box of cigars and received a bottle of scotch and so on and he came home with a Christmas pudding sort of thing ... hadn't spent a penny and everybody had had a good morning ... He was born to be an entertainer, almost. [Frank Johns 22.3.85]

Harrie Newport was a boy when Lee was Chief.

Jack Wilkins and I were the only boys at head station at the time. And at the Royal Show time Mr Lee would give us ten shillings, a driver and a car to go out to the Royal Show and enjoy ourselves on ice creams and merry-go-rounds and that type of thing, and then come back and

explain where we got rid of the ten shillings ... But he was very famous, very popular ... We had a fireman named Red Reynolds by the colour of his hair. Well he'd fallen foul and had to go up on the mat and Mr Lee said he didn't think he'd be a satisfactory member of the Fire Brigade so }I'll give you a week' he said, `to find yourself another job.' Some time later Mr Lee going through the yard noticed this Red Reynolds there and he spoke to him and said 'Didn't I sack you and tell you to get another job?' He said 'You told me to find another job', he said, 'but I haven't been able to find one better than this,' and Reynolds stopped in the job until he retired at the age of 60 odd. Mr Lee, he was a widower, of course. He had a very friendly woman in Mrs Marsh who was a friend and on one occasion Mr Lee used to have a habit of having his breakfast, he'd sit naked in his office, smoke a cigar and read the mail. Fireman Leonard went in to him one day and said 'Mrs Marsh is here to see you.' Well he said 'Show her in, I know her.' He said 'Like how you're dressed?' He said 'Well I'd better go and put me dressing gown on.' He was also at the time, he wanted an electric bath, so he had the Brigade electricians make up some sort of contraption which heated the

High-pressure monitor

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Mr H. B. Lee, the chief of our Fire Brigade, endeavors unsuo cessfully, to make the fire burn at the Brigade picnic.

Cartoon drawing of Harrie B. Lee from The Herald 2.11.25.

water for him. He was just about to step into it when he said 'No Leonard, you get in. If anybody's going to get electrocuted, you will be.' [Harrie Newport. 1.3.85]

1927-40 J.T. Wilkins and the Brigade of Champions Jack Wilkins had been in the Brigade since the beginning and was already considered by some as a candidate for Chief when Stein retired in 1908. Twenty years later, he was a distinct father figure and became Chief with nothing to prove. The only problem was that

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`unfortunately', as he himself wrote, 'it has come rather late.' He called all the firemen 'boy'. Much of Wilkins' official correspondence from the period 1921-31 has survived and the letters show something of his interests and attitudes. Dear Johnny Lamborne [he wrote to the Chief of the Western Australian Fire Brigades] ... As you are aware we did battle with the Sydney people for the Interstate Cricket 'Ashes' unsuccessfully some few weeks back. We started off lame as the first item on the official programme necessitated visiting Lindemann's Wine Cellars. The general excellence in bouquet of the sparkling wines considerably affected the sight of some of our cricketers. That, and other considerations, lost us the match, but when they come across here some time next year we have arranged that they shall lodge in special apartments near the Victoria Brewery, with a free entrance to the Brewery at all times. I think that ought to turn the trick in our favour ... [Deputy Chief Officer's Letter Book, 13.4.23]

Besides being a Freemason and President of the Victorian Institute of Engineers, Wilkins was a Rotarian and sponsored General Blarney, Chief Commissioner of Police, when he too applied to join. Wilkins was also an active supporter of charitable causes such as the Lord Mayor's Fund, the Alfred and St Vincent's Hospitals, and various boys clubs. He continued the 'very warm friendship' between the Brigade and St Vincent's Hospital, which seems to have been initiated by Harrie B. Lee. It was rare for an injured fireman to go anywhere else, while on their side the Brigade worked hard for St Vincent's. Indeed, on one occasion firemen even went to prison for raising money for the hospital in contravention of lottery regulations. Wilkins' friends and connections were many and he often had requests to help individuals find jobs. He seems to have had no hesitation in using his influence when he thought the applicant worthy. As unemployment rose through 1929 and 1930, requests for help increased. 'Trade Unionism makes it increasingly difficult to find positions for the young men of to -day' he wrote to a friend in England. The Chief was also a fan of Bob Menzies, and sent him a Scottish necktie in 1929, with a suggestion that 'he wear it as a

mascot on the hustings'. Pressure to join the Brigade was high in those days. In the early 1920s, only returned soldiers were considered, but by 1929 they were all too old. Applicants for the Brigade had to be under twentyHe eight, and they had to be very keen. Jack Steel is one example. 'I that after and 1928 was a carpenter who became unemployed in He days.' those in did didn't have a steady job. I don't think anybody tried to join the MFB but had no success until he met a Brigade family. They told him what to do. went up and put an application in. Saw the Third Officer of the day, a him Mr Lindsey and that was that. From time to time came up and let half a and two for on went this know that I was still interested and a sent they and a vacancy was there that time years. Then it came the they me told and working was I where place the to fireman down wanted to see me. [Jack Steel 24.6.85] I

Football presented to C. Campbell, coach of the MFB Social Football Club

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A couple of days later, he was in. Mr Steel had the advantage of having played for Melbourne Football Club. 'I played a game of football but gave it up after injury.' Wilkins especially wanted cricketers, although he was also a keen supporter of football and wrestling, in fact anything where a Brigade team could compete against the Police, or the Railways, or the Post Office and win. Ray Godfredson joined as a rower in 1936. I rowed with Richmond Rowing Club and the Fire Brigade had a crew in the Public Service Regatta and there was several firemen were also members of the Club. And I was the leading, the senior stroke of the Richmond Rowing Club at that particular time and they asked me would I like to join the Fire Brigade ... Chief Wilkins, he hated to be beaten ... and they had four men that rowed and they competed and the Police beat them in the final ... so he got the rowers and he said 'Well, what do you want so we can win it?'

[Ray Godfredson 17.6.85]

The rowers asked for Mr Godfredson and managed to persuade him to apply to join the Brigade. He was not especially big around the chest at the time and had to exercise for several weeks to meet the required measurement. 'Banjo' Paterson interviewed him and was worried whether anyone that small could row well enough. The rowers assured him that size had nothing to do with it. 'Don't worry, he's the boy,' and he was. Next time the Regatta came around, the Brigade won their heat and were set to meet the Police in the final. `The Chief came down in his car. He drove along the north bank and watched the race and when he saw we'd won, he shot across Princes Bridge around to the Rowing Club to be there to receive the trophy' [Ray Godfredson 17.6.85]. The Brigade won the trophy three years in a row and, after that, they kept it. But oarsmen don't remain champions for ever and when Ray Godfredson and Ted Lindsay were coming to the end of their rowing careers, they looked around for someone to take over in the MFB crew. At that time Wally Lambert was doing rather well rowing for Victoria and so when one day down at the Richmond Rowing Club he happened to mention that he was interested in the Fire Brigade, he was snapped up. 'I was in within a week.' Mr Lambert went on to represent Australia in the 1948 Olympics in the coxed four, and at the Empire Games in 1950 in the coxless pair. He remembers that the Board was very helpful at the time over leave of absence to row. Alf Stewart was a boxer, and he was equally welcome in the Brigade. In 1928 I decided my days as a boxer were numbered, especially if I had to continue to make weight as a middleweight ... I had fought Tom Mclnness, the champion of Scotland on the Saturday night and on the following Monday I went to Eastern Hill to apply for a job. I saw Mr Lou Paterson, fondly known as 'Banjo', who arranged for me to see the Chief Officer, J.T. Wilkins. [MFB News Review Vol. 7, No. 4, Dec. 1974]

Midweek football competition shield

He started the following Friday and 'stayed in touch with the game by doing some coaching and teaching some of the boys in the Brigade the rudiments of the noble art'.

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The winning MFB rowing team of the 1930s. From the left: Jim Sinclair (bow), Wal Lloyd (2), Ted Lindsay (3), Ray Godfredson (stroke) and John Paterson (cox). Paterson was not a regular member of the crew. Photo Ray Godfredson Collection.

Frank Donovan ... joined the MFB in 1927. Getting into the job in those days wasn't easy, he said, but a friend of a friend knew someone 'up top' and this helped. He was stationed at Eastern Hill and soon met up with the legendary boxing master Alf Stewart. Boxing and wrestling were really big in the Brigade in those days with the main contenders being stationed at No. often ran high and the 1 and No. 2. Feelings between the two stations house. Frank took out full a saw always Championships night of the the Middleweight Championship after defeating Laurie Brown. [Jack Sheridan, 'From the Past ... Frank Donovan', Wordback March 1983] Bill Seabrook joined in 1932. His father was one of the insurance companies' representatives on the MFB Board. He played football for the Brigade in the Wednesday League. Duffy Plummer was another

footballer.

Quite a few firemen were footballers and I had my heart set on the Fire of the Brigade and the President of the Fire Brigade was the President I got course of and Board [of Essendon Football Club], a Mr Showers, In Brigade. Fire the into me got he onto Mr Showers and after a while of consisted Brigade Fire the of Board the of those days the Presidents had Presidents the and Representatives Insurance and Council men more or less their turn at picking footballers for the Fire Brigade. to come Mr Plummer first tried to join in 1936. Mr Lindsey told him months twelve again tried He back when he had a driving licence. some'Well died. somebody when later and was told to come back

body did die up at Essendon and

don't think the poor chappie was

ISM

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cold when I was up at Eastern Hill after the job, but eventually Mr Showers got me the job. His word was law.' But first, Plummer had to get through his interview with Wilkins. Mr Meehan told him what to do. ... he said 'you'll be seeing the Chief. Now when you go in to see Mr Wilkins, don't say no. Say Yes Sir, Yes Sir. Mr Wilkins asks questions such as Will you wipe spit off the lavatory floors? and so on, Yes Sir' and eventually I got in. 'You don't want to be a char lady or anything like that do you?' Yes Sir,' I got in age twenty four ... the greatest job in the world. [Duffy Plummer 9.3.85]

Stan McNamee was a keen sportsman who played cricket and tennis. When he went to Eastern Hill to apply to join the Brigade, Banjo Paterson pulled open a drawer and showed him all the other applications before his. He thought it might help if he could get somebody to speak for him. He had won a tennis championship and thought that might help. Jacky Paterson (Banjo's nephew) wanted tennis players. Mr McNamee finally got in in 1939. Once they were in, firemen had a steady job during the depression, and despite pay cuts in 1931 ranging from 23 per cent for the Chief to 11 per cent for Firemen, morale seems to have been exceptionally high.

those days ... well, when you're single and there was always some sort of function going on there, somebody's birthday and when I say there'd be a party, there wouldn't be a great orgy or anything like that, but you'd bring along a couple of bottles and get somebody to go down and get some food and all that. ... had a lot of fun. Like joining a club in

They played a lot of social football games, for instance against the return games, they would all eat in the mess.

RAAF. On the

... and there'd always be a nine gallon there and well, that was good ... well you didn't get that in other jobs ... We went out together, might be ten of you going down to the beach ... ten of you on leave ... all good pals, all good cobbers ... They had one thing they used to call 'the top floor picnic'. All the boys that were living on the top floor went to ... they'd have a day down Frankston mostly ... I wasn't living on the top floor but I got invited and they'd have a day, a great day ... twenty-four, twenty-five years old, mostly single ... it was good. [Jack Steel 24.6.85]

Cup won by the MFB Band for the Marching Championships, Sydney, 1938

Charlie White joined the Brigade as a gymnast in 1934. He and Jimmy Cornford and Tom Draper were the central figures in the gym team. 'Mr Wilkins ... he said we could have every Wednesday morning leave to practise.' They used to train on the flat roof because the gymnasium was not quite high enough for their routines. Mr White was already married when he joined the Brigade, but he had to live as a single man at Eastern Hill for three years. His wife and daughter were at North Carlton and he went home for every leave. On Mondays he had twenty-four hours off and slept at home. On Wednesdays he had eighteen hours leave and had to be back at No. 1 by 1 a.m. and then he had six hours leave on Friday evening. The rest of the time, he was at work.

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The gym team c. 1950, at about the time that it was disbanded. Left-hand group Merrick Anderson, Alan Carnie, Neville Van Every and Ted Willis. Centre group Mery Thatcher, Ron Williams, Tom Draper and Frank Caton. Right-hand group Ern Tamme, Ron Cass, Jim Adamson, Charlie White, Cltff Jorgenson and Monty Ball. Photo Neville Van Every Collection.

Mixing with the men up there, oh yes, quite good ... played billiards ...

they'd be having jokes with one another ... You daren't walk in the mess room with your hat on. You must remove your hat, but if you don't you'll walk in ... and they'd throw bread at you, all sorts. Another thing about the mess room, you never had a handle on your cup. I brought my cup along, you know, and I had it there on the table and along comes this big bloke and he goes 'bang!' and he chops it off with a knife. But that happened to everybody ... It was just something, I don't know, but nobody had a handle on their cup. They were chopped off by somebody else ... They were funny days, actually.

The mess employed a full time chef, but other duties were performed by the men. Cherries were in this time. There were sixty men eating in there, see, and he's acting the goat all the time and joking 'give us your bloody plates'. He was crook on it, see, getting the mess duty, anyhow, got all the cherry bobs in one thing and he says 'now you master bars' bang, bang, and he threw cherry bobs at everybody in the mess. They were like a lot of kids but it was quite enjoyable. If there was a length of time between calls, say you would go for a week without a call in those days, oh, they'd start to get grumpy and moody and all that sort of thing, you know ... and when we got a fire, they'd come back from the fire and they'd all come in the mess for their meals you know, and they'd all be talking about the fire ... and everything was right again. [Charlie White 17.4.85]

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The mess was something of a focus for the single men and there was nothing spartan about it. There were white tablecloths and the meals were generally reckoned to be lop class'. The men got through vast quantities of meat, with fish on Fridays, and everything had to be lust right'. All the same, the mess committee's rules against the throwing of food seem to have been honoured more in the breach than in the observance. It was a peculiar life. We lived there in quarters. We had our own rooms. We had our own cook and we had our mess room. We paid eight shillings a week board because we were sleeping there ... There were so many round tables, cause there was no such man as the head man at the table. It was a mighty job ... We were under the bells for 120 hours first and then 112 hours ... The Fire Brigade consisted of champion men. I used to look at them and think `crikey, fancy being here with these chaps.' There was footballers, rowers, boxers, wrestlers,

gymnasts, bandsmen and they made arrangements that footballers, you trained on Tuesday, you played Wednesday ... then Thursday you trained with your local club Essendon and Saturday you played football. Well you got off for those days. We got fifty-six hours off ... Then the bandsmen, they had their leave days. {Duffy Plummer 9.3.85]

Jack McKimm joined as a cornet player in 1934, but only after several years of trying. He wanted to play in the MFB Band under its leader of the time, Frank 'Massa' Johnston. He got to know Massa Johnston, playing in his Footscray City Band, and eventually was told that there were two vacancies coming up in the MFB Band. He `was given a position on the understanding that he would practise his cornet until he reached the standard of the other bandsmen.' `You had to be the best to get into the Brigade.' The band played for many charity institutions around Melbourne. `If they got Wilkins' ear, the Band would play ... the Lord Mayor's Concert ... big occasions.' The Band of the Grenadier Guards came out for Melbourne's Centenary and drew one of the biggest crowds ever seen in Collins Street. 'Spencer Street to the Town Hall, we marched them up and when we got there, their musical director, he said they had marched behind the best band he had ever heard-us ... It was a good marching band ... never beaten in the quick step. [Jack McKimm 4.7.88] The MFB Band was founded by Stein in 1896. Mr Riley was employed as bandmaster on a part time basis, on a retainer of ÂŁ30 a year. Charlie Smith, Australian Champion cornet player, took over as conductor for a while, but found he could make ÂŁ40 a week playing cornet and trumpet in theatre bands, so he left the MFB to make some money. It was at this stage that Massa Johnston and the MFB Band got together and became a winning team. By the late 1920s they had competed their way to the top and stayed there throughout the 1930s. The Band won the 'A' Grade State Championships at South Street, Ballarat, with almost monotonous regularity and became the band to beat at the interstate competitions at Tanunda, South Australia. Some of the press reports give the distinct impression that the South Australians would not have been disappointed if the MFB Band MFB Bandmaster's staff stayed home and gave the others a chance. They won two Australian

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Band and

with the MFB J.T. Wilkins (in civilian clothes) and Massa Johnston Fire Museum. Melbourne Photo 1935. c. some of their trophies,

Championships and it was the MFB Band that led the funeral cortege of Mr Sidney Myer in September 1934. Many of the Band members were as much musicians as firemen. Bob Easton, for instance, was a carpenter in the Eastern Hill workshops who played tenor horn in the Band and French horn in various orchestras. Unlike the uniformed men, he did not work continuous duty, and most of the social life for Bob and his wife Rene revolved around music rather than the Brigade. Mr Easton played regularly in theatres and for various opera productions and was also a member of the Police Band. Len Barrett was a fireman, but he managed to find time to play cornet in the MFB Band and trumpet in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Firemen were entitled to a month's leave when they got married, so when Sir Malcolm Sargeant came to Melbourne to conduct, Len and Mary decided to become Mr and Mrs Barrett. Len needed the time off for rehearsals. From 1941, the Barretts were stationed at Port Melbourne and Len used to practise around the station every day. Later, he took over the Geelong Grammar Band and swapped his Saturday leave to Wednesday, so he could go down there for rehearsals. Massa Johnston was a very good band leader,

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MFB Band to the top without a group of men who were dedicated to their music. What with the bandsmen and the footballers and all the other top sportsmen being provided with facilities to do what they were best at, there were few complaints. But the long hours and the discipline remained. 'It was all "Sir" or "Mr". Firemen were Plummer, Steel, Chapman. If an officer spoke to you it was all "Sir". Mr Wilkins was the Chief then. He knew everything. There was no such thing as trying to hide anything, cause it was more or less like the bush telegraph; they knew everything.' One night Duffy Plummer, Essendon football player, was late back from leave.

but he couldn't have taken the

had to go before the Chief over that and I didn't get back to the station until three o'clock instead of one o'clock [a.m.] and I went before Mr Wilkins and he said What happened Plummer?' and I said `er ...' and he said 'That'll do. You went to a turnout at Essendon' and 'Yes Sir.' He said 'There was Hughie Tornie with you, there was Bob Spargo with you, there was Bill Leonard ...' I said 'Yes Sir,' and he said what time did you arrive at the station?' and I thought to myself well, he knows everything, so three o'clock it's got to be and I was just about to speak when Mr Paterson, he couldn't have known what time ... he spoke up and he said 'quarter to two, Sir,' so I was fined ... ten shillings. He got me off the hook. He was a great sportsman, Mr Banjo Paterson and he would get you on your own and 'golly gosh, golly gosh, tell me about I

that game.'

There couldn't be many men who hadn't been up before the Chief ... you were on duty so many hours you had to break out some how ... if you just backed a car into something you had to put in a report and then you faced the Chief. The main thing was being late [back from leave] ... You were never absent because you lived at the station. They knew where you were. [Duffy Plummer 9.3.85] ... the major thing with Mr Wilkins was you never say `I'm going to do this.' He took strong exception because you had to ask him his permission. [Harrie Newport 1.3.85]

All letters to the Chief from officers and men had to be signed 'I have the honour to be Sir, Your obedient servant'. The tradition began in Stein's day and Wilkins insisted that it continue. The other officers maintained this code of behaviour. ... we had a fire in a hotel once and the licensee of the hotel, he asked whether we would like to receive an eighteen gallon of beer up to the station and there was this Mr Cooke, the gentleman that got killed-he was a bonzer bloke. Because we didn't ask him, he sent it back. So then we went and asked him could we, and he said yes. [Duffy Plummer

9.3.85]

the fabulous

MELBOURNE FIRE BRIGADE BAND

conducted by Mervyn Simpson

Cover of the MFB Band's record 'Farewell Blazing Brass'

Such attitudes could easily have become oppressive, but both Lee and Wilkins were regarded by the men as fair and reasonable, and so the system worked. They were both similar. They were both humane in their dealings with the men and it had to be a very serious offence before they dismissed you ...

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Mr Wilkins would say to a man up for an offence charge 'If I fine you you won't pay it; your wife'll pay it,' and he used to be very sympathetic to the wives being punished and he was quite a good man. [Harrie Newport 1.3.85]

When he retired in 1940, Wilkins' final report gave a fitting description of the Brigade at the time. 'It is gratifying to me to know that I am handing over to my successor the charge of an efficient Brigade and a contented service' [John Wilkins, MFB Board Report 1940]. Most of the officers and men and their families would have agreed with him. James Kemp took over as Chief, and on 1 April 1941 F.A. Johns took over from Dudley as Secretary to the Board. The next Board Report in 1941 was the first to mention the Union.

III

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne The second half century

Industrial relations

Prelude

J.T. Wilkins retired, the Brigade entered a new era, although this was not immediately apparent. James Kemp officially took over as Chief in July 1940 and he attempted to maintain the same status as his predecessor, but he never seems to have commanded the same respect. WHEN

Wilkins he did a very good job. He should have retired at 65. Well he didn't retire and he's still there when he's 71. Why he wouldn't, because he wanted to keep another fellow out of being Chief Officer and his name was Kemp ... Kemp, a good firefighter and that's where he started and that's where he finished. [Bert Manning 7.3.85] Kemp did a lot of harm because he was a very little minded man. He had his pets ... who had to ring in and tell him what was going on at the stations ... Kemp was vindictive and he was not a tremendously good firefighter either. [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85]

Kemp was not, of course, the only Chief accused of having

favourites.

People had proteges. I suppose J.T. Wilkins was an offender in that he had proteges which included, of course, his own son and that was a pretty blatant example of nepotism ... Of course anyone that looked like being a protĂŠgĂŠ of Wilkins and his school ... James Kemp, he had his proteges and when he came to the throne all the Wilkins school were banished ... he promoted his own ... [Jack McKimm 28.2.85]

Wilkins was a shrewd administrator and he had very good relationships with the Union and when he thought there was some improvement that was necessary in the welfare of the staff and that wouldn't cost any money he'd make a suggestion to the Union that they ask for this concession and of course it was granted ... the Union would just go in and hold a deputation to the Chief and they never got as far as the Board; it'd just go to the Chief and the Chief would fix it up ... The Secretary of the Union was a Member of Parliament ... Murphy ... he was the Member for Port Melbourne ... generally if the Union wanted anything they ... used to get it by Mr Murphy going to see Mr Wilkins and ... he was always threatening to mention things 'on the floor of the Hoose'. He was an Irishman. When he left, Kemp entered the scene... when Kemp came in about this time Cremean became Secretary. He

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was much the same thing. It was a tactic on the Union's part to have a Labor politician as Secretary and he got very good results because of his position. I think the trouble started when Kemp became Chief and the Board then became known as a 'no' Board. Anything they put up, the Board said 'no' if it cost any money. Wilkins' generosity or shrewdness in giving the men concessions that cost nothing had run out ... Now they were asking for concessions that cost something and this didn't please the Board ... They were penny wise and pound foolish because they caused the Union to become more active or aggressive or more efficient in getting their demands. [Jack McKimm 21.3.85]

Generally, Mr Kemp seems to have stayed out of industrial relations and left the Members of the Board to make up their own minds, but he was seen by the men as unsympathetic to the Union. Jim Parish told the story of how, when he became a Union delegate, Kemp warned him not to get a reputation as a Bolshevik. To anyone who knew Jim Parish, the idea would have seemed bizarre. A year after Kemp became Chief, Dudley retired and F.A. Johns took over as Secretary to the Board. I had their confidence ... in most cases I came to know the families, the wife and sometimes the children of those Board Members and I was very happy to be associated with them ... I had men like Sir George Wales ... he had learned to respect what I said and did. He was Lord Mayor of Melbourne for three years and a pretty influential man and, you know, to have him standing behind you gave you a bit of pleasure you might say ... [The Board Members] very seldom [represented their own interests.] If there was any place where that sort of attitude came about it would be in the municipal world and then again only after about 1950. Up to that time the representative from the North of Yarra was an influential man in his own private life, and I'm talking about a number of people who held that position... but they still looked upon themselves as being part of a whole ... but as the political appearance or backing ... changed and became more industrial, so the trouble started to bubble up and they would think only of themselves and their particular council and that didn't help matters. It hasn't really come into the South of Yarra yet but it will do one day. [Frank Johns 22.3.85]

Frank Johns began working with James Kemp. Kemp ... most people would say he was a fair so and so, but I never had any cause to grumble. He would rely on me pretty substantially. From the academic side of it he was a very good Chief Officer. A lot of people had no time for him for personal reasons I think. [The Union leadership] they were some of them of the Soviet pattern ... and one of them was a very able man, very able indeed. But from then on my life became one of combatting the Union. [Frank Johns 22.3.85]

In March 1941 when Dudley was on retiring leave and Johns was still only Acting Secretary, the Board faced a major log of claims from the Union. That was to be the pattern right through until Mr Johns retired in 1970. A large proportion of his and the Board's time was taken up with industrial relations in one form or another.

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In theory, the Union had a powerful ally. When Mr Murphy resigned as Union Secretary, he immediately became one of the Government representatives on the Board and in 1941 he was actually President of the MFB. Naturally, he supported the Union's claim for a major pay rise, but no one else did. The insurance company represent-

atives like Colonel Fethers were particularly hostile. When the men were granted a small pay rise, they refused to accept it. Our wages were quite reasonable against the basic wage before the war. But outside wages went up immensely. Men outside could be earning double those in the Brigade ... When we applied to the Board for a rise in wages there was this pegging. [Alan Davidson 7.5.85] The arguments continued for most of the year with the Union basing their claim on comparisons with wages in other Brigades. Then Colonel Fethers came up with the idea of a war allowance. Several Board members were against it, but for once Fethers and Murphy were in agreement and so that was that. The men got a war allowance for the duration of the Second World War. Murphy died suddenly in February 1942 after five and a half years on the Board and he was replaced by another Labor MLA, Cr William Barry. Whether it was the war and full employment, or the continuing gap between wages in the Brigade compared to elsewhere, or the end of Wilkins' habit of settling matters with the Union himself, the Board was finding an unprecedented amount of its time devoted to industrial relations. Barry took over where Murphy left off as effectively the Union's representative on the Board, and in 1942 the issue was a cost of living allowance. Nelson and Seabrook and James were against, but politics inside the Board room were not unaffected by politics outside. Barry's arguments were accepted and a cost of living allowance was added to the war allowance. That was more or less the way things stayed until the end of the war when Kemp retired and was replaced by Whitehead. There is no doubt that he handed over a discontented service. Pay remained unchanged in real terms during the war, while the work load increased. Partly this was because of a manpower shortage, but there were also the demands on the service to train a civilian firefighting force in case of aerial attack and to provide a watching service on the docks while explosives were being handled. Generally, training the Auxiliary Fire Service was popular, but boat duty was not, and it was still in full swing in 1946 when Ern Tamme joined. 'A lot of shipping with hazardous chemicals ... still standing by down on the wharves with hoses out, stopping the wharfies smoking and getting abused' [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]. During the war there was no new building and the perennial shortage of married quarters increased. Housing was also hard to come by outside the Brigade, and the level of discontent from the married men forced to live as single men escalated sharply after the war. Housing was an issue inseparable from hours. The men were still working 108 hours a week, longer than any other Brigade in Australia. Increasingly, they were asking why they should be on duty that long if the Brigade couldn't provide them with quarters. Another source of discontent was the old equipment that hadn't been updated during the war.

MFB operational firefighter's shoulder patch

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The banner of the Fire Brigade Employes Union of Victoria c. 1911. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

was very taken aback by the backward look they had ... The war years ... they didn't look over the back fence for what other organisations were doing ... it was slow moving ... Everyone had an air of a service where 'there's not many of us' ... a damn stuck up mob. [Ern Tamme 10.5.851 I

hadn't advanced them to what I'd imagined them to be

The appliances were outdated compared to machines he and other ex -servicemen had seen in the army. What with the old pumps and the old ladders, he thought it was like stepping back into history. Another feature of the Brigade that new men noticed was the discipline. Even returned soldiers described the atmosphere as authoritarian, stiff and overbearing, and they were given the impression that some of the older officers resented the younger men coming into the job. Certainly the new recruits were no longer the champion sportsmen of the 1930s. Unemployment rates had fallen dramatically. The Brigade could no longer pick its men. The men could pick

their job, and they became correspondingly more militant. This militancy was not confined to the Brigade. Shorter hours and

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The other side of the Fire Brigade Employes Union banner. W. Cameron of Collingwood, who designed the banner, copied a painting very popular with British fire brigades. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

higher wages were the twin demands of unionists all over Australia. Both were limited by wartime regulation and in 1946 Labor Prime Minister, J.B. Chifley, amended the regulations to allow the unions to take their claims to the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. Between the beginning of 1945 and the end of 1950, 10.2 million workdays were lost in industrial disputes as unionists fought for their share of post-war prosperity. Communists were prominent in many of these disputes, for instance in that of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in Victoria, which won pay rises as high as El a week for some skilled men. Meanwhile, the claim for a forty-hour week dragged through the Arbitration Court and was eventually granted, effective from January 1948. This decision had particular implications for workers providing a twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week service. Firemen took a special interest in the ensuing disputes involving railway and tramway workers, who wanted improved penalty rates for work outside a

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forty-hour, five day week. The most bitter disputes were on the Queensland railways in 1948, but the Victorian tramways also had a long running dispute in 1950. By this stage the Labor Government had been defeated and Menzies was Prime Minister. He set about trying to make the Communist Party illegal in Australia. Although he failed because the High Court ruled the Communist Party Dissolution Bill unconstitutional, he had many supporters. This was particularly true in Victoria where Catholics under the leadership of B.A. Santamaria were prominent in the trade unions. From the early 1940s they were actively engaged in anti -communist activity. Santamaria's Movement was eventually to split the Labor Party, but in the 1940s it had a particular impact on the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. From its earliest days, the secretaryship of the Fire Brigades Employees' Union had been in the hands of the Catholic faction of the Victorian Labor Party. When Murphy resigned and went on the Board, he was replaced as Secretary by Bert Cremean, Deputy Leader of the Victorian Labor Party and prominent in Catholic Action. The Union ... they were very weak when I first started. The Union Secretary, Mr Cremean, he was hand in hand with the Board and the Board were God Almighty. There was one occasion there, Mr Wales, he was a councillor and he was Chairman of the Board ... he owned the quarries and two or three stations were built on the quarries ... and of course Mr Showers, he was a gentleman, he got me my job, but he owned the Glen Murphy timber yard, well Glen Murphy timber yard provided the timber-it was intrigue within intrigue ... We asked for only simple things in those days. Cremean came out and we said 'How did it go Bert?' and he said They won't tell me a thing.' Well finally they called us in and Wales said 'We've provided your first item but as I was telling you Bert, we can't do the other'. [Duffy Plummer 9.3.85]

Bert Cremean died in May 1945 and he was replaced as Union Secretary by his brother Jack. 'There were two Cremeans and we found out later that they worked more for the Board than they worked for the Union' [Alan Davidson 7.5.85]. Bill Woolhouse was President of the Fire Brigades Employees' Union for much of the early 1940s. He described Bert Cremean as 'a very fine man ... a kind man, had the respect of all the Board', but he had no time for Jack Cremean: no comparison ... jumped from side to side; went to the DLP [Democratic Labor Party] because he thought that was where the rest would go' [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85]. When Jack Cremean resigned as Secretary of the Union, he wrote to Frank Johns, thanking him for his co-operation over the years. `Notwithstanding any of the unfair imputations which were sometimes levelled at the Board by irresponsible members, I always upheld the actions of the Board and it was in this way that I impinged upon the intolerance of some members of my Union' [Jack Cremean to Frank Johns 3.8.48]. Bill Webber replaced Bill Woolhouse as President of the Union and he had no time for either of the Cremeans or Murphy. For the first time, the members of the Fire Brigades Employees' Union had elected themselves a militant leader. Given the circumstances, this was not surprising. The moderates had succeeded in winning Melbourne's

MEI

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Some firemen had supported shorter hours from as early as 1916. The Band and the union banner at an eight hours day demonstration, 10.4.16. Photo La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.

firefighters worse pay and conditions than almost any other brigade in Australia, so the men made Webber their leader and kept him there as President and then Secretary for nearly thirty years. Over those years, Webber made many enemies but none of them ever denied that he had great ability or that firefighters' conditions needed improving. Woolhouse was firmly convinced he was a communist but admired his ability as a speaker and negotiator. Bill Webber, he was a very able man. I would have loved to have been able to talk as well as he standing up on his feet. But whenever we were

together we were always on the other side of the fence and shouting across it instead of shaking hands with him ... [The Board], none of them loved him but they didn't have to put up with him as long as the Chief and I did ... He was very definitely ... nowadays they would call him left ... [Frank Johns 22.3.85] Bill Webber had grown up in a militant Labor family and was a left wing member of the Labor Party. His father had been Federal

Secretary of the Shop Assistants and Employees' Union and many of the leaders of the Victorian Labor Party were family friends. This meant Webber saw Brigade conditions in a wider context and was not intimidated by the Board. Just because he was not an officer he saw no reason to say 'Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir' to Whitehead. Whitehead was a First World War veteran who had come up through the ranks of the Brigade with a reputation for being as stern and unbending as the metal plate in his jaw. He was reputed to have a dry sense of humour, but this was little in evidence in his dealings with the Union. He proved totally incapable of negotiating with a

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firefighter who didn't know his place. One newspaper at the time called it a struggle between democracy and paternalism. The Union had one or two allies in the press and more in Parliament, but few among the senior officers or on the Board in what was to be a long,

bitter fight. From 5 July 1946, existing Senior Firemen were reclassified as Sub -Station Officers (SSOs). This took them out of the Union and into the Officers' Association. Whitehead seems to have been trying to remove the Union leadership, but what he did was remove the moderates like Woolhouse. In 1946, the main issue was housing, and of course its corollary, hours. The housing shortage that had plagued the Brigade since Harrie B. Lee's day had worsened significantly during the war. Many firefighters were forced to live as single men with their wives and children elsewhere, and the queue for married quarters was years long. In 1946 the housing shortage was general, but expectations of home ownership were increasing. Many returned servicemen who joined the Brigade took out low interest loans and bought land. They preferred to wait for building materials for a home of their own rather than for Brigade quarters. The MFB Board agreed to a major programme to build new quarters, but only if the men voted to stay on a continuous duty system. The men were granted an extra twelve hours weekly leave, bringing their hours down to ninety-six, but below that the Chief and the Board refused to budge. While he was still Acting Chief, Whitehead prepared a report on continuous duty versus a platoon system, and he made his views very clear. 'This is possibly the most momentous decision required since the inception of the Board,' he wrote. Few would disagree. ... one great benefit from the continuous duty system. A man is normally housed alongside his job-he is able to have his meals with his family and attend to those many 'chores' associated with family life when not actively engaged on Brigade duties. From this condition there naturally results a kind of fusing of his work with his domestic life and his job becomes his life rather than a means to an end which is practically the position under a platoon system. [Joint report from Whitehead and Johns to Plant and Buildings Committee 6.6.46]

In the same report it was noted that the Brigade was short 160 sets of quarters out of an active strength of 358 officers and men. Clearly the situation that Whitehead and Johns admired so much was an ideal rather than reality. Others in the Brigade admired the ideal too. When a vote was taken in 1946, the majority were in favour of continuous duty. The Chief believed most of those who voted for a platoon system were married men living as single men, and if the Board could only build enough new quarters sufficiently quickly, the voting trend in successive ballots away from continuous duty would be halted. He may have been right, but the Board was not noted for rapid action, especially when it came to spending money. Indeed, it was the slowness of the Board in considering their requests that seems to have infuriated the men most. For instance, a log of claims was submitted on 26 June 1947 and the Board set up a sub-

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committee to consider it. This did not report to the Board until 11 December, when virtually all the Union's requests were turned down. William Barry, Sir George Wales and Mr Pettitt sat as a subcommittee on staff conditions throughout the early months of 1948, with Whitehead and Johns in attendance. Despite the fact that Barry was President of the Board that year, he was outvoted by Wales and Pettitt on every issue. The Board turned down virtually all the Union's requests and in May the men decided they had had enough. Their requests were modest in a national context. Why should firemen work longer hours for less money than anyone else? If the Board refused to improve conditions, they would take their case elsewhere, so they approached the Chief Secretary requesting a Wages Board. That was the turning point in terms and conditions of employment in the Brigade. The appointment of a Wages Board forced representatives of the Fire Brigades Board, in Ern Tamme's phrase, 'to look over the back fence' at what was happening elsewhere.

The strike The years 1948-50 were eventful ones for the Brigade. The Firefighters' Wages Board began sitting in September 1948 and for the next twelve months fought its way through the terms and conditions of employment of Victorian firefighters. Whitehead and Johns represented the employers' side, with G.G. Sinclair from the CFA, while initially Moffat, Webber and Stevans represented the employees. A.V. Barns was chairman and umpire in the arguments that followed, while the two groups each tried to bring him round to their way of thinking and gain a majority vote. The first issue was hours, and the employees argued for a reduction from ninety-six to eighty-four per week. The employers refused and on 25 October, Barns agreed with them. `My Board said "No". If there's going to be any alteration to hours it will be forty, just the same as any other worker ... they had it in mind this, that no Government Department or Government Minister could vote against a forty hour week' [Frank Johns 22.3.851. By this stage, Jack Cremean had resigned as Secretary of the Union over a difference of opinion with Bill Webber, and been replaced by G.L. Jones. Jones was a solicitor and seems to have devoted more of his time to the Union than his predecessors. He began to help the Executive get their affairs in order and make out a proper legal case for what they wanted. The Union did not hire legal counsel to speak on their behalf, partly because they couldn't afford it and partly because Webber was so good. Jones briefed Webber and they formed

a winning combination. On 5 November, the employees went back to the Wages Board with a case for a fifty-six hour week, based on the system already operating in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales. It was made clear that continuous duty was tied to housing and ... `the housing position at the present time appeared to be hopeless from the men's point of view' [Firefighters' Wages Board Minutes 5.10.481. The Chairman went to New South Wales to see how the fifty-six hour system worked there, and Whitehead and Johns went with him. If they hoped to influence his decision, they were to be disappointed.

Pistol -type fire extinguisher

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On 6 December, on the Chairman's casting vote, the Wages Board ruled that the Brigade would commence working a fifty-six hour week from 1 January 1950. The men were delighted, but the Chief and the Board were not. The Chief and the Board were also coming under increasing pressure over the question of disciplinary proceedings. The old system had involved a written statement from the man charged. He had virtually no opportunity to put his case in person and was not allowed to confront the officer charging him, or bring witnesses. There was a right of appeal to the Board against the Chief's decision, but the Board almost always accepted the Chiefs recommendation. The Union had been fighting for a closer approximation to justice for some time. Jones had the legal background to help the Union along. The Chief must have begun to feel under siege on all fronts. The reaction of the Board was to take a tough line over discipline. Barry was still President, but the men seem to have blamed Sir George Wales, who became President in January 1949. A little rhyme was current at the time. There came to us across the sea A dreadful cry of MUTINY For Sir George Wales like Captain Bligh Does not like eating humble pie. [UFU correspondence]

The disciplinary hearing that caused the most controversy at the time concerned Senior Fireman Tait. The case illustrates some of the disadvantages of firefighters living on stations in such tight little communities. Tait was stationed at Windsor and so was District Officer Castles, by all accounts a disciplinarian of the old school and not an easy man to get along with. It was alleged that he had his favourites and Tait was not one of them. Tait had been at Windsor eighteen months, during which time there was a series of incidents. Castles refused to provide light bulbs in the alleyway past Tait's quarters, he removed Tait's children's toys from the street and kept them in a store room until Tait found them, he ordered Fireman Tyson to move his children's pram to a position at the top of two flights of stairs, he seems to have sent Tait and Tyson on theatre duty far more often than any of the other men, he repeatedly ordered Tait to clean the windows of his quarters, and he ordered Tait to wash a wall of his quarters that had been dirty when he moved in. Finally, Tait struck Castles and Tait got the sack. Jones and Webber ensured that the appeals took up a great deal of the Board's time. In the end, to nobody's surprise, the Board endorsed the Chiefs original decision and refused to attribute any blame to Castles. Tait had struck an officer and whatever the extenuating circumstances, he had to go. The incident further soured relations between the Union and the Board and between the officers and the men. While the Union (by this time renamed the United Firemen's Union of Victoria) continued arguing for improved conditions through the Wages Board and won point after point, the Chief insisted on his right to get tough over what remained within his jurisdiction. Things came to a head over the issue of painting.

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Since 1891, the Brigade had included firemen tradesmen of various kinds, from blacksmiths to bricklayers. They were paid a little extra when working at their trade and the Board got its plumbing and painting done on the cheap. By 1948, painting was the only trade still regularly carried out on that basis, and the practice was meeting sustained resistance from the men. They were being paid too little for unpopular work and the wages of tradesmen outside the Brigade were being drastically undercut. By late 1948 the Union had placed a total ban on all painting. In January 1949 the Chief ordered nineteen men to paint hydrant indicators. They refused. On ordered 1 February a further seven men, including Bill Webber, were to paint. They refused, and all were ordered to appear before the Chief for a severe reprimand. They took their case to the Board and Barry was sympathetic, but the others backed the Chief. Webber applied to the Government for an independent tribunal to hear appeals against Brigade punishments. The Fire Brigades Act was amended to provide for an appeals tribunal, effective from 15 October 1949. While this dispute was in progress, Whitehead and Johns stayed away from at least one Wages Board sitting. Despite that, a Draft Determination of the Firefighters Board was issued on 2 September. The employers immediately appealed. The big issue was still hours. The Draft Determination gave firemen a fifty-six hour week effective from 1 January 1950. The Board refused to accept this. If they couldn't have continuous duty of ninety-six hours, they would have a forty -hour week like everybody else. when we got to that position we found ourselves having lost the argument that we should continue on the 96 hour system ... we said `No', if there's going to be any alteration to hours at all it's going to be forty ... well no Minister of the Crown could accept an argument otherwise ... [The Board favoured ninety-six hours] well for one thing, everybody, well I say everybody, they weren't all happy ... it was a far less costly project and although it was ninety-six hours a week a lot of that time was just spent lying in bed asleep. [Frank Johns 22.3.85] ...

The Board appealed against fifty-six hours and employed F.P. Derham to argue for continuous duty. Webber appeared for the employees and the case was heard before Judge Gamble. The Board appealed against it ... and Whitehead said in Court that if you were going for shorter hours, you might as well go for a forty -hour week ... it was his impression, most people's impression the last thing we wanted was a forty -hour week because that would put us on those three night shifts, an awful sort of, in my view ... whereas the fifty-six wouldn't have been too bad. But Judge [Gamble] said 'I can see no reason why firemen should have to work any more than ordinary workers-we'll grant them a forty hour week'. Well I was in Court when this came through and there was a hush like the start of the Stawell Gift. No one ever thought that this would happen ... and that was an awful period ... [Jack McKimm 28.2.85]

In retrospect, if the Board and the Chief were so opposed to shorter hours, they were very foolish to appeal against fifty-six on the basis

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of 'ninety-six or forty'. In later years, they were to try and get hours raised from forty to fifty-six. When the shift system came into operation on 31 March 1950, Melbourne was in the grip of a major tram strike over penalty rates for work over forty hours per week. Unions were taking the initiative and forcing the pace of change, but not everyone wanted to change, particularly some of the older officers and men, who all had quarters. The older officers and men couldn't stand it-total confusion. The older men abused the younger men: "You've ruined the bloody job." They'd been in it all their life and here we were buggering up the Fire Brigade' [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]. There is evidence of considerable bad feeling at this time between the men and some of the officers. The men were now supposed to be working eight hour shifts and on some stations this was rigorously enforced. Men were ordered to clean battery terminals and the wheel nuts on the appliances and they were made to scrub the ceilings, walls and toilets. Each shift had to do the same, so that everything was cleaned three times a day. Employing enough men to work a forty -hour system was not easy at short notice, but the Board made matters worse. At the time of the change to shifts they sacked all of the PPs, except those in the outer suburban stations where there were no permanent men. At the same meeting, they disbanded the gym team and the Band. The Board and the senior officers believed the forty -hour week couldn't work, and some of them appeared to the men to be trying to make it unworkable. The men believed that they were being punished for ending continuous duty and bad feeling accumulated. There is a story that the men were forced to wash the walls of the mess room at No. 1 so often, they washed right down to bare brick. An indication of how petty things became was that Mr Whitehead refused to provide any toilet paper on the stations. The Union took the matter up and in 1952 toilet paper was provided through a special clause in the industrial award. Meanwhile, the men at Port Melbourne stocked up on biscuit packing paper whenever they were called out to the Swallow and Ariell factory. There was particular acrimony over the night shift. Under continuous duty the men slept at night and even the man in the watch room had a collapsible bed. It was a part of every firefighter's life to learn how to wake to the bells and leap into his boots from a deep sleep. Cases of men failing to hear the bells or answer a call in the watch room were rare. At some stations there were delayed action alarms that put on all the bells if the man in the watch room failed to answer an incoming call within forty seconds. No one ever said the system was anything but effective, until 1950. After 31 March, men were not allowed to sleep on duty. Whitehead and his senior officers believed men were sleeping, especially those working a second job during the day. Having two jobs was a common practice although it was equally frowned on by the Union, which held to the creed of one man, one job, and by senior officers who wanted firefighters to be firefighters all the time. Then on 11 May 1950, two firefighters at Ascot Vale station confirmed Whitehead's

fears.

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Following ... the failure of the men on night duty at Ascot Vale Station to respond when at 1.45 a.m. on 11.5.50 a Street Fire Alarm call was received from Kent Street Railway Bridge, Ascot Vale, an appliance was sent to Ascot Vale to investigate. The bells were ringing and the night

shift asleep in various parts of the station. [Chiefs report 22.8.50]

Men had slept through the bells before, but not often. Under the old system any man sleeping through the bells would have been charged and probably dismissed. Two men at a station, both asleep, was a scandal that required immediate investigation. Even so, the Chiefs reaction seems extreme in retrospect. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that he no longer trusted the men to do their job. Mr Whitehead ordered the Brigade Workshops to manufacture 'combined

check and delayed action relays'. These had been in use at No. 1 and No. 2 stations for years, and meant the man in the watch room had to press a button at specified intervals, or all the bells were activated. They became known as press buttons. At No. 1 and No. 2 they had to be operated every three minutes, but an arbitrary figure of ten minutes was decided on for the new system of press buttons to be installed in every station. The installation of press buttons infuriated the men. They believed it was yet another pinpricking attempt to make working forty hours as unpleasant as possible. On 14 August they held a general meeting and sent a letter to the Chief asking to discuss the matter. Whitehead refused. Bad feeling began to escalate and on 7 September Whitehead went on leave to Perth. On 12 September the firefighters time State met and decided to refuse to press the buttons. was ten minutes every thought politicians were involved. Mr Cain The preferable. be would interval excessive, and that a thirty minute by which mind, its change days to Board gave the Union fourteen time Whitehead would be back. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Banjo Paterson was being interviewed by journalists. He said that since the introduction of the forty -hour week, many men were working two jobs and falling asleep at night. He also talked about 'the old days': The Board would do anything for the men. I knew every man. We were proud of the Brigade' [Lloyd Ross, The Herald 16.9.50]. Clearly he believed that something valuable had been lost, and the Deputy Chief was not alone in looking back to a golden past. Whatever the senior officers like Bill Aldridge, Banjo Paterson and his nephew Jack might have thought of each other or Whitehead, they were united in their opposition to the forty -hour week. They saw the press buttons as necessary for the efficient operation of the service. In contrast, the men thought the officers were deliberately trying to make their work unpleasant. They argued that the press buttons indicated that the Board no longer trusted them. Healy was one of many to express that opinion. He contended that he was Fire Brigade conscious, and resentful that after 15 years under the 96 hours system he could not be relied upon seemingly to perform his duty ... In his opinion the Board's attitude had

been that they no longer trusted the men.

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Airey had been in the job twenty-five years. ... with his years of service there seemed to be

an expressed doubt on the Board's part as to his sincerity to give service ... As a young man he had taken pride in the service and used to race down to the station when the bells went. His son was now in the job and did the same. [Transcript of the Hearing before Mr R.H. Beers, October 1950]

Press buttons hit at the core of the men's pride in their work as firefighters-their ability to answer the alarm rapidly whatever the time of day or night. It was, after all, what they spent their working

lives waiting for. On 19 September the Union offered to meet the Board, but the Board agreed only if representatives of the Trades Hall Council were present. Presumably they thought the Trades Hall executive would be a moderating influence. The Union took this as an insult. If anyone should be asking for Trades Hall assistance it was them, and they had chosen not to do so. There was stalemate for nearly two weeks. Meanwhile, Whitehead returned. On 2 October the Board decided to call in the Trades Hall Council over something completely different. Once the Trades Hall representatives had arrived, the Board and the UFU managed to agree to talk to each other, even though the Trades Hall representatives were not in the room at the same time. No progress was made towards resolving the dispute and the Board ruled that buttons had to be pressed from 3 p.m. on 4 October. At 5 p.m. on 4 October the Board met and sacked eighteen men for refusing to press buttons, while the Union called a meeting for the following day to be held in two stages to allow for the various shifts. If there had ever been any doubts as to how far the men supported their Union Executive, they were dispelled on 5 October 1950. We called the first stop work meeting ever ... this was a big decision for us to take as a State Committee. While we had a fair idea that the membership was supporting us ... we didn't know how they'd react to

an all out strike ... So we hired the Assembly Hall. We called the meeting for 9 a.m. ... and we got there at eight o'clock in the morning and we held a meeting to decide on procedures, and then it was getting close to nine and somebody said 'Oh, there's not many here' ... we had no idea how it would go and ... [Sannerman] he walked out the front and he came racing in and said 'Come and have a look at Collins Street,' and we went out. They were walking down the hill; they were walking up the hill; they were getting off trams; the whole of that Collins Street area from Swanston to Russell Street was full of firees. They just came and it was the full complement of the Union. We only had about two or three absentees. [Bill Webber 29.7.85]

There were 286 men at the 9 a.m. meeting and 147 at the 4.30 p.m. meeting and by secret ballot, sealed until after the evening meeting, they voted 421 to 12 to strike from 7 p.m. that day. Twenty men continued to work, and there is evidence that at least some of them were persuaded to do so by the Deputy Chief. 'Banjo Paterson knew

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the weak spots and he offered to make them Sub -Station Officers and bring them in' [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85]. Five of the men who did not go on strike were First Class Firemen and the rest were Senior Firemen. At 9 a.m. on 6 October the Board met and sacked all the striking firemen and the Chief recommended that the other twenty men be promoted to Acting Sub -Station Officer. That was probably the most damaging mistake of his career, although clearly he was not solely responsible for the decision. Promotions were a contentious matter at the best of times, and a system of appeals had been worked out for those who felt they had been unfairly passed over. To promote twenty men who had not even sat the necessary qualifying examination was provocative in the extreme. Without that action, the strike would probably have been over within twenty-four hours, as the Union agreed to reinstatement without loss of continuity of service, and the appointment of an independent arbitrator. But for the next two weeks the men stayed on strike while the Premier, several members of his Cabinet and the Trades Hall Disputes Committee worked to get some agreement over the future of the twenty Acting SSOs. While all this was going on, Menzies' campaign against the Communist Party was at its height. Two days before the strike began, he had taken out a full page advertisement in the papers, arguing that 'Australians are in greater danger than ever before ...' and `International Communism has made it plain that, if it can, it will conquer the world.' The following day, the Communist Party Dissolution Bill passed the House of Representatives. Two days later, Whitehead and the Board sent dismissal notices to all striking firefighters and promoted the rest in direct contravention of Brigade regulations. Perhaps they thought they were answering Menzies' call for volunteers to help fight Communism. Certainly Johns believed there were Communists in the UFU, and he was probably not alone. Whatever the reason, the Board's drastic anti -union stand helped bequeath the Brigade a legacy of bitterness that was to last for twenty years. The men finally agreed to go back to work when the Acting SSOs were sent on leave on their original rate of pay, pending sitting the officer's exam. Subsequently, all of them who took the exam were given a pass, although the rules had to be bent to get some of them through. It was said that the standard of the educational exam had been 'higher than that required'. The Board called these men 'those who had remained loyal to the Board'. The Union called them 'scabs'. The issue divided the Brigade and how these men were labelled remained important forty years later. Whatever they were called, they were marked men. Once promoted to SSO, they were posted to new stations in a feeble attempt to protect them from their former workmates, but wherever they went they faced abuse, abuse that lasted beyond their careers in the Brigade and on into their retirement. 'A blot on the Fire Brigade Board; a disgusting episode ... sent them dead rats in the mail ... urinated in their top boots ... they always got hosed at fires ... put weed killer on their gardens' [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]. It should be noted that it was the failure of some men to strike that Mr Tamme considered disgusting, not the subsequent behaviour of the firefighters.

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Some terrible things were done, though. They put acid on the lawns and did all sorts of things. One chappie, he took a heart attack and died out in the paddock and they pretty well neglected him. It was shocking, horrible ... My attitude was, they were part of the job and I worked with them. They had made mistakes but I worked with them. [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85].

won't have anything to do with damn unions ... [The reduction in hours] that was all right. I went along with that all right ... but the domineering way of Webber handling things. I applaud those fellows what didn't go on strike ... because I don't agree with all this strike business ... a bit of feeling there, particularly the firemen out at Prahran. [Bert Manning 7.3.85] I

Eric Wilson was one of those who refused to strike. His wife coped by distancing herself from the Brigade. This required an effort because Mr Wilson was an officer, and the officers were still working continuous duty and living on fire stations. never took myself as Fire Brigade ... [but her husband was] Fire Brigade from his toes to the tip of his hair. That was his love ... I have never had any cross words in the Fire Brigade ... Then, of course, we had the strike, which altered a lot of things. It affected us till we left. You were sort of tagged. [Mrs Wilson 16.6.85] I

The Wilsons were posted from North Melbourne to Carlton, and encountered a lot of opposition. Mrs Wilson said they were sent nasty letters, but she doesn't want all the tales written down. Like sixteen of the others who did not go on strike, Wilson had applied to sit for the officer's exam. He was opposed to striking on principle and said so before the event, but presumably Mr Paterson was able to exploit the fears of some of the others about their future chances of promotion. Men had been known to pass the officer's exam and remain Senior Firemen for years. The reasons for refusing to strike seem to have been diverse. For instance, the largest group at any one station was five men at Prahran, including E. Sannerman. Sannerman was a member of the Union Executive who had stood against Webber for President and lost. Something of a feud seems to have developed between them. Webber maintained an extraordinary level of anger over the years against the men he called scabs, particularly Sannerman. In some other jobs, it might have been possible for those who did not strike to keep their victimisation at work separate from their families, but not in as tight a community as the Fire Brigade. Mrs Wilson said that the strike isolated her and as to the kids: 'those sort of things strengthen character'. Interestingly, looking back she remembered the hardest time was not the strike, but when Mr Wilson first became a firefighter, and she and her two children lived at Ascot Vale while her husband lived as a single man at Prahran. There is no doubt that the housing shortage which precipitated the change in hours was a serious problem. After 1950 the Brigade was never the same again. Mrs Tueno thought the reduction in hours was necessary, but:

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the only thing I don't like is bringing strikes into things. I think that ruined the Brigade in social life, you know, friendly feelings, because it did cause a lot of bitterness ... It was a most disturbing time. You felt as though your little world had come apart. [Gladys Tueno 11.6.85] R.H. Beers was appointed as arbiter and heard evidence over several days in October. He decided that the men had to push the buttons, but every fifteen minutes instead of every ten. So the men had lost, but they promptly devised schemes to allow them to sleep.

They built machines that pushed the buttons mechanically, or they worked out ways of turning them off overnight. The variety of solutions is astonishing, almost as if every station took pride in coming up with something different. There was even one device which dripped water onto a see -saw until it reached a certain level when the balance was tipped and the button pressed. The press buttons were never really operational to any extent, and the men continued to answer alarms. After 1 March 1961, all except the men in the watch rooms were allowed to sleep between midnight and 6 a.m. and from 1968 the press buttons themselves were phased out. So the men had been right, and the press buttons were not

necessary. But the bitterness remained. In January 1951 Mr Whitehead prepared a confidential report to the Board on the operation of the forty -hour week.

under the forceful leadership of Senior Fireman Webber ... If this leadership were deposed I feel that former harmony could be obtained. Senior Fireman Webber is without doubt deteriorating physically and mentally, becoming more belligerent and resorting to unsavoury tactics. He retains control by engendering fear in the minds of many of his members and creates embarrassment to the Service but withal retains allegiance because of his ability to expound Trade Union principles. [Whitehead, Report to Plant and Buildings Committee 25.1.51] The Union

[is]

Webber didn't think much of Whitehead, either. Whitehead was a good firefighter, but hopeless as Chief ... The Chief was supreme and if you got a bad personality, everybody suffered ... the Board didn't have a clue. Whitehead's ... whole career was one of strife ... just not capable ... He was known as a strong silent man, but he was strong and silent because he had nothing to say. [Bill Webber 18.7.88]

Whitehead resigned at the beginning of 1958 while Webber replaced Jones as Secretary and continued to lead the UFU until 1975.

Continuing strife

Despite all the changes of the late 1940s, the Brigade remained a very conservative organisation. Even after the introduction of the forty-hour week-which the old guard argued would change the Brigade for ever-there was great pressure to conform to the traditional way of doing things. Because there were so many new men, the officers and senior men were continually battling to teach

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them the way things were done in the Fire Brigade. Entries in the occurrence books, drills and word backs had to follow firm rules. Turnover in staff was high. Whitehead and after him Aldridge were concerned to maintain discipline among a continually changing group of men. Firefighters were not always happy about the methods they used. Aldridge was a trier ... a Fire Brigade fanatic ... introduced quite a few things that improved the service ... like closed hose carriages ... and a better relationship with the Board. A bombastic sort of a joker, but you could talk to him ... but [he had] a horrible way of belittling you in public if you made a mistake. [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]

Punishments for incorrect procedure ranged from public reprimands to dismissal, and the fear of failing to get it right affected some men badly. At fires or accidents they could be more worried about sending word back correctly, or getting the number of the hose carriage right, than about actually fighting the fire. There are examples of men being unable to think straight under that kind of pressure. One junior officer would regularly freeze up at fires and once chased a suspected arsonist on a major bush fire day. He left the fire and kept running. The last the men saw of him, he was disappearing over the hill. As this story illustrates, if you did make a mistake, you were not allowed to forget it, which added to the pressure. The Chiefs disciplinary hearings show that in the 1950s men were charged for all manner of offences. Under Aldridge men were reprimanded for making incorrect entries in the occurrence books, giving the incorrect location of street fire alarms and turning out hose carriages in the wrong direction, even when such mistakes were the result of poor management, that is, the men concerned had not been in the job long enough or received adequate training. The problem arose mainly because of the difficulties of recruiting enough men and then keeping them. Despite advertising campaigns the Brigade was semi -permanently undermanned, especially at the senior levels. This meant that the ever-changing pool of inexperienced men-far larger than the Brigade had ever had before-formed a part of the operational staff. Throughout the 1950s the Union regularly asked for more and better training, but Whitehead was not inclined to listen to suggestions from the men on how the service should be run. His response to a major set of Union proposals in 1955 was entirely negative, and as to Union complaints against officers 'There appears to be growing resistance by Union members to discipline not of their choosing' [Whitehead to Board 5.8.551. The Board took the Union's complaints rather more seriously, and investigated training in 1955. By this date Board Members included a representative elected by employees, and Senior Fireman F.E. Farr joined other Board Members in hearing evidence from the senior officers. Farr joined the North of Yarra representative as a dissident voice on industrial matters, but they were routinely outvoted. The Board decided that initial training at No. 1 and subsequent drills at stations were sufficient. Members never seem to have questioned the kind of training, only the amount.

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One man who joined in this period described how if there were just two of you at an incident, you could sort it out and get your story straight back at the station. The pressure to get it right was therefore greatest at drills where everyone was watching. This was particularly the case during the officers' examinations where the candidates had to drill a group of men. It was not uncommon for them to break down when something went wrong. This even happened to one man during the infamous exam after the strike in 1950. Once firefighters became officers, they crossed an important dividing line. The men had to address them as 'Sir' and they were given quarters and had to live at the station. Officers lived in quarters with a few little privileges. We [the men] had to take their rubbish bins out and back; had to mop out the laundry after their wives had done the washing ... [Jock Pollock 24.7.89]

When I joined, if you said anything to anybody about anything you were kicked in the tail. The Station Officer was a demigod, the District Officer was something else and the Chief, well you daren't even look at him. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89] The Chief was God ... District Officers were the barons ... ran their districts like fiefdoms and owed allegiance to the man who gave them their fiefdom-the Chief. [Jock Pollock 24.7.89]

Peter Holton joined in 1951. Like many who spent a lifetime in the Brigade, he enjoyed being paid for going to work and 'doing something exciting ... every boy's dream'. But the conditions were not attractive. can remember being stationed at Windsor and the SO had us in fear and trembling ... you made a cup of tea with the lights out so he didn't catch you. One day I was made to shovel all the coal out of the bunker so I could sweep and wash the floor out. [Peter Holton 2.5.88] I

Officers could order the men to chop their wood for them and clean their top boots and helmets. Those who insisted on that kind of prerogative tended to create resentment. While the Wages Board had taken the sting out of many industrial matters, disciplinary problems remained. Officers charged the men with all manner of things, but the charges that created the most heat arose out of personal disputes between officers and men. When such matters came before the Chief, the men were not always sure that they got a fair hearing. `Before officers joined the Union, the tendency was to back the officer rather than the man ... [but] discipline should be applied more to the officers than to the men' [Neville Van Every 7.6.88]. Laurie Lavelle joined in September 1954 and began to learn a new culture. After three weeks at head station under training officers Draper and Curyer, he was sent to William Street and began to turn out from there: `... so much to learn ... so much scope and potential ... the older people were not of much interest to the junior firefighter. There was always apathy ... the senior level argued and the rank and file were not interested' [Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88].

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Officers at the senior level were arguing about their conditions compared to those Mr Webber and his colleagues had won for the men. The officers also had a union, but it had begun life as an educational association. The Chief was President, the Deputy Chief was Vice -President and the Secretary to the Board was Secretary. They used to arrange educational lectures. 'Some of [the members] were a bit restive and didn't like it ... When the SSOs came in, it changed the whole thing ... pretty quickly became similar to a union ... gradually the Chief let go' [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85]. From 1950, the officers were working substantial overtime on top of a ninety-six hour week. They put up with this for some time without any complaints, but in June 1953 the Chairman of the Professional Fire Brigade Officers' Association (PFBOA) wrote a polite letter to the Board. The officers wanted to know how long they were going to have to work the extra hours. The Board couldn't tell them. In September the PFBOA wrote to the Board again over hours, pay and annual leave. The Board deferred consideration of their requests. In January 1954 the PFBOA still had no answer from the Board, so a ballot of the officers was held, to see if they wanted a Wages Board. They did, but things moved slowly and it was 1955 before they got one. After that, conditions improved a little. As had been the case with the UFU, the Board's representatives were less able to ignore or defer consideration of union requests when they went through the machinery of the Wages Boards. Officers' hours were reduced rapidly, first to eighty-four hours and then to fifty-six hours by 8 June 1962. But bad feeling over the men and their forty -hour week remained. Whitehead and the senior officers sought to take advantage of this and in 1956, with the full backing of the Board, they orchestrated a campaign to raise the men's hours to fifty-six per week. The pressure was supposed to be coming from the men themselves and certainly a group of them supported the idea. There was a campaign against the Union to try and swing back to fiftysix hour thinking. Six or so men campaigned and the Board provided them cars and it got very heated ... the Board Secretary, Johns, challenged the validity of the Wages Boards' right to lay down hours in the Court ... the Board lost. [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]

Whitehead retired in 1958 and Aldridge succeeded him as Chief, with Jack Paterson as Deputy. In some ways, industrial relations improved for a few years after that. [Aldridge] on the Wages Board, not too bad ... breeches and leggings went. Used to say 'You're in the circus so you might as well look like a

lion tamer' but the lion tamer's uniform went ... Aldridge painted all the fire station doors red instead of green. [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]

Aldridge also brought in new appliances and new stations and gave the men the impression he was trying hard. His attitude seems to have been very different from that of Whitehead. 'He admired [Webber] as a union leader and respected his position ... His views were that the Workshops were as important as the Chief ... His door was never closed' [Shirley Van Every 25.4.89].

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One of the little things that indicates how Aldridge's attitude to the Union was significantly different from that of Whitehead was that for the first time Union representatives began to be asked to official Brigade functions like the opening of new stations. Bill Webber said that 'Aldridge took a lot of sting out of the whole atmosphere', and Jock Pollock, who joined the Brigade while Aldridge was Chief, said he thought that 'everybody had a sneaking sort of respect for Aldridge'. But in 1963, Mr Aldridge died suddenly of cancer of the bladder and Jack Paterson became Chief. The brief period of industrial truce under Aldridge died with him, although trouble between the officers and the men-or rather between some officers and some men-was brewing even before his death. Early in 1963 examinations were held for promotion to executive rank and in June, District Officers Jack McKimm, Stan Richards and Neville Van Every were promoted to the rank of Assistant Chief Officer. They joined Jack Paterson, Frank Tueno, Bert Manning, Bill Seabrook, Fred Young, Charles Barton, Jack Steel and Bill Leonard in the executive ranks and Paterson in particular seems to have felt it was time they had a voice of their own against the UFU. They went to the Board asking for their own professional association. Jack Paterson was the

spokesman.

It was made plain that in their opinion actions and statements from time to time by the Union Secretary [Webber] derogated from their authority, often vilified their status and actions; instructed members of the Brigade either not to perform certain duties or to refuse certain orders, thus resulting in loss of authority of executive officers. They thus felt compelled to seek protection by forming an Executive Officers' Association which would also give an opportunity for debate on professional matters. [Board Minutes 27.6.63]

That was the last Board meeting attended by Mr Aldridge. Paterson stood in for him in July and August and on 17 September he died. Jack Paterson was appointed Chief on 3 October 1963. Paterson wasn't ready because he didn't expect Aldridge to die. He was a pleasant, friendly man, but an egotist ... friendly and remembered names, made himself liked for that ... [but] a horrible old administrator really. [Ern Tamme 10.5.85]

always had a lot of time for Aldridge ... still got very nice thoughts of Aldridge. He wasn't the greatest firefighter in the world but administration he was champion. Followed him was Paterson. I wouldn't be found dead in the same damn gully as him, no ... he thought he was the only fellow in the world ... I will say he was a hell of a good firefighter. [Bert Manning 7.3.85] I

Paterson was to be a very controversial Chief Officer. Unlike Aldridge, he was not a good administrator and this was particularly obvious to those involved in that side of the Chiefs work. Bert Manning, for instance, was Senior Assistant Chief (Administration). Ron Pasquill was appointed as the Board's Industrial Officer in 1967 and his role was to assist in dealing with the enormous volume of work arising out of industrial disputes. His language is more restrained than Manning's, but not a lot.

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There were two factions, the Chief refusing to accept industrial change. Jack Paterson was an ignorant, arrogant introvert. When he died, the Fire Brigade stopped. Everyone loved him ... because he was a smoke eater ... dived in and loved it when there was a fire ... but no forward planning, no administration. [Ron Pasquill 30.3.89]

In direct contrast, many firefighters admired Mr Paterson enormously, even-the ultimate compliment-comparing him to Wilkins. `Pack Paterson was] one of the best officers I worked under, from Wilkins down ... game as Ned Kelly ... go in anywhere' [Bill Woolhouse 26.4.85.] 'I would rate that John Paterson was probably the best, the most human Chief Officer we had since Wilkins. He was in the Wilkins mould and a very great fireman and firefighter himself [Jack McKimm 28.2.85]. Under Paterson, bad feeling between the UFU and at least some of the executive officers continued. There was also acrimony between the UFU and the PFBOA. The UFU argued that the officers were gaining improved pay and conditions as a result of initiatives taken by the men, but were failing to support them over industrial action. There was also a renewed campaign to get the men to work a fiftysix hour week. There was a strong push led by Frank Churchill to move to twenty -four hours on, forty-eight off, the same as the officers. It was easy to conceive of great benefits from this change ... I subsequently worked it as an officer and it was the best shift I ever worked ... there was reasonable support for Churchill but Webber was vehemently opposed and counted on the respect in which he was held by the Union... called a meeting in the old gymnasium at No. 1... Webber said if there was any move to go to [fifty-six hours] he... and I don't know if he'd consulted them ... all the members of the State Committee of Management would resign. [Alan Richards 26.4.89]

Webber won again. This tends to say to me that Jack Paterson and Bill Webber were very much alike. Towards the end of his career as the Union Secretary Bill believed he was the Union in much the same way as towards the end of his time Jack Paterson thought he was the Fire Brigade ... Jacky Pat. was ... renowned for getting a set on someone ... and shunned/ostracised them ... one could say very much the same thing about Bill, for example he took a set against Churchill after the fifty-six hour episode. [Alan Richards 26.4.89]

Whatever Webber's failings, under his leadership the UFU was seen to be much more effective as a union than the PFBOA, and some men refused to leave the UFU when they were promoted to officer

rank.

The Chief had the Officers' Association backing him. At that particular point I decided, and a few others in the group, that we would remain in the UFU when we got promoted ... I think it slowed down promotion. [Jock Pollock 24.7.89]

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It was the beginning of the end of the PFBOA, but it was also the beginning of the end of the bitterness dating back to the dispute of 1950. Generally, Mr Paterson's role in these arguments was to fight the UFU, but where Mr Whitehead had fought the UFU with the backing of the Board, Paterson fought the Board as well, and made enemies in high places. 'Paterson stood the Chief Secretary up ... the Board couldn't control him ... used the caucus to beat the Chief Officer ... the Chief used to blow every union issue into a big fight [Ron Pasquill

30.3.89]. One of the issues that was blown into a big fight was union registration. The UFU applied for federal registration, and when it was granted, Brigadier Eason of the CFA appealed and the MFB followed suit. They went to the High Court and won, but the court battles went on right through the 1960s and into the 1970s. By the end, Board Members seem to have lost sight of the reasons for their original opposition, which had a lot to do with dislike of Webber and an attempt to keep officers out of the UFU. The dislike was mutual, but Webber concentrated his main attack on Board Officers rather than Board Members. He argued that both Johns and Paterson were incompetent. This came to a head in 1968 when, in response to published remarks to that effect, both the Chief and the Secretary took out Supreme Court writs for libel against the UFU Secretary. At the time, the Board gave

tacit support to the issue of the writs, very angry. He proceeded to Webber made threat but the legal the MFB Board and the both of the operations stifle effectively

Firefighters' Wages Board. Clearly, the position was becoming virtually unworkable. The Board bowed to UFU pressure to set up an Enquiry into the powers of the Chief Officer. H.C. Chipman, a stipendiary magistrate, was appointed as Chairman of the Enquiry. He was assisted by A.J.L. James, representing the Board, and Bert Manning, who had retired by this stage but was appointed for his operational and administrative expertise. Because Webber believed the Enquiry was going to be a whitewash, the UFU boycotted proceedings. Despite this, the Enquiry went ahead. At about this time, Alan Richards was involved in doing some of the typing for Mr Paterson (it was not until September 1968 that the Chief got a full time secretary).

Jacky appeared to have convinced himself that nothing should leave the premises without his stamp of approval ... creating such a job for the Chief that the Chief couldn't do the job ... taking reports into Jacky he would read every word and line of it before letting it pass through. [Alan Richards 26.4.89]

The Chipman Report was produced in December 1968. It recommended that the Chiefs range of duties be reduced. By that time, the Chief Secretary was already in favour of a significant alteration to the Fire Brigades Act. The general powers and duties of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board are set out in the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Act and the burden of

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responsibility is a heavy one, so much so that the Government has decided to reconstitute the Board. The major proposal is for the appointment of a full time salaried Chairman, one with which we are in full agreement. [MFB Board, Report of Committee of Enquiry, December 1968, p.14]

The next two years were hectic ones for the Brigade as preparations were made for changes in the formal structure of the Board. In many areas there was a complete change in outlook while Alex Bottomley served out his term as the last volunteer President. Bottomley had joined the Board late in 1964 and seems to have brought with him a fresh approach to Board affairs. For instance, in July 1965, 'Cr Bottomley drew attention to the apparent lack of publicity of the Board's activities and the resultant ignorance in the minds of the general public and contributory bodies, especially municipalities.' A sub -committee was set up to look into the question of the Board's public relations and at the same meeting 'Further to his remarks concerning publicity, Cr Bottomley expressed disagreement with the practice of designating the Board's minutes "Not for Circulation" and asked to be informed how this restriction came about' [Board Minutes 29.7.65]. From then on, the designation was dropped and in other areas Bottomley displayed a similar disinclination to accept that tradition was a sufficient reason for continuing to do things the way they had always been done. He also broke with the pattern where the employee and North of Yarra representatives voted one way on industrial issues and everybody else voted the other. The Metropolitan Fire Brigades (Amendment) Bill was considered by Cabinet on 10 November 1969. Members of Cabinet were briefed that the purpose of the Bill was: to provide for the appointment of a full-time President in place of the three Government representatives on the Board 2 to appoint one of the Board Members as Deputy President 3 subject to the control and direction of the Board to give the President executive powers including the direction and control of officers and members of brigades and of officers and employees of the Board provided that the President should have no powers or duties in relation to a fire fighting operation 4 to restrict the powers and duties of the Chief Officer to the fighting of 1

fires

5 to change the Chief Officer's title to Chief Fire Officer

The Act was passed in December 1969 and in June 1970 E.C.M. Symes, an ex -army officer, took up the duties of the first full time President and a new Board was appointed. Paterson resigned and was replaced as Chief Fire Officer by Frank Tueno. Frank Johns also resigned in June 1970 and a new era began. In 1973, L.E. Griffiths was Deputy President of the Board. 'When I joined the Board in January 1966, lack of communication was clearly seen. From this flowed misunderstanding, misrepresentation and worst of all, isolation' [The President Reports No. 30, April 1973]. By 1973 the Brigade had abandoned the perennially unpopular system of eight -hour shifts. For two years the men had been working the enormously successful 10/14 system of ten-hour day shifts and fourteen-hour night shifts. The men had an improved superannuation

mop

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The appointment of a full time President did not mark the end of industrial strife in the Brigade. This demonstration in support of improved superannuation took place while Mr Symes was President. Photo Melbourne University Archives.

scheme. Officers were joining the UFU and were to start working the 10/14 system themselves from January 1974. There was an Industrial Committee which had substituted discussion for confrontation and the Board no longer spent most of its time dealing with industrial relations. As Griffiths said, he was pleased to have seen a wide range of changes which 'have provided a happier service'. The changes in the Brigade between 1968 and 1970 went further than personalities. It was a matter of attitudes. Ron Pasquill used the words 'modern' and 'industrial change'. Griffiths used the word `communication'. The war against Communism that had shaped attitudes at the time of the strike in 1950 was becoming markedly less popular. Inequality became a rude word. Hair got longer and skirts got shorter and many people thought this mattered. The kind of interchange between union and management that the UFU had been attempting to achieve for twenty years became acceptable to the Board. What men of Whitehead's generation considered a serious threat to discipline and their own prerogatives was now called communication.

Technology original Metropolitan Fire District set up in 1891 covered an area within a ten mile radius of the GPO. At the time, the MFD boundary ran almost entirely through open paddocks and enclosed huge areas of grassland. Throughout the 1890s, however, the number of grass and rubbish fires in the MFD was very small and made up only 13 per cent of total fires. It was only when suburban development began to follow the fingers of the rail lines out to Mordialloc, Oakleigh and Nunawading that the number of grass fires began to rise. More houses among the paddocks meant more grass fires. From at least the 1920s, all outer suburban fire stations fought grass fires every summer and they did it with beaters and knapsack pumps. The appliances were designed for work in the inner city areas where there were hydrants on every street corner, and so they carried no water. As suburban development proceeded, especially to the east and south-east, the MFD was extended along the rail lines to Ringwood and Mordialloc in the 1920s, and to cover the intervening areas in the 1950s. A similar but rather slower process of growth took place to the north and west. Melbourne had always been a low density city by European standards but in the 1920s and again in the 1950s THE

block sizes got bigger still. Urban services failed to keep pace with the colonisation of the paddocks and much subdivision and building took place on dirt roads, ahead of a reticulated water supply or telephone lines. This meant that when there were fires there were delays in calling the Brigade, problems in getting appliances to the fire and little water to fight it with when they got there. The rapid low density spread of Melbourne between 1945 and 1960 was accompanied by a 160 per cent increase in total fires, numbers of grass fires growing particularly rapidly to form 36 per cent of the total by

1960. Melbourne residents were given something of an idea of what grass fires could do in the outer suburbs on 14 January 1944-Black Friday. It was perfect bush fire weather with a strong north wind. The

-Mr

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Brigade dealt with 101 actual working fires on the one day. `Outstanding outbreaks were, one in the Beaumaris area which was "very considerable", one at Heatherton, "considerable", and the other at Broadmeadows, also "considerable"' [James Kemp, Chief Officer, Report to Board 27.1.44]. Fortunately, the Brigade had nearly completed the installation of two-way radios on hose carriages, but distance was a problem. At the Beaumaris fires the Brigade called for assistance through the police radio, D24, and as was appropriate for war time, the fires were dealt with by a combined forces operation. The army sent 150 officers and men and 139 members of the Auxiliary Fire Service turned out, plus seventy men from the Government Aircraft Annex and thirty from Sandringham Council. The damage included the destruction of fiftytwo homes and 200 acres of grass. In the Heatherton outbreak, seven homes were destroyed, plus grass and fences. The Chief attributed the survival of the Heatherton Sanatorium, Heatherton Convalescent Home and Clayton Epileptic Home to burning off by the AFS the week before. At Broadmeadows, the fire covered more than 25 square miles, but was mainly confined to grass and fences. Five homes were destroyed. The Brigade was assisted by several hundred soldiers from the Broadmeadows Military Camp. Between 1945 and 1960, the work of the Brigade grew faster than at any other time in its history. The average number of fires per year between 1956 and 1960 was more than double the average for 1941-45 and there was a 250 per cent increase in grass fires over the same period. At the same time, the firefighting strength of the Brigade grew from 346 in 1945 to 888 in 1960. This was more a result of the introduction of the forty-hour week in 1950 than an attempt to allow for the increased work load. The standard wisdom of the 1950s was that new firefighters did not have the opportunity to pick up the same experience as the older men, because they were only on duty for such a short period of time. But the annual ratio of fires to firefighters averaged 6.8:1 in the period 1931-35 and had risen to 10.2:1 by 1956-60. However you do the sums, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that 1950s firefighters saw more fires than any of their predecessors. On an average forty -hour shift in the late 1950s there were likely to be 30 per cent more fires than on an average 120 -hour shift in the 1930s. Eventually, appliances were adapted to cope with the increased level of work, but not until the late 1950s. Mr Whitehead succeeded Mr Kemp as Chief in 1946 and after some years he decided to make provision for the increased number of grass fires. During the Second World War there had been several trailer pumps as a part of the Auxiliary Fire Service equipment. These carried a small water tank, but they were not very effective, so Whitehead ordered bigger water tankers. Five Shelvoke and Drewry mobile tankers arrived in 1952. They carried 1100 gallons of water and were equipped with small

pumps.

The commissioning of five Shelvoke and Drewry Mobile Tanker units during the year has been the means of considerably reducing property loss in outlying areas where water pressures are bad, reticulation

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Growth - The work of the Brigade 10,000

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Five years average fires. 1891 to 1990 (5

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The growth in the work of the Brigade. Note the particularly rapid increase in the number of grass fires in the 1950s.

distant or non-existent. On several occasions very good saves have been effected using these appliances at fires in industrial premises and congested residential areas where the running of long lines of hose to street mains and the consequent necessity to augment pressures with pumps would have resulted in delay in attack with consequent greater losses, while the expeditious extinction of grass fires has curtailed the time otherwise usually spent. [Whitehead, Chiefs Report, 1952 Board Report]

Men from Moorabbin station using knapsack sprays on afire off Heatherton Road, 26.10.62. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

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Two pre-war Morris Commercial hose carriages still in use in 1962. They both

broke down during a bushfire at South Ringwood and members of the public stepped in to help push. 14.1.62. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

Not everyone was quite so happy with the Shelvoke and Drewrys, a pig in a poke, they really especially among the workshop staff: were. They were unmentionable ... we took the tanks and pumps off them and put them on Commer chassis' [George Niblett 9.5.85]; `... the vehicles were really not made for off road use at all ... tiny little wheels ... made for street flushers, then airport use in England ... In 1958 we changed those onto Commer chassis with power steering and air brakes ... much better vehicles' [Maurie Kean 26.4.89]. There were multiple problems with appliances in the 1950s, many of

them associated with the work load getting ahead of the equipment. The introduction of the forty -hour week ensured that the number of men increased, if rather more slowly than the number of fires, but the introduction of new appliances was a much slower process. Partly the problem was finance. Until 1945, new vehicles were bought from loan funds. Generally the vehicles wore out before the loans were repaid. In 1945, for instance, the Board had only just finished repaying the thirty-year loan taken out in 1914 to cover the change over from horses. Two other thirty-year loans were taken out in 1938 to purchase the Morris Commercial hose carriages ordered after the Government Cool Stores fire. By 1945 the appliances were already nearly half-way through their estimated working life and the Brigade also still had a number of Albion hose carriages which were

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even older. They were all open vehicles and carried hose and 250 g.p.m. rotary pumps, made in the Brigade workshops, but no water. In 1945 the Board decided to set up a Motor Replacement Fund. Vehicles were divided into three categories. The big pumps and turntable extension ladders were given an estimated life of twenty years so 5 per cent of their capital cost went into the fund every year. Hose carriages and combination ladders were estimated to have a life of fifteen years, so the annual contribution for their replacement was 7 per cent, and 14 per cent for all other vehicles with an estimated life of seven years. This system would have worked very well if it had been introduced before such a large proportion of the appliances needed replacing. Three of the four big ladders were looking rather elderly and most of the hose carriages were middle aged. During the war years it was impossible to get almost any chassis except those provided under lend-lease agreements. Therefore the only hose carriages that were relatively new in 1945 had been built on these Fargos and K5 Internationals. They were the Brigade's first six closed hose carriages, although two of the wheeled escapes had already been put on Morris chassis with covered cabs. This was a great improvement in comfort for the men. The original Morris chassis didn't even come with windscreens. They were fitted in the workshops. A huge amount of new equipment was provided during the war years, but most was of dubious usefulness. Storing the Auxiliary Fire Service equipment became something of a problem. When there was no more room at any of the stations, a couple of old car show rooms began to fill up with gear that nobody really wanted. Wanted or not, the threads on all the pumps had to be altered to fit Brigade hose and everything had to be kept in working order. We learnt a lot of how not to do things ... the equipment was not up to English and German standards, to such an extent that after the war the U.S. equipped themselves with Magirus ladders ... Every night in the week was overtime. Futile, a lot of it; weren't using it [the equipment] and you could see that no one would ever want to use it. [George Niblett 9. 5. 85]

At the end of the war the Brigade was offered the opportunity to buy the AFS equipment and politely declined. Even the closed K5 International and Fargo hose carriages had serious maintenance problems, so when Whitehead began to think about replacing the old Albions, he returned to Morris Commercials. The first four were commissioned in 1952, and they were referred to by the Chief as `new van type hose carriages'. The workshops didn't like these either: `Morris Commercials-they were terrible trucks, bought on the performance of the pre-war ones; Workshops virtually rebuilt them to keep them on the road-clutches, brakes, diffs' [Maude Kean 26.4.89]. There was a lot more involved in the body work of the closed hose carriages than in the old type, and the workshops were unable to take on the task. Mitchells, who had done some earlier work for the Brigade, had some problem handling the job, so the body work contract went to Grummets. Workshops staff continued to build and install the rotary pumps. 'Post war NVS Morris-it

MIN

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really wasn't a patch on the old one ... we bought a fleet of them and the least said about them the better ... the job was beyond them ... the firemen drove them too hard. They just couldn't take it. The brakes weren't good enough; the engines weren't good enough' [George Niblett 9.5.85]. The new Morris replaced the Albion. The 1938-40 CVS open Morris hose carriages remained in service and began to deteriorate and require more and more frequent maintenance. Part of the finance gap that resulted from the introduction of the Motor Replacement Fund system when much of the fleet was due for replacement was filled by delaying replacement of the old open Morris hose carriages until they were more than twenty years old. Beside the Shelvoke and Drewry tankers there were other appliances that carried water, but they seem to have had almost as many operating difficulties. District stations in the 1950s had little trailer pumps or 'tugs' that could be towed behind the DO's Fargo utility. They carried a 150 gallon water tank, but they weren't very reliable, and the workshop staff got to see them in action rather often. 'We were forever working on them ... we'd finish up putting the fire out with them [the firefighters] just to make sure the engine kept going' [Maurie Kean 26.4.89]. When the old open Morris hose carriages were finally replaced, it was with a new concept in first turn out appliances designed for the outer suburbs and grass fires as well as for the city. In 1958, Whitehead retired, Aldridge became Chief and work began on the design of a new hose carriage that would carry water. By this stage, George Niblett was supervisor in the engineering workshop. truck manufacturers that we wanted a chassis with a load on that we could test for speed, braking, availability of parts. That's when we went back to the Internationals because they had the points that I was very much for ... most of it was made in Australia. We notified all the

[George Niblett 9.5.85]

In 1958 it was felt by the Board generally that we should buy a chassis suitable to do the job that ... did have a high Australian content ... wanted continuity for spares and factory back up ... tried every

reasonable chassis that was available and the Inter was the best ... a totally different vehicle to the one from the war ... Grummet body ... Workshops pump and radios. [Maurie Kean 26.4.89]

They put together a first turn out appliance that carried a pump and hose plus a hose reel and a 150 gallon water tank. 'The new Chief was primarily responsible for the changes ... he could see the problems. He was very much down to earth ... had to have appliances to do the job' [Maurie Kean 26.4.89]. Of the first two new water carrying hose carriages, one went to Camberwell and the other to Croydon. Suburban stations were not used to being the first to get new appliances and they appreciated the change in thinking. By the end of 1960, all the perimeter stations were equipped with the new appliance. The Internationals were a success and coped well with the continuing rise in work load. In 1960 the total fleet mileage was 52 per cent higher than in 1955, and 1961 broke all previous records. 'It was quite obvious in our busy fire season that the new type carriage pumps carrying water relieved

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An Albion hose carriage beside one of the earliest closed appliances in the Brigade, a wartime Fargo. Photo Training College Library.

much of the danger and work by having water readily available to fight fires' [Aldridge, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1961]. If 1961 was busy, 1962 was even busier. It is many years since a fire on a four mile front advanced on the Metropolitan Area. Such occurred late on 16th January, 1962, when after two days of almost incessant firefighting assisting the Country Fire Authority in the foothills and on the slopes of the Dandenongs a fire approached Mitcham from Warrandyte, but thanks to the efforts of many it was reduced to a 50 yards front within our area. I applaud the officers, firemen and other staffs for their ready response to duty during the danger period when with only a minimum of notification by telephone many who were on leave reported for duty and gave excellent service. It is worthy of note that over 600 officers and men responded without the aid of radio or television notice. This wholehearted response to duty allowed me to make appliances available to assist in areas outside the Metropolitan Fire District. The resultant letters of commendation pay tribute to the work of the Brigade. [Aldridge, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1962]

That was the first year that 'Acute Fire Danger Days' began to be declared in the metropolitan area as well as in country Victoria, giving the Brigade regulatory powers over the lighting of fires. By October 1963 every first turn out appliance was closed in, but the big pumps were not. When new Rolls Dennis pumps were

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Morris combination ladder and hose carriage, one of the first appliances in the Brigade to provide a dry ride for the men as well as the hose. Photo Training College Library.

AS160 International hose carriage. Only the first three were built with the hose reel on the off side. Later AA160s had the hose reel on the near side. Although it was never called that at the time, this is one of the first three MFB Mark 1 Pumpers. Photo taken by William Aldridge, February 1959. Reproduced by courtesy of Shirley Van Every.

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bought in 1955 and again in 1961, they were put together with open body work. The other appliances that brought back memories of earlier days were the turntable ladders. By 1950 three of them were long past the Board estimate for their life of twenty years, but they were too expensive to replace entirely so they were transferred to new chassis. In 1948 a Leyland 'Comet' chassis was ordered for the MFB electric ladder, which by that stage was twenty-six years old. However, the Comet didn't arrive until 1950, so the electric ladder was transferred to an Albion chassis and, when it eventually turned up, the Comet became the new prime mover for the Garford extension ladder. A third ladder, the old Morris Magirus which had been in service since 1909, was recommissioned on an Albion chassis in 1955 and converted from gas to electric operation. George Niblett reckoned whoever designed it knew a thing or two about ladders. As a result he had great faith in the Magirus engineers. The three refurbished turntable ladders plus the 1939 Leyland Metz saw the Brigade through the 1950s. Their length of service is, in retrospect, an extraordinary tribute to the designers of all the old turntables, besides being an eloquent testimony to the state of Brigade finances. In the end, though, bigger buildings meant the Brigade had to get a bigger ladder. By the late 1950s a decision had to be made about new ladders, whatever the cost. In October 1959 Aldridge and Thompson, the Workshops Manager, went to Sydney to look at its Magirus and Merryweather ladders. By September 1960 the Chief had made up his mind that he wanted a 146 foot Magirus ladder on a Douglas The ladder itself was ready by August of the following year, but by that stage Douglas had gone out of business and the ladder which finally arrived in January 1963 was all German, on a Deutz chassis. The period 1945 to 1963 was one of enormous change for the Brigade as Melbourne grew, and with it the hazards of grass fires in the metropolitan area. In terms of equipment to cope with the changing job, the Brigade had to run very fast just to stand still. But the water -carrying hose carriages were a major success and the Brigade went through the big bush fire decade of the 1960s with minor modifications rather than any significant changes. After 1960 the number of grass fires levelled off at around 3500 a year, give or take a few hundred depending on the weather. There was no trend to lower numbers, but neither was there any continued dramatic rise. When Jack Paterson became Chief in 1963, he was able to turn his attention to the increasing variety and complexity of tasks facing the Brigade now that the grass fire menace was at least being held. Jack Paterson was an enormously enthusiastic Chief and the sort of man who never led from anywhere except the front. Whenever there was a fire, he couldn't get there fast enough and, once there, he led by example. Jack Paterson was never to be found directing operations from the footpath. This did not necessarily give him the best overall picture of what was happening on the fireground at any one fire, but his hands-on approach to being Chief did give him a continuing acute appreciation of how the gear worked, or didn't work, in practice. In the 1960s the Brigade began to face a range of new problems and some familiar old enemies became more dangerous. Paterson set about equipping the Brigade to deal with them.

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Smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning have been regular hazards of the job as long as there have been firefighters, but the problem has become more severe over time, particularly with the increased use of plastics. On 27 April 1945, District Officer William Smith died from the inhalation of irritant fumes at a fire at the Repco Engineering Works. Firefighters at the time had little protection from that kind of risk. The Brigade was equipped with both Proto' and `Salvus' breathing apparatus (BA), but the Salvus was only carried on two or three appliances, including No. l's hose carriage, and the Proto was kept at major stations. In any case, the wearing of either more or less had to be sanctioned by the Chief. Neville Van Every tells the story of one fire in the early 1950s when Banjo Paterson (Jack's uncle) was Deputy Chief. The fire was in a film library on Swanston Street and involved nitrous film, so there was considerable toxic smoke. Several men were pulled out coughing and the word back from Banjo Paterson was to send on more men, not BA. Four or five of the men were off work for a fortnight, including Van Every. The Salvus BA was hardly ever used, at least partly because it didn't last more than about twenty minutes, and was difficult and time-consuming to recharge. If the situation was sufficiently serious for the Chief to have sanctioned the use of BA, then the two-hour Proto was more likely to be called for. For certain kinds of fires, however, particularly ship fires, the Proto was put on the appliance as a matter of course. At the fire in the holds of the SS Elm Hill on 20 May 1955, both Jack Paterson and Charles Barton went in wearing Protos. Stories of what happened next vary. The official version from the Chief Officer (Mr Whitehead) is that the BA malfunctioned and both men became unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning. Jack Paterson was hauled to safety by his life line but Charles Barton's head got caught in the rungs of the ladder. Tom Draper went down without either BA or a lifeline and carried Barton up to safety. He was awarded the Brigade Valour Medal. Three years later there was another serious incident involving smoke inhalation and this time none of the men were wearing BA. Due to a foolish prank in releasing a smoke generator at the Melbourne Town Hall on 29th May, 24 officers and firemen who attended the call were affected by the inhalation of the fumes. They were conveyed to hospitals, some were admitted, and all were off duty for periods of one to 17 days. [Aldridge, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1958] One day we were called down to the Melbourne Town Hall ... I was Third Assistant Chief Officer ... half past twelve, midday, there were 1200 people in the Town Hall and this was in a section of the basement ... I go in to see where this damn fire was and I'd got an orderly with me ... and I'd got a torch and I couldn't find any damn fire ... and I started to get a bit crook and me orderly, a little while afterwards he gets damn crook and starts to puke-`out you'-and he went out and they sent another orderly in for me and I'm not going too good at all at this stage and I couldn't find any damn fire, but I kicked me toe up against something and it turned out to be a bomb and anyhow, we got that and we took it out and following that I went into hospital ... St Vincent's Hospital ... I still feel the effects of that ... my orderly, he was in a bad way too. [Bert Manning 7.3.85]

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One of the open Rolls -Dennis pumps working at a fire in Kimpton's Flour Mill, Arden Street, North Melbourne, 10.3.67. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

Fortunately no one was killed, but the fire at the William Booth Memorial Hostel eight years later was another matter. In the early evening of 13 August 1966 a fire broke out in the hostel in 'which the Salvation Army gave sanctuary to homeless and unwanted men'. The hostel had fire escapes but no warning device or sprinkler system. The gear was directed to the second floor ... lift enclosures in concrete didn't exist ... SO Roy Treverton was on the first piece of equipment ... a very well respected officer ... a bit excitable ... opened the lift door and fire there ... had to close the door by hand to get down ... The fire was small ... there were partitions of three ply up to door height and then chain wire from there up to the roof ... the fire started in one cubicle and the whole dormitory area became smoke logged ... deteriorating health of the men offered little resistance ... the call was delayed because no one knew the fire was going on ... When I got there up the back stairs there were bodies piled one on top of the other on the stair well... had to bring them down to ground floor reception ... people worked frantically. [Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88] Nine or ten of them took the wrong turn at the end of the passage and died in the bathroom from carbon monoxide poisoning ... there was some excellent work done by the men-mouth to mouth and first aid. [Neville Van Every 7.6.88]

No firefighters died in the fire, but it helped precipitate a change that Paterson had been working on for some time. He wanted better BA and he liked the look of the new compressed air sets, so he ordered half a dozen different types and put the men to work to test them. A few men were picked off each platoon at No. 1 and ran races up the pompier ladders wearing the new sets. Other tests

Paterson devised for the BA included hanging men off the end of

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at afire at the back of the mail Streets, 27.11.67. The Spencer and of Bourke exchange on the corner overseas surface Christmas mail suffered badly in this fire.

Two of the old wooden ladders working

Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

ropes for varying lengths of time while wearing BA, and getting men, wearing BA and with their eyes covered, to crawl around under tables and chairs in them following a rope line. The Draeger compressed air BA was chosen as a result of these tests and Paterson ordered two sets for each first turn out appliance. This was later increased to four sets per appliance. The compressed air Draegers worked successfully for more than twenty years and firefighters gradually came to accept the wearing of BA as a normal part of the job. They began to be replaced with lighter Auer sets in 1988. These have slight positive pressure in the mask to reduce the risk of fumes entering from the outside atmosphere. In the 1960s there was also a substantial increase in the volume and variety of hazardous chemicals stored in and transported through Melbourne. This led to increased fire risks. In August 1962, for instance, there was a fire at the Box Hill Gasworks involving an LP gas tanker.

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... a coupling of the discharge hose came loose releasing quantities of the gas which caught fire with explosive proportions and continued to burn with great intensity, the flames at times almost engulfing the tanker and endangering the gas holders and the two 15 ton storage containers to which the L.P. Gas was being transferred. A state of emergency was declared by the Chief Officer and people were evacuated from dwellings within a radius of quarter of a mile. The situation was brought under control by the use of numerous hose streams and men wearing asbestos suits turning off the valves. [Aldridge, Chiefs Report,

1963 Board Report]

The fire led to a series of new recommendations on safety precautions during the transport and transfer of LPG. Then in April 1964 there was a major fire at the Golden Fleece depot at Spotswood, which led to increased fire precautions at petroleum storage depots and increased provision of foam by the Brigade. The following year, Paterson went overseas to look at the latest developments in firefighting 'with particular reference to multi-storey and other fire risks peculiar to this present age'. What he saw was a revolution in high pressure hose and high pressure pumps such as the New York Super Pumper that could produce 8800 gallons per minute. He also saw the latest developments in water towers. These were the hydraulic platforms on articulated booms. Paul Ditzel in his book on the history of fire engines and firefighting tells the story of how these new machines developed. The first was invented in 1951 in Canada by Ted Thornton Trump. He called it the giraffe. It was rapidly adopted by orchardists, who called it the cherry picker, and it seems to have been in about 1954 in British Columbia when the first firefighter used one to lift a hose to fight a fire. Commissioner Quinn of Chicago took up the idea in 1958 and the new appliance first went to work on a lumberyard fire on 18 October. 'It really plastered this fire in a hurry.' Firefighter John Windle, who operated it, told reporters it was 'Commissioner Quinn's Snorkel' because he was 'up there in the basket and under water from other streams'. So Snorkels they became. Other brigades took up the idea and by the time Paterson went overseas, the English company, Simon, had been making three boom Snorkels for four years. The American Snorkels typically had

only two booms. Mr Paterson also saw the benefits of portable generators, power saws for rescue work, compressed air BA, smoke ejectors and high expansion foam units. He had already ordered two mobile water/ foam monitors that could deliver the kind of volume and pressure that no practical number of firefighters could hold. The Chief was delighted with these and described their use at two fires in 1966. The first was at an Altona quarry, where there was a considerable quantity of gelignite stored: 'The large high pressure jet from the monitor enabled the Brigade to extinguish the fire without exposing the men to undue danger.' And at a fire in Fitzroy: 'The up -draught was so great that ordinary fire streams were ineffective; burning brands were being carried as far as half a mile. They were falling on top of buildings and creating a serious hazard remote from the main fire. A monitor was brought into operation and the large high pressure stream quickly had the fire under control' [Paterson, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1966].

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Jack Paterson was concerned to improve the Brigade's capacity to cope with big fires and in 1967 he got a new hose layer which carried a mile of 314 inch rubber lined hose. Clearly, this could be used when it was necessary to carry water over long distances, but it could also be used for carrying a great deal of water over short distances to feed the big pumps and monitors. The following year Paterson got his pumps. He had chosen Hales from America. 'These appliances are quite unique and are two of the finest appliances in the world. They have a water capacity of 2,000 g.p.m. at 120 p.s.i. and a foam capacity of 8,000 g.p.m. at 150 p.s.i. These appliances greatly enhance the Brigade's overall potential and, in fact, increase our appliance rating to world class' [Paterson, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1968]. The SS 85 Hydraulic Platform Simon Snorkel arrived from England and was commissioned in January 1969 on an ERF chassis. Snorkels ... they could go up and over the top of a building and go down inside. I ordered one of those when I was Chief ... the double boom couldn't drop down. The triple boom was the one. They weren't as long as the double ladder for the same height ... more compact. They had the ability to be a little stronger with their monitor ... you could get more water through them because it was a fixed pipe on them. [Neville Van Every 13.6.89]

This is one of the finest firefighting and rescue appliances introduced into firefighting in many years. [Paterson, Chief's Report, Board Report 1969]

In terms of versatility, the Snorkel could go where no ladder had ever gone, but at the other end of the scale the humble wheeled escape on the combination ladder and hose carriage could also do a job that nothing else could do, fitting down narrow alleys and under power lines. A new 50 foot combination ladder and hose carriage was commissioned in 1970. The hose carriage was one of the new generation Internationals, but the ladder with its two big wheels was basically the same as the wheeled escape produced by Merryweather at the beginning of the century. The C Series International hose carriages had been doing a good job for more than a decade, and it was a busy decade, especially for bush fires. In 1968, for instance, there were twenty-eight Total Fire Ban days. In February bush fires raged through the Dandenongs and more than 400 MFB firefighters answered television and radioa appeals to turn out and fight beside the men of the CFA. 1968 was bad year for bush fires on both sides of the boundary. which ended in tragedy for two members of the Brigade occurred in Rockbeare Grove, Ivanhoe, on 1st March 1968. Sub -Station Officer Gordon Adams and Senior Fireman Eric Jamieson were trapped in the fire and very severely burned. Senior Fireman Jamieson died 2 days after the incident, on 3rd March, and Sub -Station Officer Adams, 22 days later, on 23rd March 1968. They were buried with full Fire Brigade honours. The whole Brigade mourned their loss. [Paterson, Chiefs Report, Board Report 1968]

A fire

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The Magirus-Deutz ladder arriving in Melbourne, January 1963. The photograph was taken by the Chief Mr Aldridge, and is reproduced by courtesy of his daughter, Shirley Van Every.

Gus Reid donning Proto breathing apparatus at a warehouse fire, Franklin Street, Melbourne, 5.7.64. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

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William Booth Memorial Hostel, 13.8.66. One man burned to death and

twenty-nine diedfrom carbon monoxide poisoning. The Fire Brigade formed guards of honour at the funeral ... there were few other mourners' [Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88]. Photo by Ken Rainsbury, Senior.

the first time an MFB firefighter had been burned to death in twenty-eight years, although eight men had died in the exercise of their duty in those years, including four whose deaths were precipitated by stress at the fires they were either working at or had It was

just left.

Mr Paterson began the practice of noting non -fire calls in his annual reports to the Board. He could see a rising trend, and he was right. In 1964, members of the Brigade answered 318 calls for escaping petrol, twenty-three for escaping gas, and effected sixteen rescues of animals and people from various predicaments. In 1984, the Brigade dealt with 899 cases of escaping petrol, 148 of escaping gas and took part in more than 400 rescues, most of them from

motor vehicle accidents. The Brigade has always been involved in rescues of one kind or another. All the Brigade Valour Medals were awarded for rescues and First Class Fireman Scott and Sub -Station Officer Stirling were

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awarded theirs for rescues that had nothing whatever to do with

fire. On 18 November 1958, five -year -old Joan Wood fell down a disused and flooded mine shaft at North Balwyn. Fireman Scott went down on the end of a rope and got her out, finding her with his feet, applying artificial respiration with his feet and carrying her to the surface with his legs wrapped around her. Whether you wanted someone to go down a tunnel or up a ladder, you called the Brigade. On 6 July 1959, the Victoria Police called the Brigade out to Bacchus Marsh, twenty miles outside the MFD. Two riggers were stuck at the top of a 100 foot chimney at the Lifeguard Milk Products factory. The Leyland Metz ladder went from No. 1, and the crew arrived to find one of the riggers dead and the other suffering from exposure. Alan Stirling went up the ladder in a very high wind and managed to rescue the surviving rigger, although it was a close thing, with the strength of the wind and the degree of movement in the ladder. SSO Stirling also brought down the body of the other man. Tales of rescue are legion. Cats up trees, of course, are beyond a

1990s style helment

joke, but small children with their fingers stuck in bath plug holes are no joke at all. The gentleman who got several washers stuck around his private parts didn't think it was funny either. A rather larger cutting job involved releasing five unfortunate supermarket employees from the vault where they had been imprisoned by armed robbers. Compressed air from a Draeger was used to replenish the air in the vault while men from Camberwell and Croydon stations spent two and a half hours drilling and sawing through the vault door. Every year the Brigade rescues more and more people from buildings and wells and lifts, but most of all the Brigade rescues people from crashed motor vehicles. This has become a specialised task. Apart from anything else, not everyone, not even every firefighter, can cope with the work or should be expected to do so. In the old days, motor vehicle rescue called above all for lateral thinking. There was very little equipment available for pulling cars and trucks to pieces, and so firefighters used their imagination. They also used screwdrivers, shifters, crowbars, sledge hammers and their axes. This kind of gear was carried on the two salvage vans which were based at Carlton station. These had originally been designed to carry tarpaulins and all the other gear for minimising water damage at fires, but by the early 1960s they were increasingly used for rescue work. Other equipment available for rescues included oxy-acetylene cutting gear and a set of tools put together for rescues from lifts, which included crowbars, rope, wedges and a hack saw. None of this was exactly sophisticated and on more than one occasion rescue workers resorted to hooking a couple of tow trucks to a crushed vehicle to try and spread it sufficiently to get the occupants out. The first major step forward came with the acquisition of a set of Porta-Power tools. This was a set of jacks with one standard pump which operated a range of separate hydraulic jacks that could be used to spread things out as well as to lift them up. These were carried on No. l's Dennis pump as well as on the salvage vans.

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The next significant improvement came when Paterson bought a portable trailer lighting system. The generator on this could also be used to operate an electric saw, and a little later the Brigade bought internal combustion powered saws and cutting disks and chain saws. The obvious problem with these was the risk of sparks, so that vehicle rescue always takes place with a hose at the ready, primed to the nozzle and manned. Most firefighters will also have a couple of foam extinguishers handy, too. When someone is trapped in a crashed motor vehicle, the sound of a chain saw cutting through metal hardly helps with the problems of shock, so quieter methods are always used where possible. But it was not until 1976 that the Brigade acquired power shears. More accidents at higher speeds have, however, led to a continued tragic growth in this aspect of the Brigade's work. Until the 1970s the Brigade had no specific legal basis for its role in rescue, but in March 1971 the Board decided it was time to clarify the issue. The Government was asked for a statement of policy. The reply made it quite clear that the Government wished the Brigade to continue to carry out salvage and rescue work at road accidents. For some years the two salvage vans continued to play the major role in motor vehicle rescue. Then in 1978 following discussions between the State Government, the UFU, the Brigade and the police and ambulance services, the Government decided to provide finance for a smaller, faster rescue unit. This was fitted out to MFB specifications and commissioned in 1979. The rescue unit was equipped with a wide range of tools including an electric winch, floodlights and the Hurst Power Rescue Tool, popularly known as 'the jaws of operated life'. Like the Porta-Power tools, the jaws are hydraulically at their force of kg 5400 to equivalent and have a maximum power instance for or, metal crushed separating for tips. They can be used with the aid of chains around the chassis, for pulling steering wheels clear of trapped occupants. of The next stage in rescue was the development of a small fleet points strategic at stationed vehicles specialised salvage/rescue around the MFD and manned with specially trained crews. All the same, other appliances such as pumps and ladders remain important Powell in rescue work. On 14 January 1981, for instance, young Carl Brigade The Square. City the in fountain became trapped inside the one of was called to empty the system of water, and set to work with the new Hale ultra large pumps. Station Officers Gary Cronin and in John Rodda went into the pool and found Carl, still alive, trapped a down 'drawn been had He room. pump an air pocket below the the vertical shaft and then horizontally into the surge chamber of 19811. June 1, No. 3, Vol. [Firemark pumps' fountain recirculating the While the rescue vehicles were becoming more sophisticated, Partly changes. major of series a hose carriages had also undergone this was brought about by the need to fit more and more equipment onto the vehicles. Breathing apparatus took up a significant amount was also of room and the number of hand chemical extinguishers was there then and hose, of amount increasing. So was the from pressure also was There kinds. increasing small gear of various the men for an improvement on the old rotary pumps.

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A petrol tanker fire at the junction of Police

and Dandenong Roads, 12.12.61. This fire was outside the Metropolitan Fire District but at the time the CFA had no foam capacity so firefighters from the MFB (in uniform) joined volunteerfirefighters from Springvale (in black hats). Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

In 1970 the stage was set for a major change. Jack Paterson retired and Frank Tueno became Chief Fire Officer. Mr Symes became the first full time President and Alf Thompson, the old Workshops Manager, died and was replaced by George Niblett. At the same time the workshops were bursting out of their limited facilities at head station. Vehicles under repair and back up grass fire units were parked all over the place, including out on the median strip in Albert Street. Every time it was necessary to move an appliance in or out, there was a complicated game of musical chairs. Workshops staff spent a significant amount of their time simply shuffling vehicles. Mr Symes wanted to build a new head station adjacent to the old one, and one of his first steps to help clear the decks was to buy the workshops a new site out at Thornbury. It took some time to make the new premises fit for occupation by the workshops, and meanwhile a new style of hose carriage went into production. It featured a more efficient 2273 L/min Coventry Climax centrifugal pump which was mounted at the rear of the vehicle, and a forward control chassis to make more room for everything else. It also sounded different. The familiar old bells were replaced by two-tone horns. The chassis were International ACCO 1600s, Grummet provided the bodywork, and the whole thing was put together in the workshops. Later models had automatic transmission and, after 1978, power steering.

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Commissioning trials for the Hale pumps, McKenzie Road, Appleton Dock, 23.5.68. Four lines of hose and a monitor are being run from each pump. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

The Chief, Mr Paterson, posing infront of one of the Hale pumps, 23.5.68. He is the man in the blue overalls. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

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Chief Fire Officer Frank Tueno (artist Robert Horne)

After the first few months the new hose carriages were built at the new workshops site on Anderson Road, Thornbury. Tailoring was the first of the MFB specialist departments to move out there, followed by stores, workshops and Fire Protection early in 1972. The new premises were far more spacious, but they were not always dry. May 1974 was rather wet and after torrential rain on 14 and 15 May, the Coburg dam overflowed and the Merri Creek flooded and began to run through, instead of merely past, the MFB workshops on Anderson Road. As the water rose, staff worked to move vehicles to higher ground and get what tools they could out of the way. The Snorkel was in for maintenance and was one of the vehicles that had to be moved. A group of volunteers carried filing cabinets and records to the first floor for safety and were stuck there for quite some time. 'As these men could not be evacuated until 10.15 p.m., emergency arrangements had to be made to provide refreshments for them, and also blankets had to be obtained in case they were trapped there all night' [The President Reports June 1974, No. 41]. Unfortunately, aquatic rescue was not one of the Brigade's specialities. `Thornbury is flood prone ... at one time had to be rescued out of there by Police Search and Rescue ... Harry Mullins and Chief Van Every across the road yelling through megaphones ... had Police frogmen and a boat to get them out' [Brian Butler 6.5.88]. `Thornbury was ... not the ideal place ... That got flooded two or three times, completely flooded out. The Merri Creek come up and just about ruined everything in the place. Come through ... we had to get ... six of us had to get rescued one night by the Police Rescue Squad to get out of the building' [George Niblett 9.5.85]. Next day everyone set to work to remove 15 cm of silt from the workshop floor, and count the cost. More damage was done than was at first estimated, particularly to machine tools, and it was realised that this was not a very sensible permanent home for the clothing and electrical stores. Tailoring, the electrical workshops and carpentry were subsequently moved to premises in Abbotsford. Meanwhile, the workshops at Thornbury continued to maintain the fleet and put together new hose carriages. There were few complaints about the Internationals- and they were chosen again when the first turn out appliance underwent a further major modification in the 1980s. The Mark 3 Pumper first went into production in 1984. It carried both foam and water tanks set low in the chassis, and was diesel powered for greater fire safety. The Mark 3s represented a significant jump in pumping capacity for both foam and water and were equipped with monitors, as well as hose reels and 38 mm and 65 mm hose. Putting them together was a complex operation requiring specialised staff and for the first time assembling vehicles became the responsibility of a separate production unit within the overall workshops operation. In 1988 the President, Brian Parry, decided that production of Mark 3s could be better carried out elsewhere. From the end of the year production at Thornbury ceased and the job went to the CFA workshops. The 1970s and 1980s saw an enormous increase in the range and complexity of firefighting equipment as the process that began under Paterson accelerated. In 1972 two new Magirus Deutz

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turntable ladders were commissioned, and four Dennis pumps. The following year another Snorkel arrived, plus a smaller locally made hydraulic platform, the Cranvel. The Chief Fire Officer, Frank Tueno, hoped the Cranvel would do the same job as the combination ladder but with fewer men. But it couldn't manoeuvre as well down Melbourne's narrow back lanes. Ten mobile water tenders with 5455 L tanks were commissioned the same year, and so it went on. Low profile ladders made their appearance in the 1980s-computerised appliances that required less head room for travelling and could be operated to gain access to areas below, as well as above, the horizontal. The new generation of hydraulic platforms continued to carry all their own pipe work and monitors plus pressure relief valves so that pipes couldn't be overloaded by accident, and computer systems to ensure they couldn't be operated at unsafe loads or angles. They also carried their own pumps, and power rescue tools could be operated directly from the cage. The trend was towards multi -purpose vehicles such as the Teleboom which had all the facilities of a Mark 3 Pumper, plus a hydraulic platform. All this increased sophistication in equipment was unfortunately matched by an increase in the complexity of fire risks. In 1980 the Brigade adopted a placarding system to provide instant working information for dealing with hazardous chemicals. The placards on containers and tankers were coded to enable the firefighters on the first appliance on the scene to begin work even if they had no specific knowledge of the chemicals involved. The Hazchem code advises on whether to use water or foam, for instance, and also notes any risk of explosion and whether or not the chemicals involved are safe to dilute with water and wash away, or whether they have to be contained. The storage and handling of hazardous chemicals was regulated by a group of Acts that had been passed over the years and were administered by the Hazardous Material Division of the Department of Employment and Industrial Affairs (HMD). The Explosives Act, the Inflammable Liquids Act and the Liquified Gases Act were principally designed to safeguard persons and property. Some old firefighters argue that the risks haven't changed much over the years, but the public attitude to them has. The Bond Store fire ... they were there for days. Had chemicals there we couldn't get anybody to dispose of them because of what they were ... Maffra St/City Road, a bond warehouse. [Jones Bond and Free Stores, South Melbourne, 19.2.75] They never got the coverage then. Now everyone is aware of the environment today and they feel that it's dangerous to them. [Neville Van Every 13.6.89]

Hazardous chemicals were just as much a problem in the old days ... I often think that ignorance made a better fire brigade ... breathing in something that might not be rosy for your lungs ... you can't hang around ... have to do it. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

more environmentally conscious age produced the Environment Protection Act, administered by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). Victoria had never experienced a major disaster involving hazardous chemicals but events overseas, particularly in the 1970s A

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One Snorkel at work at afire at St Emaus College, East Burwood, and a second getting into position, with a salvage van in the left foreground, Nov.cmber 1982. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

MFB firefighters joined the CFA to help fight bush fires in the Dandenongs. Reg Carey on top of a dunny in Upwey, 19.2.68. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING

Street, Two views of the scene following a motor vehicle accident at Lloyd and support bridge a into crashed -trailer semi a Kensington, 14.7.86, where overturned. Photos Training College Library.

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and 1980s, helped focus attention on the possibilities. In Flixborough in England, for instance, in 1974, twenty-eight people died and more than 1000 were injured in a fire and explosion involving cyclohexane. In Seveso, Italy, in 1976 there was a major environmental disaster when dioxin was accidentally released. Most appalling of all, in Bhopal in India in 1984 a leak of methylisocyanate led to thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries. Then on 12 April 1985 there was a fire at Butler's Transport Storage Depot in Dynon Road, Footscray. An assortment of hazardous chemicals was stored in the depot and created a particularly dangerous blaze for the firefighters and other emergency workers involved. The crew of the first appliance arrived to find both the smoke and the flames changing colour. While they ran the first hose line, the Communications Centre received the message 'after word back heavy explosions at the moment contains chemicals single storey'. And heavy explosions they were. The shock from the blasts was felt up to 15 kilometres away and the sound travelled all over Melbourne's western suburbs. Fortunately no firefighters were injured in the first explosion, but it was 'impossible to gain entry due to explosions concentrating on containment'. Eight firefighters did, however, suffer injuries over the next few hours, mainly from smoke inhalation before it was insisted that everyone wear BA. Four police were also injured, and it was fortunate the injuries were not greater. As the subsequent fire investigation report noted, 'flammable solids and liquids, oxidizing agents, corrosives and toxic liquids were stored indiscriminately throughout the building.' Once the blaze was out, cleaning up began and firefighters were on the scene for the next three weeks assisting in the removal of toxic waste. It was a very expensive operation for all concerned, and the question arose of who

should pay. Although the Butler's Transport fire was on nothing like the scale of the overseas disasters, it showed forcibly that Victoria was not immune from the potential problems of storing and handling hazardous goods. The Dangerous Goods Act was passed in July 1985, superseding the earlier Acts administered by the HMD. The Dangerous Substances (Placarding of Workplaces) Regulations came into force in October 1985, extending the operation of the Hazchem placarding system. A team of senior officials from the MFB, the CFA, the Port Emergency Services, the HMD, the EPA and the MMBW, with a Chairman from the Ministry for Police and Emergency Services, was set up to work out an adequate integrated emergency response system for the State in the event of incidents or fires involving hazardous materials. This system was tested in full on 28 November 1988 at a fire at United Transport's Depot, again in Footscray. More than 3000 tonnes of materials such as polypropylene were stored in the depot and the chemical cocktail produced a mushroom cloud of black smoke that could be seen all over the metropolitan area. A wide range of toxic substances was stored in the building, but exactly what they were did not become clear for some days, because although there was a full manifest available to the Brigade, it contained brand names rather than chemical composition. Whatever the substances involved

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there was clearly a major risk of pollution which had to be contained. Both the smoke and the chemicals being washed out of the building by the Brigade represented unknown hazards. The Brigade worked with the MMBW and officials from the HMD and the EPA in an attempt to minimise both the health risks and the damage to the environment. In the aftermath of the fire, three major issues emerged. The first was that of safety, particularly for the emergency workers involved. The measures put in place by the Hazmat team to ensure greater co-operation between departments seem to have worked very well. There was good co-ordination between the MFB, the MMBW, the EPA and the police, for instance, over matters such as testing the toxicity of the smoke and containing the run-off of hazardous waste, while co-operation between the CFA and the MFB to provide cover for western fire stations while units were at the fire worked so well that hardly anybody even noticed it happened. Decontamination procedures were another matter. There was a Decontamination Unit at Footscray, commissioned following the Butler's fire, but keeping records on everything that needed to go through decontamination procedures was not easy. The full panoply of the 1980s MFB worked at the fire: pumpers, hydraulic platforms, rescue vehicles, BA vans, hose layers, lighting units, foam tenders, the control unit and so on. Some did and some didn't have their wheels contaminated by driving through toxic runoff at some stage of the fire. They were joined by ambulance, police, Gas and Fuel Corporation, MMBW, EPA and Displan Liaison vehicles to make a very crowded and complex scene, scattered over a considerable area. The situation was further complicated when the vehicles remained in position, but the crews working from them were relieved by the next shift. All the men and all the appliances and all the hose and all the radios and all the BA and all the splash suits and all the full protective suits had to be decontaminated before they left the scene. This applied not only to everything contaminated during the fire but also to everything contaminated in the two weeks it took to clean up after the fire when there were hardly ever fewer than six appliances at the site. The Brigade learned a great deal about keeping tabs on things. 'After the United Transport fire there was a lot of aggro ... At the debriefing ... lots of problems were raised ... they were taken very seriously ... but we were satisfied with the total result-nobody was hurt ... there were problems with detoxification ... but we bought the gear to fix it' [Brian Parry 16.6.89]. For the Union, the fire forcibly raised health and safety at work issues that had been simmering for some years. They wanted Occupational Health and Safety representatives on the fireground. The President believed the Incident Controller, whether a District Officer or more senior officer, was the one who was responsible for fireground safety. He maintained that his first concern and the Chiefs first concern was the safety of Brigade personnel and that Senior Officers were best qualified to ensure this. 'Senior Officers are very concerned about safety.' So were the men, and a number of those involved remained unhappy about the way safety was handled, especially during the first few hours of the fire.

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Some of the Brigade's 1980s hydraulic platforms working at afire at Invicta Carpets, Braybrook, 26.6.86. Photo Training College Library.

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8.12.67. The use of breathing apparatus at this kind offire was not yet routine procedure. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

A chemical warehouse fire, Cromwell Street, Collingwood,

The second issue was who should pay for this very expensive fire. The clean-up operation cost the MFB alone more than half a million dollars. Under the EPA regulations, organisations designated by them to clean up environmental hazards could reclaim their costs either directly from the responsible agency or their insurers. Under the 'user pays' principle, United Transport's insurers had to pay for the clean-up. In 1989 amendments to the MFB Act brought about further extensions to the 'user pays' principle. The third issue was the safe storage of hazardous goods. Clearly, if the provisions of the Dangerous Goods Act of 1985 could not prevent a fire like Butler's Transport recurring, then change was needed. As the fires and the equipment became increasingly complex, training had to become more sophisticated to keep up. By the 1960s, firefighting was no longer just a matter of guts and water. Jack Paterson, who had grown up in the old school and could apply guts and water to a fire better than almost anybody, was also among the most enthusiastic in the adoption of the new technology-and with that new technology came a new approach to training.

Training

Until the late 1960s, all recruits to the Brigade began their careers at head station. Once the forty -hour week was adopted in 1950, recruits worked from 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. five days a week for several weeks before going out on shift. During that period they were officially in training and under the care of Clarie Curyer and Tom Draper, the Training Officers. Both officers had other duties, including turning out to fires, and while they were performing them the recruits weren't being instructed. At such times, particularly if there

'Mg -fabulous MELBOUPNEFIREBMGADE BAY1D conducted by Mervyn Simpson ,

Cover of the MFB Band's record -Farewell Blazing Brass'

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was a big fire, recruits would grasp the opportunity to jump on the combination ladder or any other appliance they could catch. For many recruits the most memorable feature of their training was running the pompier ladders up and down the tower. This was done in pairs as two men and the short, hooked ladder made their way from window sill to window sill. The hardest part was lifting the pompier ladder up to hook on the sill above your head while balancing on a window sill with your partner hanging on to your belt, something that was especially difficult in high winds. Then both men climbed up to the next ledge and started again. The recruits used to perform this operation rather slowly and with quite understandable trepidation, but some of the men on shift had turned it into an art form. During the Friday afternoon displays they would show off their skill, running races like spidermen up and down the outside of the tower. It was not long before recruits learned that a good head for heights was an asset to a firefighter. Tom Draper was a gymnastics instructor before he joined the Brigade in 1932 and one of his party tricks was to walk around the observation balcony of the tower on his hands. Besides running the pompier ladders, recruits also learned how to run hose lines. They practised up and down the alleyway between the officers' married quarters. They also learned how to operate the Dennis pumps and the Proto BA, and did a bit of marching and spent some time observing operations in a watch room. The major disadvantage of this system of training, besides the potential hazards of the pompiers and the slip lines and jump sheets used for coming back down the tower, was the absence of a regular progression through a set syllabus. Recruits started on Fridays in ones and twos and joined in with whatever the existing recruits might be doing. By the mid 1960s they might be joining a squad of up to twenty men and spending between eleven and thirteen weeks as recruits until there was a roster change, when they went out on shift. But in the 1950s, when the Brigade was perennially understaffed, there was seldom more than a handful of recruits and they were lucky if they got four weeks training. Ern Osborne joined in February 1951 when the Brigade was so short-staffed that it was barely possible to man all the appliances. He spent just one week at head station as a drill recruit. During his first night on shift he turned out on No. l's hose carriage. Normally head station had twenty-four men, but that night for various reasons they were down to only six. The hose carriage went out with the Third Officer (Aldridge) driving and the Deputy Chief (Banjo Paterson) sitting beside him, while Mr Osborne sat in the back seat shaking in his shoes. Manning levels improved throughout the 1950s, particularly as pay levels rose, which allowed for more systematic training. But in 1955 when the UFU approached the Board with a list of suggestions as to what was wrong with the Brigade, training was one of the issues. Bill Webber argued that the esprit de corps of the Brigade had suffered a decline and the problems began with the recruit.

Warning sign

The impression given him after the interview ... is that he is very promptly put to cleaning lavatories, boots, use a mop, broom and floor cloth-he does not object-but his training is practically non-existent.

-mg

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Recruits got only a few weeks intense training, the drill yard was not sufficient, and facilities for training were few and not used. The men learnt to clean and polish and were then sent to out stations. If Board Members were to call at out stations they would find men who were terrified that they might have to turn out to a fire without supervision. The Union was constantly getting requests for more drill. Officers sometimes could not leave a man behind because he was not able to operate the switchboard. [Synopsis of conference between the Board and the UFU held on Friday, 8 July 1955, MFB Archives]

The Chief Officer refuted these allegations. It is true to say that men are promptly instructed in the rudiments of cleanliness-a most essential requirement of the service-but it is quite untrue to say the recruits receive only a few weeks intensive training and are then left to their own devices to acquire further knowledge. Drills are required to be conducted at all Stations and records of such instruction maintained. Furthermore men from out stations attend the weekly drills at Headquarters where the Brigade Drill Instructor ensures that any incorrect instruction is corrected in preparation for examination in the probationary term. [L.P. Whitehead, Report to Administrative Committee: Notes on Union Statements, 5.8.55, MFB Archives]

The Board asked for a full report on training which was prepared by the Third Officer, Jack Paterson. Each recruit had a typed sheet headed 'Metropolitan Fire Brigade: Syllabus of Training for Recruits'. This listed all the topics covered in training, including practical drills on everything from the Leyland ladder to in-line foam inductors, plus lectures covering a long list of topics such as 'How to address an Officer', 'Sprinkler installations', and 'Water supply'. The week before going into shift the recruit is given a test by S.O. Green or S.S.O. Draper; his progress is noted and the items in which he has received instruction are ticked off on the Syllabus of Training sheet with which he is issued so that it can be forwarded to the Officer in charge of the station to which he has been transferred as a guide to his future requirements. [J. Paterson, Report on Training of Drill Recruits, 5.9.55]

Perhaps two-thirds of the items would be ticked off before a man went out on shift. The Board also received reports from all the District Officers on drills at the various stations. These varied from daily drills at No. 2 and No. 3 stations to once a week at North Melbourne and hardly ever at Glenhuntly where the regular Station Officer was ill. Despite Bill Webber's assertion that the Union was constantly getting requests for more drill, not everyone was keen on that aspect of continued training. Big Drill on Wednesday mornings at head station was generally unpopular, possibly because it was a very public stage on which men from out stations could make mistakes. This was as true in the 1960s as it was in the 1950s. Jack Paterson ... people were frightened of him ... They used to be afraid that he would ask them to do something they couldn't do ... Big

Drill on Wednesdays-people were afraid of coming in-Jack Paterson would see their inadequacies ... People that didn't like Paterson were

e4r

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A view

of the fire at Butler's Transport, Footscray, 12.4.85. Photo Training College Library.

frightened of him and they were frightened of their own inadequacies ... If you could do your job you had nothing to be frightened of. [Don Cameron 5. 6. 89]

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Once they had completed their training, recruits began their progress through the ranks. During their first year they were on probation as Fourth Class Firemen. If their first twelve months was satisfactory they joined the permanent staff as Third Class Firemen. After five years service they reached the rank of First Class 'A' Fireman, at which stage they could sit the Senior Fireman's examination. This consisted of both a written and a practical test. Those who were not interested in sitting exams became Senior Firemen automatically after nine years experience. Anyone who wished to become an officer had to study. The Brigade set its own exams for entry to the lower officer ranks and appointed outside Boards of Examiners on an ad hoc basis for promotions to Executive rank, but progress through the ranks could be accelerated by also sitting the examinations of the Institution of Fire Engineers.

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Smoke from the fire at United Transport's depot, Footscray, 28.11.88, was visible over much of Melbourne. Photo The Age.

The Victorian Branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers was formed as early as 1929, and Melbourne firemen first began sitting the British Institution of Fire Engineers examinations in 1932. James Kemp was Deputy Chief at the time and he seems to have been behind this innovation, although Chief Wilkins backed his efforts. Samuel Mauger became the first overseas honorary Associate Member of the IFE on 30 June 1932. The idea of setting up a branch of the IFE outside Britain was a novel one at the time. By the 1940s, the

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Station Officer's examination was of an equivalent standard to the Graduate Diploma of the IFE and holding the latter speeded promotion to SO rank. Similarly, candidates for the rank of District Officer were advised to qualify for the Associate Member's Diploma of the IFE and candidates for Executive rank had to be at least Associate Members of the IFE. Firefighters could sit for Preliminary Membership after only a year in the Brigade, for the Graduate exam after three years and Membership after five. Although rare it was, and still is, possible for ambitious young firefighters to qualify as Members of the IFE before they sat for their Station Officer's examinations, in which case they were unlikely to have any difficulty with the written papers. The practical examination was another matter. This involved drilling a group of men on various appliances, and to pass required practice. The single biggest headache for many officer candidates seems to have been finding somewhere to practise the drills. You prepared yourself and arranged your own men for training and arranged your own equipment. If you were on a large station with a

sympathetic officer it was O.K. ... could drill the men ... drilled in the street ... a self nurtured process ... the number of positions available was limited ... exam every twelve months-came to No. 1 for a whole day-took you through all the equipment ... an oral exam ... gave you a group of men to run an exercise ... you waited for a long time if you

failed. [Laurie Lavelle 22.6.881

Preparing for the exams was hardest for men at small stations. They needed to find a sympathetic officer at a station where one of the ladders or big pumps was based. Then, shifts permitting, a group of officer candidates could get together and drill each other. It was hardly a satisfactory system. In later years Mr Paterson used to allow candidates to practise drilling the recruits, but the UFU was not too happy about this. Mr Webber argued that the candidates might make all sorts of mistakes and end up with rather bewildered recruits. Officer candidates needed better training facilities just as much as the recruits. The IFE examinations were not the only outside influence on training in the Brigade. From its earliest years the MFB took steps to stay abreast of firefighting developments around the world. Stein had been a London firefighter and went back to visit a number of British brigades shortly before he retired. Harrie B. Lee was sent overseas by the Board in 1913 and again in 1923. On his second visit he toured Britain, Europe and North America and also visited brigades in India and Egypt. He rejected much of what he saw in the organisation of brigades and took careful note of ideas on the development of brigades that accorded with his own. Nearly the whole of the brigades in the Continent of Europe are semi military bodies, the remainder being voluntary organisations ... Comparison with Australian Brigades is not possible. They are simply not comparable and while deeply interested and to some extent instructed, I left the Continent without any ideas capable of local application. On my arrival in London I ... received an invitation to be present at a conference of fire chiefs at Croydon ... Preventive measures received much earnest consideration at the conference. It was evidenced that

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many practical improvements were being made in numbers of the large cities of Great Britain, and the importance of this branch of fire brigade work is being more than ever appreciated. This was especially gratifying to me, for, as you are aware, I have never been able to separate in the theory and practice of fire brigade duties the two phases, namely, that of prevention and extinction. [Harrie B. Lee, Report to Board on Overseas Visit, 1923]

The overseas visits of the various Chiefs were clearly of great educational value, not least because they provided the opportunity to inspect at first hand a wide range of the latest equipment. made one of my most important duties that of visiting the factories for the manufacture of fire appliances, especially in Britain and the United States ... British manufacturers are well to the fore in this line of production. Their skilled artisans are ... turning out ... a class of machine especially adapted for Australian requirements and conditions ... Both French and German manufacturers are producing a very fine type of fire appliance ... but not as well adapted to Australian conditions as the British machine ... [Harrie B. Lee, Report to Board on Overseas I

Visit, 1923]

Clearly, the model for the MFB was a British one and Harrie B. MFB Lee saw no reason to change this, only wanting to bring the in developments other and into line with the latest equipment of a place was USA the -military', Britain. If the `Continent' was `semi `greed and dishonesty'. The fire waste in America is appalling, the New York Fire Brigade's record being a fire every half hour right throughout the year. Someone has said 'that at the root of every social evil lies some social wrong.' The social evil in this case is greed and dishonesty. The crime of arson is so prevalent in the great cities of America, that the Underwriters' Association is compelled to maintain a Special Arson Department ... Australia is, I am glad to say, comparatively free from this class of wickedness. [Harrie B. Lee, Report to Board on Overseas Visit, 1923]

The post-war Chiefs were less inclined to adopt British ideas to the exclusion of all others. Mr Whitehead returned from his overseas trip maintaining that hardly anybody could teach the MFB hardly anything. The Board did not send Mr Aldridge overseas but he was nevertheless responsible, after lengthy consultation with the workshops staff, for the major innovation of buying an all -German ladder. Mr Paterson returned from his overseas trip convinced that British Snorkels were the best, but he bought American pumps and German the BA. He was not, however, prepared to go so far as to replace wait to had development That sirens. bells with German -sounding until Mr Tueno became Chief. Mr Tueno went overseas while he was still Deputy. Like Van Every and Lavelle after him (the Board did not send Mr Osborne overseas; the President, Mr Johnson, went instead), he returned with a range of ideas and contacts from around the world.

Street fire hydrant

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United Transport, 28.11.88. The area where the fire began is in a state of collapse and the fire is burning back towards the camera. The Brigade held the fire at afire wall in the rightforeground. Photo MFB Research and Development.

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The Board also sent more junior officers overseas on various occasions. Station Officer Bill Leonard was probably the first. In 1951 he attended a British Home Office Civil Defence Technical Training School at Taymouth Castle, Perthshire. He returned with qualifications both as an instructor in civil defence aspects of atomic, biological and chemical warfare and high explosive missiles, and as a civil defence rescue instructor. Mr Leonard was well ahead of his time and it was the late 1950s before civil defence training became a regular feature of the Brigade. During the 1950s the Board received several invitations to second officers to attend the British Fire Services College, but always declined. The Board was more amenable to sending officers for training within Australia and in September 1958, SO Stan Richards attended a course for rescue instructors at the Commonwealth Civil Defence Training School, Macedon. This became a regular source for trained instructors as the Cold War had its impact on Commonwealth

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adjacent to the fire, United Transport, 28.11.88. A team inside the warehouse stopped at this was fire The doors. fire and wall fire playing water on the Development. and point. Photo MFB Research

Government thinking. In July 1962, the Board received a report on Nuclear Warfare Survival: 'Informing the Board of the booklet `Survival from Nuclear Warfare' made available by the Civil Defence Department and recommending that it be distributed to all employees, the firefighting staff to use it in conjunction with their drill book and all copies to be returned to Store on cessation of employment' [Board Minutes 26.7.62]. In the 1960s civil defence training was extended to all staff: `Brigade training has been stepped up and its scope broadened. A large well-equipped Civil Defence van and highly qualified Officers, also trained as rescue instructors, are continually on the road, going to all stations and instructing in Civil Defence and Rescue work as well as on all types of appliances and in all phases of Brigade work' report [Paterson, Chief's Report, 1966 Board Report]. In the same Richmond, Street, Church at Paterson noted: 'The new fire Station in addition to being a five -bay station, also contains the recruits' new training school.' Shortly afterwards, officer training began at Carlton station. The for Board had been under pressure from the Union over training training a for request specific a in more than a decade. The UFU put had college as early as September 1957. New South Wales already comply to inclined not was Board one in a converted fire station. The at with this request, but in 1959 instruction to be given by Officers favoured was books, text and each fire station, using blackboards rather than the setting up of a training college as sought by the Union' [1959 Board Report]. In the 1960s the issue of training became inextricably linked with the personal animosity between the Union Secretary and the Chief

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that affected training, the Union raised difficulties about it because it fell short of the Union's objective of obtaining a training college. The issue came to a head in 1969. Bill Webber objected to firefighters practising on each other in the drills involving carrying bodies down ladders. He believed this represented an unacceptable risk to the 'body', after a British firefighter died in such a drill. He argued that a dummy would do just as well. The Union also objected to the use of jump sheets and slip lines in drill. The UFU banned the use of live patients in carry -down drills. Paterson refused to accept this and arranged a surprise drill in a secret location. Webber and the Assistant Secretary Ern Tamme found out where the drill was being held, but too late to prevent it taking place. They arrived just as Paterson was leaving, and promptly went to the nearest phone box and called an emergency meeting of the Wages Board. Relationships between Webber and Paterson had reached such a state by then that when the MFB Board decided to set up a committee to look into training and drills, it had to be done without the Chief Officer. There were six members on the committee and Ron Pasquill, the Board's Industrial Officer, was the chairman. The other members were Bill Leonard and Stan Richards, both by then Executive Officers, plus Bill Webber, Ern Tamme and Fred Farr, the employee representative on the MFB Board. The brief of the committee was to `study all aspects of training and drill and report to the MFB Board'. The Chief Officer of the MFB Board ... objected to the setting up of this committee and its consideration of training and drill procedures. He claims that the committee is infringing his power as he is the only man who can evolve and recommend drills and training' [UFU, Copy of Advice from R.E. McGarvie QC, 24.7.69, MFB Archives]. Consequently, the Board at first proposed that the Chief should delegate his powers to Leonard and Richards, but the UFU took legal advice, and the Board was persuaded that it had the power itself 'to set up schools of instruction, issue certificates and make regulations for training'. So the Training and Drills Committee went ahead, reporting directly to the Board, and out of its amicable and fruitful deliberations came the MFB Training College at Abbotsford. The Committee, which included two Members and two Graduates of the IFE, considered training manuals from most large English speaking cities. But the Board did not immediately decide to have a dedicated training facility. In 1969 negotiations were well under way for the purchase of the 'Skipping Girl' site in Victoria Street, Abbotsford, so called because of the large illuminated sign that stood there, advertising a brand of vinegar. 'Although plans have not yet been prepared, it is at this stage deemed advisable to erect on this site a modern administration, communications control and workshops building together with brigade training facilities' [1969 Board Report]. This was a very optimistic assessment of the Brigade's need for space. In the event, properly housing those functions for the next twenty years required three sites. Administration and Communications Control were housed in the new headquarters complex, workshops went to Thornbury and training took over the Skipping Girl site. When he took over as full time President in 1970, Ern Symes set up a Training and Drills Department with Gordon Geddes as its senior Officer. Whatever the Chief did

Radiator, headlights and sirens of 1938 Leyland Metz extension ladder engine

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officer, and the appointment of training college staff began. Symes also reappointed the Training and Drills Committee, with representatives of the new Training and Drills Department replacing Richards

and Leonard. All the changes in building required a lot of shuffling. The Thornbury site went into use first and for some months recruits were drilled there before workshops, stores and tailoring moved in in 1972. Their exit from head station allowed redevelopment there to begin, and meanwhile recruits moved into stage 1 of the Training College in August 1972. Work on building stage 2 began almost at once. The Premier, R.J. Hamer, officially opened the completed Training College on 10 June 1975. The first ever passing out parade for MFB recruits was held in November 1970, while training was still at Richmond fire station. Fireman P.J. Wiebenga was Dux of the course. From then on recruits trained regularly in squads of up to fifty men. The first three women went through recruit course No. 70 in 1988. By then the MFB had already had women in uniform for some years, first as Communications Centre Operatives and later as members of the Fire Equipment Services Staff. All went through training courses at Abbotsford. Students at the Training College by this time included members of the Brigade training for promotional examinations up to District Officer level, plus a cross-section of staff taking various specialised in-service training courses, but the facility had its limitations. The site on the banks of the Yarra was chosen for ease of access to large volumes of water which could be allowed to drain straight back after use, but it was in a heavily built up area and there were pollution risks. Besides the obvious problems of foam escaping into the Yarra, there were many days of the year when EPA smog alerts meant the Brigade was unable to train using the fire house. Clearly, training firefighters without fires is a significant restriction, despite the great range of other practical and theoretical skills taught at the College, so in 1988 the Board purchased a far larger site at Laverton to the west of Melbourne, with potential for development as a new Training College.

Senior Officers wishing to progress through the Executive ranks attended the National Command Courses held at the CFA's Training Wing at Fiskville. The first of these courses began in September 1980, and was attended by senior fire brigade officers from all over Australia. The organising body for the four week residential course was the Assembly of Fire Authorities, representing Australian fire brigades. Laurie Lavelle, at that time Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the MFB, was Course Director and the Deputy Course Director was Brian Potter, Deputy Chief Officer of the CFA. By the 1980s overseas travel by Brigade officers was a part of a wide pattern of international exchanges between brigades, and overseas qualifications other than those of the IFE were beginning to appear on the CVs of Executive Officers. In 1988, for instance, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Alan Richards passed out top of a course at the United Kingdom Fire Services College and Jeff Godfredson, who succeeded Laurie Lavelle as Chief Fire Officer in the same year, underwent executive training at both the United States National Fire Academy and Harvard University. Since Harrie B. Lee was recruited

Operating mechanism of 1938 Leyland Metz extension ladder

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--111.101111.001

United Transport, 28.11.88. Some of the problems of cleaning up after this kind offire can be gauged from this view of a portion of the equipment used at the fire. Photo MFB Research and Development.

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from Sydney, Melbourne's senior firefighting ranks have been filled exclusively from the lower ranks of the MFB. Changes to the superannuation regulations since the 1970s have led to earlier retirement, more rapid promotion and younger Executive Officers. They have generally also been more highly qualified Executive Officers. It is no longer possible for senior officers to hold their positions by virtue of experience alone. In the 1890s seniority was the major qualification for promotion. In the 1980s it was no qualification at all.

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United Transport, 28.11.88. Some of the contaminated run-offfrom the fire. The problems of contamination of water courses were appreciated at an early stage and drains leading to the Maribymong were dammed and the run-off pumped out and removed. Photo MFB Research and Development.

Tradition and change

Despite the dramatic changes of the 1980s, there were elements within the Brigade that would have been familiar to an earlier generation. The Executive Officers of the 1980s were no longer all

United Transport: the decontamination area several days after the fire. Photo MFB Research and Development.

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Freemasons and some of them were even Catholics, but many of them had still 'grown up in the job' with relatives who were also employed by the MFB. In 1989 three out of four of the top uniformed men had a tradition of family association with the Brigade and two of them were even related to each other. Two out of the six Chief Superintendents had fathers in the Brigade and so did two of the eight Superintendents. Generally, it remained as unwise in the 1980s as it had been in the 1930s to say anything rude about a third party in case he or she was related to the person to whom you were talking. This pattern was less prevalent among the non -uniformed personnel, but it was still apparent and applied to women as well as men. Firefighting fathers had daughters in the Communications Centre or wives in administration and in the workshops sons, sonsin-law and grandsons kept up the Brigade tradition. The Brigade remained something of a family affair and now and then it could be confusing, such as the time when there were two District Officer Barretts (brothers) at one incident. The Brigade also remained an organisation which people joined for life. Periods like the 1950s when there was a high turnover of discontented staff were the exception. Perceptions within the job were that staying until you collected your pension was the norm. In an organisation where over a period of one hundred years the number of uniformed officers appointed from outside can be counted on the fingers of one hand, this perception is understandable. Turnover among the non -uniformed staff is higher and senior personnel have frequently been appointed from outside, especially since 1970. All the Brigade is rather different from a nine -to -five job where people work for a few years before moving on. Although firefighters have not lived on stations since 1950, officers lived on stations well into the 1960s and Executive Officers continued to live in quarters at Eastern Hill for longer still. Neville Van Every, who succeeded Frank Tueno in 1974, was the first Chief not to live at head station. So the family image of the Brigade as a way of life did not die a sudden death in 1950. Elements continued for many years. Indeed, the idea of the Brigade as something more than just a job seems to have undergone a revival while Jack Paterson was Chief. Whatever Bill Webber and Jack Paterson may have thought of each other they seem to have agreed on the virtues of 'esprit de corps' and the 'Brigade of Champions' presided over by Wilkins in the 1930s. One element of the Brigade of their youth that they both wanted to see restored was the Fire Brigade Band. On 27 August 1963, the UFU wrote to the Board seeking the reestablishment of the Band and pointing out that the music and instruments were still available. No overtime was to be asked for and the Union would assist in every way. Paterson backed the request and the new Band made its first public appearance on 26

June 1964.

Chief Fire Officer Neville Van Every (artist Robert Horne)

The Band had the power to unite disparate factions within the Brigade. Bill Webber supported it, Jack Paterson supported it and even Frank Tueno, who seldom agreed with anything Paterson did, had been in the old Band and took quite an interest in the new one. But Jack McKimm was the real driving force and acted as Drum

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Major and Secretary. He also persuaded Mervyn Simpson to conduct. The resulting Band began to compete in July 1966 and first won the Australian Championship in 1968. Events elsewhere within the Brigade led to a weakening of support just as the Band was reaching the top of the brass band world. The bandsmen had been placed on a special shift and they rehearsed together on Monday evenings, but despite co-operation all round, there were problems in covering for them at their stations. The Band took a lot of time and the more it played, the more time it took. Other firefighters began to complain that bandsmen were avoiding station routine with the excuse that `Mr McKimm says I must do my hour's practice.' Bill Webber noted in a letter to the Board that bandsmen were firefighters first and bandsmen second. Support in other quarters was also flagging. When Alex Bottomley was President, he tried to get Government funding so that the Band could attend the World Championships. Sir Henry Bolte was sympathetic, but not prepared to provide any Government money. Then in 1970 Mr Symes became the first full time President. On 11 September he reported to the Board on the Band and the gym team. Between them they were costing the Board $742 per week. In 1970 the Band won the national championship again and won the Victorian championships by a record margin. The members even recorded an album which came out to rave reviews just as Fire Brigade backing was withdrawn. The members of the Band remained willing to play together on almost any basis, and for some time there was talk of reforming for an overseas trip, but it all came to nothing. The Band represented a very different Fire Brigade philosophy from that espoused by Mr Symes. As he reported to the Board in April 1972, the primary purpose of the Brigade was to 'prevent and fight fires'. Any other activity in which the Brigade might become involved was secondary. Ìf any such activity could impair our ability to fulfill our primary task in any way, then a good argument exists for it to be discontinued. In my opinion the MFB Band comes into this category' [Symes to Board 27.4.72]. For the second time an MFB Band came to an end while holding the title of National Champion À' Grade Brass Band. Mervyn Simpson took over as conductor of the Footscray and Yarraville Band and about a dozen MFB bandsmen went with him. They won the 1972, 1973 and 1974 championships without losing one musical section and in 1975 they went to Toronto and won the international contest there. Jack McKimm and Laurie Lavelle were among the ex-MFB bandsmen to go on that tour. The MFB gym team, reformed at the same time as the Band, suffered the same fate. A core of keen gymnasts carried on performing, but the gym team, like the Band, belongs to an era which saw the Brigade as a complete way of life rather than just a job. The tradition was kept alive by retired firefighters performing around the hospitals at Christmas. Under the name of the Ònce a Year Club' they dressed up as clowns, climbed aboard one of the old ladders and left from Eastern Hill to tour the Children's Hospital in Rathdowne Street, St Vincent's Maternity Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital and the After Care.

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United Transport: cleaning up continued for fourteen days. As each area of product was identified, the drums were removed and placed in recovery drums. Care had to be taken that the contents of ruptured drums did not mix. Photo MFB Research and Development.

Those firefighters who retired in the 1960s and 1970s after a lifetime in the Brigade frequently retained links of some kind with the organisation that had been the focus of their lives. The Union runs an annual Christmas dinner for them. The first picnic train to Queenscliff for retired firefighters ran in 1959, and after 1966 was

A firefighter in

an asbestos suit prepares for a disaster training exercise early

in 1963. The photograph also shows Coburg's tanker on its Commer chassis. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

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The 'Once a Year Club' in action. Photo Barbara McCumisky Collection.

replaced by an annual retirement party at the RSL premises. Retired firefighters used to arrange to pick up their pensions from their old stations because it gave them an excuse to drop in for a chat.inThey the might argue about how many Brownlow Medallists were sporting MFB, or how many members of Victorian State teams. The for the applicants though even continue, traditions of the Brigade position of Firefighter, Fourth Class, are no longer likely to walk or straight in just because they happen to play for Essendon Richmond or Collingwood. The tradition of retired firefighters liking to keep in touch also continues. The Retired Firefighters Association was formed in 1988, aiming for national coverage, and began to produce a quarterly newsletter. Whatever the changes of the 1980s,a firefighting is still not like any other job. Don Cameron retired as District Officer in 1988 and said he'd go back and fight fires for nothing. He wouldn't be alone.

Fire safety has never had any really big fires. Any list of the major blazes in the city's history looks puny in the light of international comparisons. In 1861, forty houses were lost in a fire in North Melbourne. It was the biggest fire in Melbourne until that date but hardly deserves a mention when compared to the Chicago fire of 1871, when most of the city went up in flames and the damage was estimated as somewhere between $100 000 000 and $200 000 000. The damage bill for the Craig Williamson fire in Melbourne in 1897 is usually put at rather less than El 000 000. The next major fire in the Melbourne area was at Williamstown in December 1909, when thirty houses burnt, and for a while there was considerable official activity in an attempt to improve Melbourne's water supply. But in Boston in 1908, 10 000 houses were destroyed in a single fire in the suburb of Chelsea. More recently, the Beaumaris fires of 1944 saw fifty-two homes destroyed, which was probably the biggest loss of homes at one time in Melbourne's history. This is hardly a significant fire loss at all when compared to cities like Manila, where 3000 homes were destroyed by fire in 1978 and another 1000 in 1988. In recent research at La Trobe University on international fire losses, Lionel Frost and Eric Jones have identified Melbourne as a prime example of a city free from disastrous fires. On a global scale, two major factors are suggested as contributing to a reduction in multi structure fires of disastrous proportions. The first is building in fireresistant materials such as brick, stone and slate, and the second is increased lot size. Relatively low building density contributed significantly to Melbourne's fire safety in the early years, and more recently high levels of fire protection in building standards have also been important. Melbourne is and always has been a low density city. It has grown outward rather than upwards and by the time the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was set up in 1891, Melbourne already covered more than four times the area of cities such as Sydney or Birmingham, England, both of which had similar populations. MELBOURNE

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The central area of Melbourne was laid out with a basic grid of very wide streets, supplemented by narrower lanes and alleys. Those wide streets have had a 100 per cent success record as fire breaks. The Craig Williamson fire of 1897 is the only blaze to have ever come close to burning out a complete block, let alone crossing one of the wide thoroughfares like Swanston Street or Elizabeth Street, but it should be said that the fire didn't even cross Flinders Lane, and that had nothing to do with the width of the street. It was the work of the MFB using mains water. However, Melbourne's main streets were effective fire breaks even in the days when the city was built of wood and thatch. They became doubly effective once mains water was installed in the 1850s and the arrival of an organised fire brigade and more durable building materials reduced further the number of multi -structure fires. What worried both the city fathers and Melbourne's firefighters was any increase in the density of building in the city by a tendency to build up rather than spread out. High buildings increased the fire load on each block and also increased the risk of fire spreading across the lanes and alleys, if not actually across the wide main

streets. During the building boom of the 1880s, high buildings increased in numbers, some of them even built of wood, and developments in lift technology saw buildings reaching the dizzy heights of six and seven storeys by the 1890s. Finks Buildings, one of the first to go in the Craig Williamson fire, was the highest in the city at the time, at 150 feet. The heat from its passing blistered paint on the far side of Elizabeth Street. But at the same time that buildings were getting higher, there were also developments in the technology of fire protection. Following a fire in the Mutual Store on Flinders Street early in 1891, the owners took the Chief's advice on fire protection. The building survived the 1897 fire raging around it on three sides, because it was fully sprinklered with its own water tanks and fire protected windows. Prudent property owners took note and acted accordingly, but others believed it would never happen to them. When Melbourne City Council drew up building regulations in 1908, it was decided that 110 feet was quite high enough, and should only be permitted in buildings facing streets at least 66 feet wide. Where streets were 33 feet or less in width, 66 feet was the maximum permitted building height. By this time, Harrie B. Lee had succeeded Stein as Chief. He was concerned that buildings should go no higher, and argued that the height limit of 120 feet wanted by the building industry was too high. 'He could not undertake to stop a fire in such a structure, and as a matter of fact, if a fire started on the top it would have to burn down to a level at which his men could tackle it' [Harrie B. Lee quoted in The Age 24.9.08]. He pointed out that at the time it was impossible to construct a portable ladder more than 90 feet high. But other people besides firefighters had a say in building regulations. Architects were heard to argue that the height limits reduced land values in places like Flinders Lane. In 1912 the building regulations were revised to allow a maximum height of 132 feet, provided the building was of 'fireproof concrete construction. By this stage the importance of sealing lift wells at every floor so that they

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couldn't act as fire ducts was realised, and all buildings over three storeys in the city had to have taps and hoses on every floor plus either internal or external fire escape stairs. In the surrounding suburban municipalities there was less pressure to build up, and the characteristic Melbourne pattern was developing of street after street of detached single storey houses, each on its own block. The fashion at the beginning of the century was for neatly clipped lawns surrounded by imported shrubs and trees, which further helped reduce the fire risk. By the 1980s that pattern had changed as increasingly new housing was surrounded not so much by open paddocks, representing a grass fire risk, as by native bush, representing a far more serious hazard. The trend to native bush gardens increased the risk further. Most of such outer suburban developments lie within the area of responsibility of the CFA. The Metropolitan Fire District itself has escaped a bush fire of disastrous proportions, but there have been plenty of near misses over the years. On days like 8 January 1969 when fires burned in an arc around Melbourne from Lara in the south-west to Diamond Creek in the north and there were an estimated sixty separate bush fires burning around the State, or 16 February 1983-Ash Wednesday-when there were eight separate bush fires of major proportions and a total of ninety-five fires reported to CFA headquarters, Victorians are reminded that they live in one of the world's most hazardous bush fire areas. This is the paradox of one of the world's most fire -safe cities in one of the world's least fire -safe states. At the turn of the century, the dominant pattern apparent in Melbourne's suburbs was the relatively low density fire -safe pattern of building, rather than the crowded slums of the Old World. Each municipality had its own code of building regulations in which fire protection measures mostly failed to figure prominently. Because fire losses were generally low, little provision was made to reduce them further. This sort of attitude was, fortunately, totally missing in the Fire Brigade which has always had a tendency to try and work itself out of a job. Harrie B. Lee in particular took fire safety very seriously. He has already been quoted to the effect that he was unable to separate what he saw as the two duties of a fire brigade-fire prevention and fire extinction. As far as he was concerned the two went together, and while most of the Brigade's work most of the time was concerned with fire extinction, Harrie B. Lee set in motion a number of significant fire prevention and fire protection measures. These included pressure on the Government over building regulations, a dramatic extension of the street fire alarm network, sprinkler alarms directly linked to fire stations, the formation of the Special Service department to patrol buildings and install and service fire extinguishers and hose, and the development of a system of fire protection reports by District Officers.

Fire protection Warning sign

Harrie B. Lee worked on the fundamental firefighting principle that most big fires start as little fires. The sooner an effective attempt is made at extinction, the smaller the likelihood of a small fire getting

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The Leyland ladder and one of the Dennis pumps working at the George Hotel, Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, 23.12.62. This was one of a series offires in the building, now the Seaview Hotel, which has been the subject of at least one Joint Report. Photo Rick Merrin Collection.

bigger. Hence the emphasis on hose reels and hand held chemical fire extinguishers in major buildings, on Special Service firemen patrolling buildings, especially at night, and on the provision of street fire alarms to save time in calling the Brigade. But it was also important to make sure that the Brigade had water for its hoses when it got to a fire, and that there were sufficient unobstructed fire

escapes. The provision of big enough mains and the location of hydrants figured prominently in most early fire protection reports. At some stage District Officers hoped to carry out an inspection of all the major risks in their area, but they had to be invited in. Of course, sensible building owners and occupiers took sensible fire protection measures. They invited the Brigade to give them advice and they installed extinguishers and alarm systems and sprinklers. As a rather experienced firefighter once said, The buildings God didn't want to burn are sprinklered.' Records survive of 9022 fires in sprinklered buildings in Australia between 1886 and 1986. Of those, only forty-nine, or 0.543 per cent, were not controlled, generally because the building was not fully sprinklered, or because of high -piled storage of inflammable material. It is hard to escape the conclusion that if all buildings were sprinklered, they wouldn't burn, and recent developments in the

Warning sign

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USA include sprinkler systems for private houses. Although these are not yet readily available in Australia and the cost of installation in existing houses is a barrier to widespread adoption, relatively inexpensive and simply installed smoke alarms for private houses

are now available. As in so many other areas of Brigade activity, the work of providing fire protection reports increased with time. From a few hundred a year before the Second World War, the number of fire protection reports increased to 1706 in 1965, 2548 in 1975 and 4159 in 1985. Hard pressed operational District Officers found it difficult to keep up with the work load and increasingly it became a specialised function, initially based at head station. When Bert Manning became unfit for firefighting after the Melbourne Town Hall smoke bomb in 1958, he was put in charge of fire protection and given one of the old single men's rooms at No. 1. Later personnel involved in the first decade or so of the Fire Protection department included Stan Richards, Ern Osborne and Jack Sheridan. As Government attitudes to fire risks changed over the years, so did the work of the department. By 1963 when Ern Osborne went to Fire Protection, a major change in building regulations was under way. On 2 July 1962, a man was trapped on the top of Brooks Buildings, Russell Street, and lost his life in the fire. The fire enveloped the three top storeys, burned with great fierceness and spread with extreme rapidity due to the light, highly combustible partition walls and the combustible contents. The Brigade received a late call and the fire was well advanced when it arrived ... At the coronial enquiry an open verdict was brought in ... Since the fire a new act [the Protection from Fire Act, 1963] has been promulgated and the Brigade in conjunction with the relevant Municipal Council now has power to inspect and recommend action to make safe buildings which through inadequate escapes and/or light combustible partition walls, constitute a danger to life. [Aldridge, 1963 Board Report]

Trophy won by MFB running team for the Sydney -Melbourne marathon, 1977

Besides Joint Reports on existing buildings, there was also an increasing volume of work in going over the plans for new buildings to ensure that they met the fire protection requirements of the building regulations. Since the 1940s there had been increasing pressure to allow buildings over 132 feet in height. There was a steady trend towards standardising building regulations across the metropolitan area, following the introduction of the first Victorian Uniform Building Regulations in 1945. The general compromise agreed upon was that planning permission would be granted if buildings over the old height limit were sprinklered. The ICI building, for instance, built in the late 1950s, had thermal alarms up to the height limit, and sprinklers above the limit. This was one of the buildings that made Bill Aldridge anxious to buy something longer than the Leyland ladder with its maximum extension of 126 feet. In 1976, following pressure from the Brigade and a number of tragic fires overseas, the height without automatic sprinklers was reduced to 82 feet (25 m). The Brigade had the responsibility to point out what should be done ... part of the permit procedure for building was getting a fire protection

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report from the Brigade ... on all except private dwellings ... Then it becomes a matter for argument ... building surveyors would say half of it was a load of bunkum. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

People paid more attention to the Brigade after a series of tragic fires. When five men burned to death in a hostel where the Council had failed to follow Brigade advice on fire escapes, attitudes changed. Now Councils don't vary from fire protection reports; the people who are doing them have got to be spot on and realistic-killing them by fire or killing them by frost ... you've got to use common sense in fire protection. Bert Manning taught me that ... The DOs did some reports and sent them in. We got to the situation where people would come in with a new building and we'd give them an on the spot report-pretty efficient. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

In about 1971 Stan Richards left the Fire Protection department to return to firefighting and Ern Osborne became the new officer in charge. Special Service supervisors had a responsibility to look at the places they were in and if there was any problem, report to Fire Protection ... they'd start and we'd finish. We'd catch up with a lot of misdemeanours that way ... Harrie Newport and Arthur Fenton, we had a good working relationship. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

In those days, members of the Fire Protection department continued to turn out to fires, so that their practical firefighting knowledge didn't get rusty, but they also had to develop a range of specialist skills and knowledge. Up-to-date information on water supply, for instance, was essential, and there was regular contact with officers of the MMBW over plans of mains and water pressure. maximum Fire Protection used to rely on the MMBW's word as to what rise ... high for important and minimum pressures would be ... especially and Fire Government, of section Materials also dealt with Hazardous have to used ... Industry and Labour and Accident Underwriters wants conferences with these people ... for example if Hurst Chemicals table a round for together to build new premises, call all these people and architect the with days two for out conference and thrash it Hill Eastern at held meetings council... local the and building surveyor in the Fire Protection department. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

that was Our Fire Protection Department was a great department ... Chief ... was I brought in by Dad [Aldridge] ... I expanded it while but I increased the staff dramatically ... now it's quite a department... get can you that say to nice sounds ... don't agree with self financing Giving money for it. But it's the general public that pays for it anyhow. once to; up look to advice without charge ... the Brigade was something outside Now, cost. the by you you start to put a cost on it, people judge forget architects are encouraging people to leave and go to them ... you to down went it and Hill Eastern from it took We the human touch. enjoyed they Abbotsford-dedicated staff. They worked hard. I think Tueno their job. Only two or three people in it for a start. When Frankofficers senior future our of each that left we thought we should see should have a stint in Fire Protection. [Neville van Every 13.6.89]

Cup won by MFB Band at the Australian Band Championships, Tanunda, SA, 1968

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In 1983 the Fire Protection department began charging fees for its services, at the same level as council building approval fees, and in 1988 the department collected $1 700 000. The work load increased dramatically in the 1980s with the passing of the 1981 Building Control Act and the 1984 Victorian Building Regulations. This made it compulsory for all new buildings and substantial extensions to have a letter of consent from the MFB. The workload has increased dramatically-staff haven't. We're aiming to get all jobs through in twenty-one days-will have to do that by law soon. At the moment we can't ... up to five weeks behind. Used to be three or four months behind ... can't get the staff-there's a waiting list for half a dozen officers, mainly SO2s, but we're seventy short at the moment in the MFB as a whole ... All but one [of the Fire Protection staff] are officers-know a lot about fighting fires ... know how buildings behave in fire situations. They have to have experienced fires before they can make worthwhile comments on fire protection and the safety of firefighters ... takes about six months to train them-stringent quality control. DOs check all the work before it goes out. A mechanical services engineer has been approved by the Board, not yet by the Government ... to give assistance in technical aspects of sprinkler systems ... the officers know when you need sprinklers, not what their specification should be. Most officers go to Fire Protection on a two year secondment ... After two years here they go back into the field a much better firefighter ... The Executive Officers are all on recall-they go to major fires and I also go to look at minor fires. [Keith Adamson 6.5.88]

Checking buildings after they are up: Systems have to be tested and reported back to the Brigade who then have to provide a certificate of compliance. We have to rely on their honesty ... no staff to check, although we do some spot checks. There should be a commissioning test, especially on major buildings ... we hope to do it in the future. [Keith Adamson 6.5.88]

Existing buildings: Legislation is being drafted-the fire safety provisions of the Building Control Act-to give the MFB authority to correct faults in existing buildings ... fines for persistent non-compliance with regulations-even provision for closing buildings down for forty-eight hours ... Amad's factory fire, Spring Street ... could have been much worse ... exits blocked; stairways blocked; we had enormous trouble getting people out. [Keith Adamson 6.5.88]

One woman died and twelve others were hospitalised following the fire at Amad's Discount Warehouse in Exhibition Street in March 1976. The building had two stairways and one was blocked by fire and the other by piles of goods.

Special Services/ Fire Equipment Services Chief Fire Officer Ern Osborne (artist Robert Horne)

The second arm of the fire safety measures developed by Harrie B. Lee was the Special Services department. The early work of Special Service (SS) firemen on watching duty and servicing hose and

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extinguishers has already been described (see chapter 2, pp. 48-49, 74-75). By 1944, it was a large and busy department. T.W. Mather was the Chief Inspector, and in January 1944 he was asked to report on the possibility of SS firemen transferring to the firefighting staff and their places being taken by returned soldiers who were insufficiently fit for firefighting. The question arose as a result of the chronic shortage of recruits suitable for the permanent firefighting staff during and immediately after the Second World War, and it came not from the Chief but from the Government. Mather had difficulty in answering. The whole context of the question somehow implied that SS firemen were second-class citizens within the Brigade. Mather pointed out that besides their regular duties, SS firemen were 'trained in firefighting duties and are used to augment the permanent staff in the control of fire danger'. of physical For the efficient performance of the duties a high standard who applicants from enrolled fitness is required. The men are usually this to as Officer Medical Brigade the from are medically fit, a certificate standard the below are measurements chest whose is required, but required for the permanent staff.

Mr Mather wasn't willingly going to lose any of his men to firefighting and neither was he prepared to accept anyone whose

fitness was substandard. At this stage there were 102 SS staff of whom thirty-four were employed on theatre duty, and a further forty were employed on nightly patrols at various Government buildings, wool stores and factories, and on daily duty at munitions factories and various rail yards. The SS staff also maintained 70 000 units of fire hose and chemical extinguishers and Mather complained he needed another twelve men to cope with the existing work load. SS firemen never worked continuous duty. Like the workshops, tailoring and office staff of the Brigade, they lived privately and in 1944 they were on a forty-eight hour week. They had their own system of split shifts to cover night duty, their own uniform, their own union and their own superannuation fund. From the beginning, their work was carried out on a fee -for -service basis, although the accounting divisions between Special Services and the rest of the Brigade were not consistent. In 1946 Hanle Newport was promoted to the post of Chief Inspector. Like the District Officers of the firefighting staff, he carried out fire protection inspections on a regular basis. He also sent reports to the Chief recommending follow-up inspections whenever members of his staff noted insufficient equipment or inadequate water pressure in any one of the thousands of premises where they maintained extinguishers and hose. SS staff also carried out fire drills, instructed building occupants in the use of extinguishers and hose, and reported on blocked exits and accumulations of rubbish that represented a fire hazard. Before the abolition of PP firefighters in 1950, many SS firemen were also PPs, sleeping at suburban fire stations by night and servicing extinguishers by day. Harrie Newport remembered that in emergencies they were even turned out to fires wearing their SS hats. At the Cool Stores fire in 1937, for instance, SS staff handled hose and organised relief vehicles.

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Chief Fire Officer Laurie Lavelle (artist Robert Horne)

But the two groups remained quite separate and Harrie Newport noted that there was 'always a bit of animosity to the Special Service'. The firefighters treated them 'as if they were private watchmen'. For their part, SS firemen 'called the firefighters water squirters' [10.8.88]. The animosity was not sufficiently serious to prevent SS firemen joining the UFU in the 1950s. As the work of the Special Service department grew, the number of staff and vehicles became too great for the Bouverie Street Depot, and in 1963 Special Services moved to new premises in Lincoln Street, Richmond. The department seems to have been semi permanently understaffed and did not escape the industrial troubles that plagued other UFU members in the 1960s. By 1969 Special Services were ten men short and about a year behind in servicing extinguishers and hose. When the Board was reorganised in 1970 most of the Brigade embarked on a period of major change, but this transformation seems to have bypassed Special Services. Harrie Newport retired and was replaced by Arthur Fenton, who had come up through the ranks of Special Services. When Arthur Fenton in turn retired at the end of the 1970s, he was replaced not from within Special Services, but by a District Officer on light duties because of a back injury. By the beginning of the 1980s many SS staff felt as if they were under attack. The department had always charged for its services, and in theory this should have placed it at the leading edge of fee for -service developments within the Brigade. But Special Services charged for their work within a 'service' rather than a 'commercial' culture. The department found itself under attack for losing money, as if it had been set up, to make profits. It had been set up to help protect the citizens of Melbourne and their property from fire, and was certainly never logically separated from the Brigade on any recognised cost accounting basis. In the 1980s the Special Services department experienced five changes of management and plummeting morale, with all the associated industrial and productivity problems. For the first time, a department of the MFB faced direct competition from private enterprise. Special Services' name was changed to Fire Equipment Services (FES) in April 1983, and from 1984 the Victorian Building Regulations specified that fire equipment had to be maintained in accordance with the relevant standards, but no longer regulated who should carry out that maintenance. Initially, FES lost customers, including some of their biggest. FES charged a few more cents per unit maintained than their competitors, which added up to thousands of dollars overall for the big customers. Small firms with only a small number of extinguishers and hose reels tended to prefer the security of a higher level of service from FES to saving a few dollars by going elsewhere. Even some of the bigger firms found they didn't really save the money in the end. Certainly the work load remained as much as FES could handle, particularly during times of building boom with many new customers coming into the market. Understaffing also remained a problem, at least until 1989. This was not because people didn't want the jobs-the Brigade simply didn't advertise the vacancies. It was hardly surprising that the department got behind with its work load.

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The department has 'been an appendage totally controlled by the Brigade, but never developed ... oppressed [within the Brigade organisation] ... They weren't allowed to manage in my absence ... self esteem nil ... confidence low ...' [Andrew Forbes 19.7.89]. Andrew Forbes was appointed as Chief Superintendent of FES in 1989 and saw his main role as an agent of cultural change, altering the Cinderella perceptions of the department. the FES people themselves need to realise ... there's still a percentage down there have the public service syndrome ... don't have to do much ... putting their brother workers' jobs at risk ... now getting a work force down there who don't see any stigma, don't want to be firees, proud of what they are and want to do the job. Compared with years ago, there's really some top young people down there. [Kevin Whelan, UFU Secretary, 15.8.89] ...

Andrew Forbes is determined to make it work. The Brigade has said they won't subsidise it as a running sore ... have to pull themselves out of the mire ... but it's not some little orphan ... needs good business skills, good marketing skills. Staff personal development has been neglected ... The tide is going up in terms of the young people. Probably one of the most difficult tasks in the Brigade ... We'll give it a real go, but if they don't perform. [Jeff Godfredson 27.6.89]

There is no doubt that FES faced severe problems. really don't understand why it ran down so badly and so far ... decisions are made [elsewhere in the Brigade] that affect the organisation ... without consultation. [Andrew Forbes 19.7.89] I

In a lot of ways FES has been the sort of shadow of the organisation ... starting to address the problem for the first time in fourteen years. FES has always been the poor second cousin. They've employed different types of people, utilised different types of managers ... isolated that part of the organisation ... a different ecological niche. I think this organisation uses FES to let us know how good we are. Dingy corners, dingy trucks, dingy uniforms ... they pay them like peasants ... Now, have put one of the best lateral thinkers and one of the best of the whiz kids in there to solve the problems and I think that's an excellent move ... I think Andrew will make it commercially viable, create a culture down there that demands excellence, recognise the mission of FES, make them the best in that area. [Jim Dance, Fire Safety, 7.8.89]

By the middle of 1989 change within FES could already be seen. 'The future is not doubtful-it's challenging. They've certainly got a pay rise to look forward to on restructuring' [Andrew Forbes 19.7.89]. Equally importantly, changes in attitudes to FES within the rest of the Brigade were also underway.

Fire prevention Fire prevention lectures and drills used to be conducted entirely by operational firefighters and SS staff. They were known as 'outside drills' and every year hundreds of requests came in from clients as diverse as supermarkets and homes for the aged. Special Services

MFB Board President Major-General J. Hughes (artist Robert Home)

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charged fees for their work and tended to deal with industrial clients such as the explosives factory at Maribyrnong. Operational firefighters provided their services free and answered requests for drills from schools and hospitals, and also visited factories and offices. During the 1970s there was an increasing tendency to send officers with specialist skills in lecturing and communication and it became quite common for Training College staff to answer requests for outside drills. The obvious development was a specialist department based at the Training College, but under the same administrative umbrella as Fire Protection. Fire Prevention was a smaller area ... eight or nine staff over there ... They educate the public in the prevention of fires. They charge for their services ... booked out three months in advance. They do schools and some other public places for free, charge companies; show films; give expert advice. They are not cost neutral ... cost money. [Keith Adamson 6.5.88] ...

Fire Prevention began charging for some of its services in September 1985. Following the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985, employers had greater responsibility for providing training in emergency procedures and the work of Fire Prevention grew. 'We don't advertise because we couldn't meet the demand ... hard to meet the unadvertised demand. People ring up; there's room for expansion' [Terry Hunter, Fire Prevention, 10.7.89]. Fire Prevention offered lectures and drills, plus short courses in firefighting and breathing apparatus at the MFB Training College. Besides this commercial side of the work, the department continued to provide free guest speakers for charities, schools and service clubs. There was a move for an increasing proportion of the non-commercial side of the work to once more be provided by operational firefighters.

Patterns of change

METROPOLITAN FIRE BRIGADES BOARD

WARNING!

NO FIRE

May be Lit or Maintained in any Fireplace or anywhere else

IN THE OPEN AIR On a Broadcast Warning Day of

ACUTE

PENALTY UP TO E200

FIRE OR

2 YEARS

DANGER

IMPRISONMENT

OR BOTH

order W..

ALDRIDGE.

Of For,

Early MFB warning sign

In 1975 after touring Canada with the Footscray and Yarraville Band, Laurie Lavelle took two weeks holiday to have a look at North American fire brigades. He visited the Chicago brigade and found 200 people in their Fire Prevention bureau. He returned to work in Fire Protection with a new perspective on fire protection and prevention. A year or so after becoming Chief Fire Officer, Mr Lavelle was interviewed by Owen Davies from The Herald: "The firemen of the future" he says, "will spend much less time at the fire station, concentrating instead on spreading the fire prevention message to suburbia"' [The Herald 5.10.82]. In 1988 Laurie Lavelle was succeeded as Chief Fire Officer by Jeff Godfredson, who gave equal attention to fire safety. He, too, had seen something of the very much wider role of the Fire Marshall's office in the USA, and by 1989 Melbourne had the new position of Assistant Chief Officer, Fire Safety. Fire Prevention is public education plus preventing fire spreading. It really deals with the human element in the equation. There's a proliferation of private enterprise out there doing public education ... credibility comes with wearing this badge ...

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John Cross at Boys from Brighton Grammar School receiving instruction from Collection. Merrin, Rick Photo Brighton fire station, May 1963. Fire Protection/public education is the area of the Brigade with the highest morale ... want to provide firefighters on shift the opportunity to do meaningful work ... break down the mentality of retreating to the fire station and pulling down the shutter ... go round kindergartens etc.-be pro -active, not waiting to react. [Jeff Godfredson 27.6.89] would like to see the nature of what a firefighter does ... change ... if there's pollution of a creek, turn out firefighters ... weekdays do inspections in factories for dangerous goods, get to know what to look for and point the experts to problems they can't deal with ... [Brian Parry 16.6.89] I

The thing facing both the Union and the Brigade is to change that underlying culture ... to change the ability to accept change ... try and put some job reward back into the job ... give people at the lower ranks some of the work done by officers ... fire protection reports; normal day to day office work; lecturing; should be encouraged right from when they join the job ... You've heard `the job's a joke' ... I think it's about time that people got very quickly informed that the job isn't a joke. If the Brigade is allowed to meander along in its present culture it will lead to the downfall of the Brigade and the Union. [Kevin Whelan 15.8.89] The Union have adopted the position that every different skill, they want more money ... but the membership has changed dramatically ... I don't know that they want to be hidebound by this stuff ... they need to go to [Union] meetings ... Bill Webber ripped into me for only turning up

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at Union meetings when it affected me ... the barb stuck ... I now attend meetings. [Jeff Godfredson 27.6.89] The Union's in a position nowadays where it cannot just let things happen without seeking some benefit whether salary or whatever ... The Union cannot really accept change tactically without putting it into the context of an agreement. [Kevin Whelan 15.8.89]

Whatever the arguments, all parties wanted change. The Brigade now has prevention, protection, public education ... it's the only growth area in the Brigade ... The continuum was 100 per cent fire suppression. Now it's 90 per cent -10 per cent, but extending the prevention/public education line. [Jeff Godfredson 27.6.89]

Response time There has been no significant upward trend in the number of structure fires in the MFD since at least 1970. The numbers fluctuate from year to year with an average in the region of 5000 fires per annum. If anything, the trend in the 1980s was towards fewer structure fires. The numbers of non -structure fires (mainly grass fires) fluctuate very much more widely from year to year because they are more closely related to weather conditions. Generally, numbers declined in the late 1970s but rose again in the 1980s. Overall, though, individual grass fires tended to be less serious than in the 1960s, affecting smaller areas and being more rapidly controlled. The seriousness of fires is an aspect of fire statistics that is more difficult to quantify than absolute numbers. On impressionistic evidence, the general trend in the MFD seems to have been towards a reduction in the frequency of serious fires. This may be at least partly because the Brigade has become more efficient. There are two separate components to increased efficiency in this context: combat time and response time. Combat time is that required to actually put the fire out once firefighters have arrived on the scene. The changes in technology, training and equipment that affect this process have already been described. Generally, fewer appliances were required to put out a fire in 1989 than were required to put out the same sort of fire in 1969. However, this may be almost as much due to the fact that appliances in 1989 were usually manned by more men than in 1969, as to improved appliances. It's the firefighters who still run out the hose, hold the branch and operate the pumps. Firefighting is not an automated process. Response time is the interval between the Brigade being notified of a fire and the first appliance arriving on scene. A third vital factor is the interval between the start of a fire and somebody giving the alarm. This is why the Brigade has always encouraged direct linked private fire alarms and the Chief Fire Officer is keen to encourage smoke detectors in private houses. The Brigade can only indirectly influence this third factor but the second, response time, is the direct responsibility of the Brigade.

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Response time is critical because fires do not grow at a steady rate. Typically, they burn slowly in the first few minutes until sufficiently well established to set off a rapid rise in temperature in the surrounding area, which in turn sets off 'flashover' as everything combustible in the surrounding room or area simultaneously bursts into flame. The critical time, from the point of view of determining whether the fire is contained to the area of origin or flashes over to spread to other rooms, is the relatively short period of rapid temperature rise. As little as a one minute difference in response time can determine whether or not a fire is eventually contained to the structure of origin. Quite simply, if it takes the Brigade ten minutes to get to fires, houses burn down. If it takes the Brigade six or seven minutes to get there, they don't. Two major factors affect response time. The first is how long it takes from the Brigade receiving a call to an appliance leaving the station (despatch time) and the second is the time it takes to travel to the fire. Developments in the 1980s have been designed to reduce both elements of response time.

Firecom or automatic alarm monitoring and computer aided despatch system In the days when the Brigade received notification of most fires through the street fire alarm system, turning out appliances was simple and fast. The alarms were directly connected to the nearest fire station and the men at that station knew where all their street fire alarms were and what they were likely to find when they got there. What they mostly found was false alarms. From the earliest days hoax calls were a problem with the street fire alarm system, but as more and more people installed private telephones, the problem got worse. By the end of the 1950s the Board had decided that the tiny proportion of actual fires notified by street fire alarms no longer justified an expansion of the network, and the large proportion of false alarms made the system a positive nuisance. But it remained the fastest way to call the Brigade, and rapid suburban development ahead of the telephone network persuaded the Board to delay the demise of street fire alarms for nearly another twenty years. The system in operation in the 1970s was clearly unsatisfactory. Although there were direct exchange lines to each station that were used for some fire calls, exchange telephone calls to the Brigade on the 000 system went not to the nearest station but to a switchboard at No. 1. From there, operators called the relevant District Station and operators at the District Station then decided which two stations to turn out and which appliances to send on. It was a cumbersome process and at night, when there was also the greatest likelihood of a significant time lapse between the start of the fire and someone seeing it and calling the Brigade, it could be two or three minutes before the relevant stations even received a call. All the 000 calls were originally taken in No. l's watch room. One man sat on what was called the senior board, taking 000 calls and ringing District Stations. Another manned the three VKN8 radio

MFB Communications

shoulder patch

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dangerous moment at the fire at Fleur Furnishings 9.1.89. Photo The Age.

channels. The staff were usually more or less permanently assigned to the work because of back injuries or heart trouble, and the operators at the District Stations were also usually specialists. But if it got busy, firefighters were called in from the station to help. In 1971, the system at No. 1 became slightly more professional. The top of the stairs to the engine bays was blocked off, a partition wall was built to separate the area from the watch room and on 1 April the Control Centre officially began operations. There were four fully fit radio operators and the rest of the staff-about eleven per shift-were personnel on light duties. The Control Centre had a large map on the wall with a system of lights which could be operated for each station to indicate whether appliances were in or out, and there were tapes to record the telephones, but not the radio. Not surprisingly, when things got busy, the paper work got left behind. The old system was flying by the seat of our pants ... on a busy day we'd lose records ... paper everywhere ... even lose trucks, but we always answered the calls' [Peter McEwan 3.8.89]. There was clearly room for improvement, and the President was also interested in the other end of the system, at the stations. One man had to remain permanently on watch room duty to deal with sprinkler and directly linked fire alarms, even when the rest of the station personnel had turned out to a call. This increased by one the minimum possible manning for each station on all four platoons, and was clearly very expensive. 'During the mid -seventies

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An aerial view of the fire at Fleur Furnishings 9.1.89. Photo MFB Research and Development.

we realised, thought, whatever, that the leaving of men on watch room duty at fire stations wasn't really a good use of staff[Alan Richards 3.8.891. The possibility of redirecting alarms to the five District Stations was considered but then, possibly as the result of an overseas trip, the President came up with the idea of computer aided despatch. Public Management Services (PMS) were hired to draw up a specification for a computer aided despatch and automatic alarm monitoring system. On 23 March 1978, the Brigade entered into a contract with

Philips Telecommunication.

We were getting a bit of flak over delayed calls in the middle of the night ... fellows asleep ... losing time in turnouts. The call at Eastern Hill was relayed to the District Station and he rang the out station ... two or three minutes would have elapsed between when the call was received and the appliance went out ... a couple of fatalities ... We did get concerned and saw the need for a more efficient system. Got the experts in ... system to relay calls to stations. People from New Zealand examined Neville [Van Every] and I to find out exactly what was needed. Alan Richards was liaison officer between the installing people and the Brigade. They were still installing it when I was Chief ... lots of problems ... that was all taken out of my hands. Bernie Poll was employed and reported to the President ... a bit of concern ... getting pretty difficult to keep track of the thing. [Ern Osborne 8.6.89]

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

226

The original tender put forward a twenty-four month contract ... brought back to eighteen or nineteen months at the request of the President ... From the very start, Philips indicated that achieving an eighteen -month finished article was whistling Dixie. Plans were drawn for twenty-four month implementation. [Alan Richards 3.8.89]

Much of the work on the computers in the fire stations was done by EDL and there were repeated delays in that part of the system, including technical difficulties and contract variations. There were two separate components to the systems installed. The first entailed providing a computer link between each station and the communications centre at headquarters. The second entailed directly linking all the private alarm systems to the communications centre rather than to individual stations. Once installed, these alarm interface units (AIUs) removed the need for a man to remain on watch room duty at all times and allowed stations to be locked and isolated when the firefighters were answering a call. `EDL ... they were the ones that were dragging the chain ... The software ended up running late, too. What's the use of finishing it if we haven't got the bit that it's going to talk to?' [Alan Richards 3.8.89]. By this time, Johnson had succeeded Symes as President. He wanted to wait until the whole system was complete before it was commissioned. The longest delays were in the AIUs which allowed watch room personnel to be released, and that was the aspect of the system which had been used to convince the Government to authorise the expenditure. Brigade personnel finally persuaded Mr Johnson of the importance of reduced despatch time and the computer aided despatch system, without the full system of AIUs, went into operation on 7 October 1983. The software was provided by Progeny from New Zealand. The Brigade's own electrical staff were involved at the implementation stage, and in 1983 the name of their department was changed to Systems Engineering. Brian Butler was one of those involved. That was a very busy year, changing to Firecom ... worked seven days a week, nights and everything ... On that morning [7 October] everybody was there ready for the fire up ... the changeover switch at Eastern Hill ... all there with two-way radios. There were a few problems. Alan Richards was there ... didn't know if it would work ... threw the switch, the place livened up ... the first call was a fire. The girl says 'My God, it's a fire!' She thought it was a practice run. [Brian Butler 6.5.88] All fire calls were received on the communications centre console from where operators directly turned out the nearest stations. A fire call from the communications centre to a fire station automatically put on the lights and bells, opened the fire station doors, gave amplified voice of the communications centre operator in the station and printed out two computer logs giving the nature of the call, the location and the Melway reference. The firefighters tore off one of these and took it with them and the other remained as a printed record. Permanent records of all calls were also kept at the

NOT JUST PUTTING OUT FIRES

227

communications centre, including records of radio traffic such as word backs from the officers on the fireground. The computer was programmed to keep track of the status of all calls, all stations and all appliances. This information was available on screen to communications centre operators and also on VDUs in the offices of senior operational personnel at head station. From the beginning, the communications centre operated with specialist staff recruited and trained for the purpose, most of whom were women. The first group of five supervisors was trained at the beginning of 1983 and they in turn began to train further supervisors and instructed firefighters in the use of the station computers. After two weeks of parallel running, the system went live in October. 'We were thrown to the wolves ... even the supervisors didn't know what to expect.' There were all the usual teething troubles but, all the same, on 7 October the MFB despatch system in Peter McEwan's phrase 'went professional'. Over the years, both the software and the hardware were significantly modified. Brian Butler maintained that as far as the hardware was concerned, by 1988 'the only thing that resembles the original product is the case it came in.' All the same, from October 1983 the Brigade's despatch time was reduced by a matter of minutes. The receipt of a call and the notification of the firefighters manning the nearest available appliances became almost instantaneous. A significant addition to the communications system was introduced late in 1988. A mobile control unit was commissioned and began to attend all fires where the officer on the scene called for assistance. Two communications centre operators turned out *on the control unit. One operated the radio link to Firecom (VKN8) and the other operated the fireground radio for communications between personnel on the scene. The control unit was also equipped with maps of water supply, video to pick up aerial film of the fireground from police or media helicopters, and a computer for access to the Datachem and Adchem programs on hazardous chemicals (which were also held on the central Firecom computer). Firecom was the Brigade's first foray into the use of computers by uniformed personnel. It clearly represented a significant leap in what could be achieved, and the 1980s saw a proliferation of computers in other areas. Developments included the linking of the Chief Fire Officer to English and American fire information data banks; computers at fire stations for electronic mail and interactive learning; in-house television under a multi -distributional system (MDS) with terminals in each station, for training and internal communication; and computerisation of fire protection records. want to get the Fire Brigade into the communication twentieth century ... we're still sending 90 per cent of our information on trees ... I'd like us to be sending it on computer, television ... it will take some years to implement. [Brian Parry 16.6.89] I

In fact the biggest change in Brigade communication systems in 1989 was the sending of information using computers plus trees. Fax machines were a lot faster than couriers. The communications centre was a harbinger of change in many areas of the Brigade. Senior staff learned a great deal about planning,

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

228

The communications centre

at Eastern Hill. Photo MFB Board.

flexibility and changing priorities. An organisation that had always trained people to make rapid decisions under pressure began to learn about making decisions with long term implications. Another major development of the early 1980s reinforced this pattern of changing management style.

Strategic Location Plan Work on the 'Strategic Location of Fire Suppression Resources' began while Ern Osborne was Chief Fire Officer. Johnson, the President, wanted an examination of the location of fire stations. The study identified three major gaps in the standard of fire cover-in the south-east, south-west and north of the Metropolitan Fire District-and proposed building stations to fill the gaps. This was an expensive solution which failed to deal with a number of problems in the location of existing fire stations. Laurie Lavelle became Chief Fire Officer in 1981 and set up a team to examine the location of stations in a more systematic fashion. The members were Tom Williamson, at that time Deputy Chief, plus Jim Hunter and Alan Richards, with Jim Dance as research officer. Tom Williamson had had experience with strategic planning in the Northern Territory Fire Service. Alan Richards, Jim Dance, young guys with ability and ideas plus Jim Hunter, a lot of ability. Me, I didn't do anything, just made sure people did the job for me. [Tom Williamson 11.8.89]

Warning sign

Tom Williamson ... had been involved in a number of things ... also with Cox who did a report in 1981 on the South Australian Fire Brigade ... and in 1979 one on WA and Tasmania. Cox ... had been a UK Chief ... also worked in Hong Kong, involved in standards of fire cover in the

NOT JUST PUTTING OUT FIRES

229

UK ... They gave me a free rein ... I used American models that were around, also Singapore ... There was also input from the CSIRO. They

had a computer model for hospital and shop locations. [Jim Dance 7.8.89]

The team put together a document entitled 'Strategic Location of Fire Suppression Resources', which dealt with reorganising the distribution of stations and appliances to ensure optimum speed in turning out to fires throughout the Metropolitan Fire District. When it was finished in 1982, the plan looked a great deal more professional than anything else ever produced by the MFB, but the Board promptly put it on the shelf. It was held in abeyance because Johnson had asked for it but didn't know what to do with it ... It said spend dollars to save dollars. But the Board acted on the first recommendation to close No. 9 (N. Fitzroy). [Alan Richards 3.8.89]

Once the plan was done, they really weren't committed to the funding. The costings were superficial. [Jim Dance 7.8.89] We found the mobile tankers weren't doing much in winter and certain

stations weren't doing much-North Fitzroy ... also identified Brighton, St Kilda and Sandringham ... totally out of position ... half their turnout area was in the bay ... Jim Dance and Alan went through the stats came together and had some hard decisions about closing stations ... put the plan forward and it wasn't handled properly in the industrial field. Tankers were withdrawn in winter. It wasn't done properly. The DOs rebelled... The Board accepted it but the Ministry wanted costing. A group from RMIT came to assess the plan. The communications centre had been going twelve months; used that data to check our stats and judgments. The people from RMIT agreed ... adopted in agreement with the Union. There's still opposition to the closing of Brighton out there. [Tom Williamson 11.8.89]

Management The Strategic Location Plan was completed at a time when the Government was examining the whole question of the organisation of Victoria's fire services. In April 1982 the Minister for Police and Emergency Services asked the Public Service Board `to undertake a study of alternative funding and organisation arrangements of nonoperational aspects of the State's metropolitan and country fire services'. That was a year of severe drought and the members of the Public Service Board were still working on the report when the particularly tragic bushfires of 16 February 1983, Ash Wednesday, gave especial prominence to their task. The Government expanded the Public Service Board's brief in June 1983 in the light of the `organisational and operational deficiencies in the State's fire and emergency services during the Ash Wednesday bushfire disaster'. The Board finally reported in November 1983. The report was not complimentary about the non -operational aspects of either the CFA or the MFB. 'It said the CFA and MFB

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

230

couldn't run a pie shop' [Alan Griffin 8.8.89]. The language of the report was rather more guarded, but this was, indeed, more or less the verdict of the Public Service Board. Criticism was not aimed at the rank and file firefighters, whether volunteer or professional, but at senior management in both the CFA and the MFB. However, the events of Ash Wednesday had left a lot of raw nerves, especially in the CFA. Volunteer firefighters interpreted the report as an attack on them and its recommendations as an attempt by the UFU and a socialist Government to enable the MFB to 'take over' the CFA. The Minister was forced to engage in a damage control exercise, touring Victoria to reassure the volunteers. Those who read the Public Service Board report more carefully learned different lessons. It said nothing whatsoever about operational firefighting, which was not a part of its brief. But it said a great deal about the overlapping of non -operational functions, funding arrangements, budgeting and the state-wide co-ordination of emergency services. The new Government appointed a new President, Major -General Jim Hughes. Despite a number of problems during his term of office, progress was made on the Strategic Plan. The Government appointed consultants to examine the bases on which the plan was built and a great deal more work was done on detail, particularly financial detail, but the essence remained unchanged. The Brigade was to embark on a ten-year programme which would produce a net change of two fewer stations, four fewer pumpers and a marginal improvement in response time, so that for 90 per cent of calls there was an appliance on scene within 7.7 minutes. The plan was adopted in 1987 and represented a further step by the Brigade towards a totally different management approach. However, in other areas of management, all was not well. Following a series of incidents, the Minister appointed Dr Griffin to investigate a number of aspects of Brigade administration. His style was not conciliatory: `... they introduced programme budgeting in 1984, but they weren't trained for it ... They had a Clayton's reorganisation ... There was antipathy between the operational and non -operational staff' [Alan Griffin 8.8.89]. In 1987 there were a number of changes in the senior management of the MFB. The position of Secretary to the Board was abolished and Gordon Blair, who had been a member of Griffin's team, was appointed as Director of Administration. There were also changes in the finance department and the General was replaced as President by Brian Parry-. Brian Parry had some management experience in the private sector ... There was no change in what was being suggested the Board should be doing, but Brian could interpret and develop a cohesive management programme ... an organisation builder and communicator ... he communicated about service delivery in the fire protection industry. [Alan Griffin 8.8.891

Brian Parry was also committed to many of the changes that had been recommended by the Public Service Board Report in 1983.

NOT JUST PUTTING OUT FIRES

231

Corporate Plan On 10 July 1987, the Board invited the Mt Eliza Consulting Group to begin work on a report on corporate planning for the Brigade. This provided a framework for considering most of the major issues that faced the Brigade in the 1980s, including the long term relationship between uniformed and non -uniformed staff and the source of future senior management, management information

systems and program budgeting, and the philosophical and financial relationships between the Brigade and its customers. The report of the Public Service Board in 1983 had included a number of recommendations on funding which embodied the view that the user should pay and that fees should be charged for services on the basis of real costs. The final key recommendation of the consultants was: that new funding arrangements be introduced which will ensure that

routine services provided are charged at full cost and fire suppression services funded by insurance type payments by potential beneficiaries of the service (i.e. motor vehicle owners; owners of real property and the State Government). [Public Service Board Report November 1983]

The report also recommended that the Brigade should only carry out those tasks which contributed directly to its central functions of protecting life and property from fire and other hazards. The Corporate Plan was based on the same philosophical principles. By 1989 the Brigade was no longer carrying out its own printing or vehicle assembly and a number of other traditional areas had come under close scrutiny. This was in line with Government policy and, although no major restructuring of Brigade funding had taken place, the late 1980s saw a number of moves in the direction of the `user pays' principle, including changes in legislation to enable greater recovery of costs. Areas covered included charging for false alarms and for cleaning up chemical spills, and charging the Traffic Accident Commission for vehicle rescue. The Corporate Plan as adopted by the Board in April 1988 was based on a major restructuring of the Brigade into six programme areas: emergency response, fire and hazard safety, technical services, human resources, corporate services and finance and administration. It is significant that two of those areas (technical services and human resources) included both uniformed and non -uniformed personnel. ... Want to create My first priority is a decent management structure ... there is this uniforms 1800 are ... There genuine career opportunities

notion that you progress from Firefighter to Chief through firefighting. Fire Protection, Fire Prevention, Training, Research and Development is are seen as somehow not important in their own right ... promotion of streams with system a create to want We tested on firefighting skills. even activity and that people will be able to rise within those streams, logical on activities though most move in and out ... want to group inter-relationships, not uniform/non-uniform. For example we now

Cup won by MFB Band at the National Band

Championship, Sydney, 1970

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

232

have uniformed and workshops [involved in] R&D ... it should be one, functional. The present management structure for any shift activity is not managed by anybody ... each has 5.5 people ... so want a system of day managers ... Any one of the directors, uniform or not, could be promoted to Chief Executive ... most likely to be uniformed but not necessarily. Human Resources will include all training and personnel ... Someone might have to come through there ... Three or four streams to the top instead of only one. [Brian Parry 16.6.89]

The changes needed to implement the Corporate Plan required rather more than a new organisational structure. The word that was most frequently used within the Brigade in this context was 'culture'. Change in Brigade culture was not uniformly rapid. There is no doubt at all, however, that change in management was rapid. Indeed, the 1980s may almost be described as a decade of revolutionary change in the management style of the MFB. The people concerned tended to link that change to the arrival of particular individuals in positions of power: Laurie Lavelle as Chief Fire Officer in 1981, Alan Griffin at the Ministry of Police and Emergency Services in 1984, Brian Parry as President in 1987 and Jeff Godfredson as Chief Fire Officer in 1988. There is no doubt they were all important, but the transformation in style seems to have been more diffuse and begun earlier. A few of the people who contributed have already been mentioned. Some would date the earliest significant change as the inclusion of management skills in the curriculum of the District Officers' course in 1978. The influences were American as much as British, producing patterns of thought that regarded management as a skill in itself to be learned in addition to firefighting. While Executive Officers educated in that tradition were the exception in 1979, by 1989 they were the rule. The process of change was accelerated by the introduction of the Emergency Services Superannuation Scheme (ESSS) in January 1987. ESSS provided for optional retirement from the age of fifty, and also provided very attractive resignation benefits even before that age. A firefighter with fifteen years service could resign and collect a cheque of the order of $100 000. After thirty years the maximum benefit of 8.4 times annual salary was achieved. Senior operational staff left in droves, and rapid promotion brought to the top a whole new generation of whiz kids who made up for what they lacked in experience by a level of tertiary education, management qualifications and bright ideas unique in the history of the MFB.

Appendix

The MFB band

Brigade has had an association with brass bands since at least the 1890s, when Chief David Stein first suggested that one be formed. During the 1930s, the Fire Brigade Band achieved notable success, but its activities came to an end in 1950 with the introduction of the forty -hour week. THE

ICI

There was a lot of resentment about the Band being disbanded ... always some thought it might come back ... then [in 1963] I got a ring from Chief Paterson We're reforming the Band-you'll be in charge of the reformation.' Almost an open cheque-recruited players. After twelve months got Mervyn Simpson as musical director, the greatest band trainer the country's ever seen. He was principal trumpet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra ... The Brigade was lucky in two outstanding conductors. Massa Johnston was a full time professional bandmaster. He had several-Collingwood, Footscray, Police, Fire Brigade [in the 1930s]. Mervyn Simpson was a professional musician. The Fire Brigade was his only band for a while. [Jack McKimm 4.7.88]

The new band made its first public appearance on 26 June 1964. Adrian Franks, who had played solo cornet with the old band, was appointed as a temporary conductor, but an eye operation prevented him from taking initial rehearsals. Mr Mervyn Simpson the well known trumpet player has been conducting

the band in an honorary capacity. Both his vast musical knowledge and conducting ability have greatly impressed officials and members of the band. [Brigade circular c. July 1964]

The Brigade called for volunteers to join the band, in which there was still a number of vacancies. didn't want to play. I was rung up by an officer and more or less ordered to play ... had me on trombone. Then Mery put me on tuba. Jack McKimm brought in Mery Simpson. His sons were students of Merv's. [Laurie Lavelle 28.6.88] I

MFB Bandmaster's

sash

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

234

John Whiteoak joined the Brigade in 1963 and was persuaded by Jack McKimm to join the band. He came from a rather different musical tradition and noted the particular ethos of brass band playing. Jack McKimm sees a close correlation between discipline and regimentation of tone and attack in playing each note ... The power and conservatism of the brass band movement is against improvisation ... Photographs of winning bandsmen look like the men they used in the drill book ... Band competitions ... a per cent of the mark is on disciplined appearance. [John Whiteoak 19.10.88] Laurie Lavelle called Jack McKimm 'the general behind the Band'. and he was responsible for much of the organisation. At first, the Band did not compete but appeared at functions such as Scout Jamborees, Red Cross Parades, Anzac Day and Moomba. By 1965 the Band was ready for a wider stage. In December the members made a recording for the ABC, the first of many, and in February 1966 the Board recommended the official appointment of Mervyn Simpson as Bandmaster. Jack McKimm was Drum Major and Secretary. The pressure to compete was growing and in July 1966 the Band was registered with the Victorian Bands League. It played in its first competition on 16 August. That was the beginning of a staggeringly rapid rise to the top of the band world. The MFB Band won the 'B' grade at Preston, was upgraded almost immediately and came fourth in the 'A' grade at Ballarat in October. In 1967 the Band won the 'A' grade at Moorabbin and the ABC Brass Band Competition. In 1968 it was Victorian 'A' grade champion, and also won the Australian Championship at Tanunda in South Australia. It was the first overseas band ever invited to enter the World Championships in London, and it remained national champion until it was disbanded at the end of 1970. Unlike the band of the 1930s, the new Fire Brigade Band was not composed almost entirely of champion players. Mervyn Simpson's particular genius was to make one of the best brass bands ever to play in Australia out of quite ordinary players, leavened by only a handful of top musicians. Mery got incompetent musos to such a standard ...

I couldn't play at first, but Mery organised the band of 70 per cent incompetents into a

champion band.

John Whiteoak listed seven ways in which this was achieved. Merv's own impeccable playing and the example it set and the respect/ awe /worship; 2 Organised the players to work on the large scale structure, not the surface detail of individuals. If you can't do it, leave it out; 3 Gave the impression that he was aware of every player and every note; would make notes to himself and come back the following week and talk to individuals about what they did wrong; 4 Would analyse each piece to be played; divide it into sections ... would play the individual textures vertically, rather than horizontally 1

THE MFB BAND

235

by player, to see how the parts fitted together; would rehearse that `texture' so the players could hear it; 5 Had a background with the Salvation Army-ideas about the sonority of brass bands related to choral music and breathing and less to the instrumental approach; aiming for deep colour from choral and Salvo music; 6 Mery gave the impression that music was sacred to him. More than just an art-able to transfer some of that. Would always look up when conducting a hymn as if drawing energy and then collapse ... seemed to be drawing on an outside source; had a sort of Eastern philosophy, offering the music as a sacrifice to something; 7 A charismatic person, intense. Used to go purple and foam at the mouth. Looked as if he was being used by something. The most remarkable conductor; could get the performances out of the players on the day. [John Whiteoak 19.10.88]

Mervyn Simpson was clearly a remarkable man who inspired enormous admiration in his players and produced an exceptional

band.

Appendix 2

Board Members

1891

John R. Ballenger

Samuel Mauger Henry Gyles Turner George Anthony Terry

William Keele Henry de C. Kellett Robert Caldwell Anderson William Lee Archer

Governor -in -Council Governor -in-Council Governor -in-Council City of Melbourne Northern Municipalities Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies

Edward Samuel Watson

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

1892

J.E. Rigby

Governor -in -Council

1893

as in 1892

1894

T.J. Davey JP (Terry resigned 11 Jan.) W. Davidson (Rigby resigned 28 May)

City of Melbourne

1895

Archer not returned

Insurance Companies

1896

as in 1895

1897

(replaced Turner)

George Alfred Russell

Charles Salter James Buttle

Governor -in-Council

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

BOARD MEMBERS

237

1898

G.W. Lilley

(Russell resigned March) George Gibb

Chapman (Gibb resigned)

1899

1900

Ballenger Davidson Mauger Davey Keele Kellett

Chapman Salter Buttle 1901

Chapman C.E.

Jarrett

M.A. Ridge

1902

J.G. Allman (Keele resigned July)

Jarrett Ridge

Watson 1903

as in 1902

1904

W.F. Allan (Ridge resigned)

Arthur J. Master

Jarrett

Insurance Companies

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

Government Government Government City of Melbourne Northern Municipalities Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Northern Municipalities

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

1905

as in 1904

1906

Thomas Sanders A.B. Speeding

City of Melbourne

1907

A.A. Locke

Insurance Companies

1908

Frederick T. Hickford (Aikman resigned June)

Northern Municipalities

Insurance Companies

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

238

1909

Government Government Government City of Melbourne Northern Municipalities Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

Ballenger Davidson Mauger

Sanders

Hickford Kellett Locke Speeding Alfred A. Taverner 1910

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

Speeding

Jarrett

Chapman 1911

as in 1910

1912

as in 1911

1913

J.J. Brenan

City of Melbourne

1914

Sir H. Weedon (Brenan deceased)

City of Melbourne

1915

George H. Turton Insurance Companies retired 31.12.14) (Speeding

(Sanders deceased 29.12.12)

Chapman

Jarrett 1916

as in 1915

1917-18

Jas. Mackay

1918-19

Mauger Davidson Mackay Weedon Hickford Kellett

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

Government (Ballenger resigned July 1917)

Jarrett

Chapman Turton

Government Government Government City of Melbourne Northern Municipalities Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

=MI

BOARD MEMBERS

239

1919-20

as in 1918-19

1920-21

Government Hickford 31.12.20 and Municipalities Northern as (retired deceased) Davidson replaced City of Melbourne D. Bell (replaced Weedon deceased) Northern Municipalities A.F. Showers (replaced Hickford retired)

1921-22

as in 1920-21

1922-23

G.R. Anderson

1923-24

as in 1922-23

1924-25

Southern Municipalities F.E. Bellmaine (replaced Kellett deceased 20.6.24)

1925-26

as in 1924-25

1926-27

Henry Rooks (Bellmaine retired)

Insurance Companies 31.12.22) retired (replaced Chapman Insurance Companies J.C. Journeaux 31.12.22) (replaced Turton retired

1927-28 A.C. Westley (Bell resigned)

Southern Municipalities City of Melbourne

Government 1928-29 P.R. Sutherland (Hickford deceased 15.5.29)

1929-30

as in 1928-29

1930-31

C.W. Seabrook

1931-32

A.G. Wales

1932-33

Insurance Companies (Anderson deceased 27.9.30) Southern Municipalities G.H. Robinson (Rooks deceased 18.10.30) (Westley retired 22.4.32) Powell

(Jarrett deceased 12.5.33)

City of Melbourne

Insurance Companies

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

240

1933-34

as in 1932-33

1934-35

as in 1933-34

1935-36

as in 1934-35

1936-37

Government J.L. Murphy (Mauger deceased 26.6.36) Insurance Companies W.K. Fethers Insurance Companies Alan H. Russell (Journeaux and Powell retired 31.12.36)

1937-38

as in 1936-37

1938-39

C.H. Nelson

1939-40

as in 1938-39

1940-41

M.C. Jones

1941-42

1942-43

R.A. Rowe

1943-44

as in 1942-43

1944-45

(Robinson retired 31.12.38)

Northern Municipalities (Showers deceased 8.10.40) Government A.J.L. James (Mackay deceased 7.2.41)

Barry Government (Murphy deceased 17.2.42) Government (Sutherland deceased 26.1.43)

Pettitt

(Seabrook deceased 24.7.44)

W.E. Shannon

(Fethers retired 31.12.44) G.A. Brown (Nelson retired)

1945-46

Southern Municipalities

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Southern Municipalities

as in 1944-45

1946-47 W.A. Fordham (Brown resigned 14.11.46)

Southern Municipalities

BOARD AjlEMBERS

241

Insurance Companies 1947-48 A.W.B. Vance (Russell did not seek re-election) 1948-49

as in 1947-48

1949-50

as in 1948-49

1950-51

Barry

Pettitt Shannon F. Faram

Government Government Government City of Melbourne Northern Municipalities Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

1951-52

A.R. McNab

Nouthern Municipalities

1952-53

as in 1951-52

1953-54

as in 1952-53

James Rowe

Wales

Jones Fordham

(Vance did not nominate)

(Jones deceased 2.10.51)

1954-55 O.J. Nilsen (Wales resigned 9.9.54) G. Wales (Barry resigned 4.55) SFF F.E. Farr

City of Melbourne

Government Employees

1955-56 as in 1954-55

Insurance Companies 1956-57 J.A. McKie re-election) (Shannon did not seek 1957-58

Bassett

Northern Municipalities

Curphey (Wales resigned 4.58)

Government

Taylor (Faram resigned 20.2.59)

Insurance Companies

(McNab deceased 31.7.57)

A.N.

1958-59

K.A.

LIFE UNDEip THE BELLS

242

1959-60 W.L. Floyd Northern Municipalities (Bassett resigned 15.10.59) G.A.C. Wade Government (Rowe did not seek re-election) W. Moffat Insurance Companies (Pettitt did not seek re-election) 1960-61

as in 1959-60

1961-62

as in 1960-61

1962-63

1963-64

as in 1962-63

1964-65

A.F. Bottomley City of Melbourne (Nilsen did not seek re-election)

Turnbull

Northern Municipalities

(Floyd did not seek re-election)

A.W. Knight

Northern Municipalities (Turnbull did not seek re-election)

1965-66

L.E. Griffiths (Taylor retired)

1966-67

as in 1965-66

1967-68

as in 1966-67

1968-69 A.W. Sanger (Knight retired) C.R. Amiet J.C. Mogg (McKie and Moffat retired) 1969-70

J. Moloney

(James retired 31.12.69)

Insurance Companies

Northern Municipalities

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Government

Legislation change: as of 17.6.70 Board consists of E.C.M. Symes A.F. Bottomley E.V. Johnson

J.P. Brebner

L.E. Griffiths C.R. Amiet

Government City of Melbourne Southern Municipalities Northern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

BOARD MEMBERS

243

J.C. Mogg SFF F.E. Farr

Insurance Companies Employees

1970-71

Bottomley and Amiet resigned and were not replaced

1971-72

City of Melbourne Ress Insurance Companies R.J. Webb 4.6.72) (appointed 7.71 deceased

Insurance Companies 1972-73 C.R. Johnson Insurance Companies K.N. Fisk 16.6.73) (replaced Johnson 1973-74 J. Sheridan (Farr retired 17.1.74)

Employees

1974-75 as in 1973-74 Northern Municipalities 1975-76 M.M. Brown (Brebner deceased 30.5.76) Insurance Companies J.F.D. Lush (Griffiths retired 17.6.76) 1976-77

as in 1975-76

1977-78

E.V.

Johnson

(Symes retired 27.5.78)

1978-79 J.L. Bottomley G.W. Fox (replaced Lush) F.R. Thompson (replaced Brown) 1979-80

as in 1978-79

1980-81

Johnson

Government

Southern Municipalities Insurance Companies Northern Municipalities

Government Southern Municipalities Bottomley Insurance Companies Mogg Insurance Companies Fisk Insurance Companies Fox Employees SFF J. Sheridan R. Bernardi replaced Ress but then ceased to be a member of the Board when Parliament replaced

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

244

Melbourne City Council with three commissioners Thompson resigned 1981-82

D.K. Allston P.A. Fennell S.J. McGee D.H. Roos (Mogg and Fox retired) I.F. Johns

(Sheridan retired)

1982-83

Northern Municipalities Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Employees

J.G.M. Moffatt City of Melbourne (re-establishment of Melbourne City Council) Johnson's term expired 25.5.83

1983-84 J.C. Hughes 1984-85

City of Melbourne

Supt

Hubbard

1985-86 T. Huggard (Moffatt until July 1985) V.R. Michael (Fennell until July 1985) C.R. Doherty R.G. Pearce

Government Employees City of Melbourne

Northern Municipalities

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies

1986-87

J.B. Parry

Government

1987-88

B. Rudzki W.L. Digby

Municipal Representative

J.D. Sutherland T. Sammells 1988-89

C.E. Caldwell D.O.J. Pollock

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Treasurer's Nominee

Treasurer's Nominee Employees

Appendix 3

Presidents

1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916

1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924

E.S. Watson E.S. Watson E.S. Watson

R.C. Anderson

Major J.R. Ballenger

Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Insurance Companies Government

Municipalities Municipalities T.J. Davey Insurance Companies C. Salter Government Hon. S. Mauger Insurance Companies G. Chapman Government W. Davidson Insurance Companies M.A. Ridge Insurance Companies M.A. Ridge Insurance Companies C.E. Jarrett Municipalities Hon. J.G. Aikman, MLC Municipalities Hon. J.G. Aikman, MLC Municipalities Hon. J.G. Aikman, MLC Insurance Companies W.F. Allan Municipalities T. Sanders Government Hon. S. Mauger Insurance Companies A.B. Speeding Municipalities F.T. Hickford Government W. Davidson Insurance Companies G. Chapman Municipalities Sir H. de C. Kellett, Bart Insurance Companies C.E. Jarrett Government { Col. J.R. Ballenger (retired July) Insurance Companies C.E. Jarrett Municipalities Sir H. Weedon, Knt Government Hon. S. Mauger Insurance Companies G.H. Turton Government J. Mackay Insurance Companies G. Chapman Municipalities A.F. Showers Government Hon. S. Mauger W. Keele

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

246

1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

Insurance Companies Municipalities Government J.C. Journeaux Insurance Companies Municipalities A.F. Showers A.F. Showers Municipalities J. Mackay Government C.E. Jarrett Insurance Companies G.H. Robinson Municipalities Hon. S. Mauger Government C.W. Seabrook Insurance Companies Hon. A.G. Wales, MLC Municipalities P.R. Sutherland Government A.H. Russell Insurance Companies A.F. Showers Municipalities { A.F. Showers (died October) Municipalities A.H. Russell Insurance Companies J.L. Murphy, MLA Government Col. W.K. Fethers Insurance Companies C.H. Nelson Municipalities A.J.L. James Government A.H. Russell Insurance Companies M.C. Jones Municipalities L. Pettitt Insurance Companies W.P. Barry Government G. Wales Municipalities G. Wales Municipalities A.J.L. James Government W.E. Shannon Insurance Companies W.A. Fordham Municipalities R.A. Rowe Government L. Pettitt Insurance Companies F. Faram Insurance Companies W.A. Fordham Municipalities W.A. Fordham Municipalities W.A. Fordham Municipalities W.A. Fordham Municipalities W.A. Fordham Municipalities A.J.L. James Government A.J.L. James Government A.J.L. James Government A.J.L. James Government W. Moffat Insurance Companies G.A.C. Wade Government G.A.C. Wade Government A.F. Bottomley Municipalities A.F. Bottomley Municipalities E.C.M. Symes (full time 17.6.70) Government E.C.M. Symes Government E.C.M. Symes Government E.C.M. Symes Government E.C.M. Symes Government E.C.M. Symes Government G.R. Anderson D. Bell F.T. Hickford

PRESIDENTS

247

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

E.C.M. Symes E.C.M. Symes E.V. E.V. E.V. E.V. E.V. E.V.

J.C. J.C. J.C. J.B. J.B. J.B.

Johnson Johnson Johnson Johnson Johnson Johnson Hughes Hughes Hughes Parry Parry Parry-

Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government Government

Appendix 4

Board Officers

Secretaries 1891-96 1897-1914 1914-41 1941-70 1970-81 1981-84 1984-87

J.H. Scattergood F.J. Gomm

J. Dudley F.A. Johns

H.E. Mullen A.F. Rowden G.P. Mak

Directors of Administration 1987-

G.W. Blair

Directors of Finance 1987-88 1988-

A.T. Swindell

R.J. Nicholls

Directors of Employee Relations 1987-88 1988-

R.V. Pasquill R.H. Reynolds

Appendix 5 Chief Fire Officers

1891-1908 1908-27 1927-40 1940-46 1946-58 1958-63 1963-70 1970-74 1974-79 1979-81 1981-88 1988-

D.J. Stein H.B. Lee

J.T. Wilkins J. Kemp L.P. Whitehead W.T. Aldridge

J. Paterson F.E. Tueno

N.E. Van Every E. Osborne L.G. Lavelle

J.R. Godfredson

Appendix 6

Deputy Chief Fire Officers

1891-1894 1894-1900 1900-06 1906-08 1908-27 1927-40 1940-44 1944-46 1946-53 1953-58 1958-63 1963-70 1970-74 1974-77 1977-79 1979-81 1981-86 1986-

A. McDowall W. O'Brien

A.E. Moorman H.B. Lee

J.T. Wilkins

J. Kemp

J.L. Meehan L.P. Whitehead L.

Paterson

W.T. Aldridge

J. Paterson

F.E. Tueno N.E. Van Every H.J. Steel E. Osborne L.G. Lavelle T.F.H. Williamson A.V.

Richards

Appendix 7 Union Secretaries

1911-12 1912-16 1916-36 1936-40 1940-45 1945-48 1948-51 1951-75 1975-79 1979-82 1982-88 1988-

G. Tuck W. Friend

J.L. Murphy P.O. Hanlon H.M. Cremean J.L. Cremean G.L. Jones W.M. Webber

J.R. Cameron L. Hubbard F.C. Churchill K.W. Whelan

Sources for chapter

Books Barnard, F.G.A., The Jubilee History of Kew, Victoria, E.F.G. Hodges, `Mercury' Office, Kew, 1910. Barrett, Bernard, The Inner Suburbs, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1971. Bate, Weston, A History of Brighton, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1962. Bate, Weston (ed.), Liardet's Water-Colours of Early Melbourne. Introduction and captions by Susan Adams, Melbourne University Press on behalf of the Library Council of Victoria, Melbourne, 1972. Blainey, Geoffrey, A History of Camberwell, The Jacaranda Press, Melbourne, 1964. Blackstone, G.V., A History of the British Fire Service, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1957. Burchett, Winston Harold, East Melbourne, Craftsman Press, Hawthorn,

1978. Carroll, Brian, & Ian Rule, Preston: An Illustrated History, City of Preston, Preston, 1985. Carroll, Lindsay, Held Covered, Victoria Insurance Company Limited 1849-1949, Victoria Insurance Company, Melbourne, 1949. Cooper, John Butler, The History of Malvern, Melbourne, 1935. Cooper, John Butler, The History of Prahran, Modern Printing Co. Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1924. Daley, Charles, The History of South Melbourne, Robertson & Mullens, Melbourne, 1940. Ditzel, Paul C., Fire Engines, Firefighters, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1976. Elsum, William H., The History of Williamstown, The City of Williamstown, Williamstown, 1934. Evans, Wilson P., Port of Many Prows, The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1969. Garryowen, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835-1852, first pub. 1888, Melbourne Heritage Publications, Melbourne, 1976. Green -Hughes, E., A History of Firefighting, Moorland Publishing, Ashbourne, 1979. Haldane, Robert, The People's Force, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986. Ingram, Arthur, A History of Firefighting and Equipment, New English Library, London, 1978.

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253

Lemon, Andrew, The Northcote Side of the River, Hargreen Publishing Co., Melbourne, 1983. McCosker, M.J., The Historical Collection of the Insurance Company of North America, Insurance Company of North America, New York, 1945. McWilliam, Gwen. Hawthorn Peppercorns, 1978. Mauger, Hon. Samuel, The Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria, Australia, Melbourne, 1934. Priestley, Susan, The Victorians: Making Their Mark, Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, Melbourne, 1984. Serle, Geoffrey, The Golden Age, A History of the Colony of Victoria 1851-1861, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1977. U'Ren Nancy & Noel Turnbull, A History of Port Melbourne, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983.

Articles

Chitty, A., 'Fire Insurance Offices and Fire Marks', Victorian Historical Magazine (hereafter VHM), Vol. VIII, Nos 3 and 4, December 1921. Dale, Col. Percival, 'Hon. Samuel Mauger (1857-1936) A Great Humanitarian', VHM, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, June 1955, pp. 139-52. Davison, Graeme, 'Public Utilities and the Expansion of Melbourne in the 1880s', in J.W. McCarty & C.B. Schedvin, Australian Capital Cities, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1978. Gross, Alan, The History of Melbourne Fire Fighting', VHM, Vol. )00U, No. 6, August 1960, pp. 50-62. Lack, John, Working -Class Leisure', Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 49, 1978, pp. 49-65. Mettingley, Albert, The Early History of North Melbourne', VHM, Vol. V, 1916-17, pp. 80-92, 97-107. Ross, Rev. C. Stuart, 'Two American Types that left their Stamp on Victorian History', VHM, Vol. VII, No. 3, July 1919, pp. 126-34. Shaw, E.D, 'The Early History of the Melbourne Fire Brigade', VHM, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, April 1940, pp. 39-56. Turner, Ian, The Growth of Melbourne', in J.W. McCarty & C.B. Schedvin, Australian Capital Cities, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1978. Wright, Arthur J., 'Fires and Fire Brigades', Australian Insurance and Banking Record, 10 January 1881.

Periodicals Australasian Fireman My Note Book

Port Phillip Gazette Port Phillip Herald Port Phillip Patriot The Age The Melbourne Argus

Parliamentary Papers

`Report of the Select Committee Upon the Fire Brigade System', Victorian Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 1, 1885 `Report of the Royal Sanitary Commission', Victorian Parliamentary Papers, 1889

Documents

United Breweries, Illuminated Address to Captain Christopher Gee, CUB Library William Ingram papers, Royal Historical Society Ms 000414 Box 123/15 Insurance Companies' Brigade, Annual Reports 1889-91, MFB Training College Library London Fire Brigade, personnel records 1866-1903, London Fire Museum Barbara McCumisky Collection Melbourne Fire & Marine Insurance Company Journal, Royal Historical Society Ms 000524 SN36

Carlton

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

254

O'Hara, M., 'History of Carlton and United Breweries Limited', 1958, CUB Library Pat Traviston Collection Victoria Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Minutes of Directors' Meetings, Vol. 1, Melbourne University Archives Volunteer Engine Company No. 1, Minutes of Meetings found among the papers of Freeman Cobb by E.M. Lovell -Smith, State Library of Victoria, Lovell -Smith Papers

White, J.U., 'Richmond Fire Brigades from 1855,' typescript MFB Training College Library

Interviews Bill Cooke 28.2.85

Bill Seabrook 16.4.85

Jean Steel 24.6.85

Olive White 17.4.85

Recorded by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson

Sources for chapter 2 Books Blackstone, G.V., A History of the British Fire Service, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1957. Ditzel, Paul C., Fire Engines, Firefighters, Crown Publishers Inc., New York,

1976. Green -Hughes, E., A History of Firefighting, Moorland Publishing, Ashbourne, 1979. Ingram, Arthur, A History of Firefighting and Equipment, New English Library, London, 1978. V., Helmets and Hatchets: A History of the Hobart Fire Brigade 1883-1983, State Fire Commission, Hobart, 1983. Page, Michael, Muscle and Pluck For Ever, South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, Adelaide, 1983.

Articles

Millington, Bob, 'Dame Nellie's car won't go for a song', The Age 21.10.88

Periodicals Annual Reports of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board The Age The Argus The Weekly Times

Documents

Fire Record Book and Index 1883-91, Melbourne Fire Museum the period 1901-03, MMBW archives

MMBW Engineer -in -Chief's Report for

Newspaper cuttings 1908-15, Melbourne Fire Museum Steel, H.J., Drill Book 1934, Melbourne Fire Museum

Interviews Alan Cole 19.4.85 Bill Cooke 28.2.85 Ray Godfredson 17.6.85 Jack McKimm 28.2.85 Harry Newport 1.3.85 Walter Smyth 26.7.85 Bill Woolhouse 19.4.85

Record by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson Harry Newport 10.8.88

INFORMATION SOURCES

255

Walter Smyth 15.7.88 Bill Webber 18.7.88 Recorded by Sally Wilde Tape made by Henry Pearce, copy courtesy of L. Gray

Sources for chapter 3 Books Anderson, Hugh, Ringwood, Place of Many Eagles, Red Rooster Press, Melbourne, 1974.

Articles

Bayley, B. & B. McCumisky, Did You Know That Head Station Was Never Built?', MFB News Review, Vol. 1, No. 3, December 1979. Sheridan, Jack, 'Altona's P.P. Firemen', Wordback, Vol. 1, No. 5, November 1982.

Periodicals

Annual Reports of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board Australasian Builder & Contractors' News Building and Engineering Journal Firemark Melbourne Fire Brigade News Review The Age The Argus The Herald Sun News -Pictorial Wordback

Documents Buchanan, Marilyn, Station Data, Training College Library Doubleday, Warren, Station Dates; National Trust Notes on Station Buildings

Johns, F.A., Eastern Hill Fire Station, typescript 1956, Training College Library

Barbara McCumisky collection McLean, Jack, Fire Brigades in Box Hill and Surrey Hills, typescript 1988 MFB Archives, Box 5/1/2: Station Correspondence MFB Archives, Box 5/1/3: Closed stations MFB Board, Minutes and Notice Papers, 1915, Melbourne Fire Museum MFB Board, pencil -written minutes, October 1917 -June 1925, Melbourne Fire Museum List of stations c. 1910, Alan Richards collection Calls Attended books for: No. 49 Kensington, 1909-22, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 19 Kew, 1909-33, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 41 Port Melbourne, 1910-25, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 37 St Kilda, 1938-42, St Kilda Fire Station No. 38 South Melbourne, 1909-22, Melbourne Fire Museum

Occurrence Books for: No. 23 Camberwell, July -November 1928, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 26 Croydon, June-December 1931, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 1 Eastern Hill, August-September 1926, Melbourne Fire Museum No. 9 North Fitzroy, January-April 1945, MFB Archives No. 48 North Melbourne, March-May 1947, Melbourne Fire No. 37 St Kilda, June -October 1951, St Kilda Fire Station

Museum

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

256

No. 44 No. 44

Sunshine, July 1929 -January 1930, Melbourne Fire Museum Sunshine, November 1934-March 1935, MFB Archives

Report Books for: District `E', 1908-14, 1914-17, 1929-30, 1935-37, Melbourne Fire Museum Interviews Bill Cooke 28.2.85 Jack McKimm 21.3.85 Stan McNamee 29.3.85 Bert Manning 7.3.85

Harry Newport 1.3.85 Walter Smyth 26.7.85 Jack Steel 24.6.85 Charles White 17.4.85 Bill Woolhouse 19.4.85 Recorded by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson Bill McCurdy 15.3.89 Walter Smyth 15.7.88 Recorded by Sally Wilde

Sources for chapter 4 Books Mauger, Hon. Samuel, The Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria, Australia, Melbourne, 1934.

Articles Dale, Col. Percival, 'Hon. Samuel

(1857-1936) A Great Humanitarian.' VHM, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, June 1955, pp. 139-52. Donovan, Frank, 'From the Past', Wordback March 1983.

`Men of Legends', MFB News Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, December 1974. McCumisky, Barbara, 'A Firefighter named McKimm', MFB News Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, June 1978.

Periodicals Annual Reports of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board MFB News Review The Age The Argus The Herald

Wordback

Documents General Orders, Numbers 1-281, Melbourne Fire Museum Griff, Bill, 'My Biography', typescript MFB Training College Library Gross, Alan, 'Fire -fighting in Melbourne', typescript MFB Training College Library Minute Book, MFB Mess, Eastern Hill, March 1911 -September 1949, Melbourne Fire Museum Minutes and Notice Papers MFB Board, 1915, Melbourne Fire Museum Minutes of Plant and Buildings and Finance Committees, November 1917 -March 1927, Melbourne Fire Museum Minutes of MFB Board, 1920s and 1930s, MFB Archives Minutes of Plant and Buildings and Finance Committees, 1920s and 1930s, MFB Archives Reports of Chief Officer to Plant and Buildings Committee, 28.11.07-29.4.15, Melbourne Fire Museum Secretary's Letter Book, 9.5.1891-24.7.1893, Melbourne Fire Museum

INFORMATION SOURCES

257

Secretary's Outward Correspondence, January-July 1920, Melbourne Fire Museum Personnel Records 1905-13, MFB Archives J.T. Wilkins' Letter Book, May 1921 -April 1931, Melbourne Fire Museum

Interviews

Alan Coles 2.4.85 Bill Cooke 28.2.85 Ray Godfredson 17.6.85 Frank Johns 22.3.85 Stan McNamee 29.3.85 Harrie Newport 1.3.85 Jim Parish 28.3.85 Duffy Plummer 9.3.85 May Richards 26.6.85 Bill Seabrook 16.4.85 Jack Steel 24.6.85 Gladys Tueno 11.6.85 Charlie White 17.4.85 Recorded by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson Mary Barrett and Rene Easton 5.5.88 Lawrence Bottomley 22.7.88 Wally Lambert (telephone) 7.12.89 Marjorie Leonard and Ray Godfredson 14.9.88

Jack McKimm 4.7.88

Harrie Newport 10.8.88 Walter Smyth 15.7.88 Recorded by Sally Wilde

Sources for chapter 5 Books Turner, Ian

Sandercock, In Union is Strength. Unions in Australia 1788-1983, Nelson, 1986. & Leonie

History of Trade

Periodicals MFB News Review The Age

The Argus The Herald The President Reports The Sun UFU Circular to Members

Documents

Chief Officer, Disciplinary Hearings 1955-60, Melbourne Fire Museum Committee of Enquiry re MFB, Chief Secretary's Papers, Department of Police and Emergency Services Records Firefighters' Wages Board, Minutes, Victorian Public Records Office Firefighters' Wages Board, Appeals, VPRS Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board, Report of Committee of Enquiry, December 1968, MFB Archives Minutes of MFB Board, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, MFB Archives Minutes of Plant and Buildings and Finance Committees, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, MFB Archives Petzall, Stanley B., The Political and Industrial Role of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council 1922-1949', PhD thesis, La Trobe University, 1978 Press Button Dispute 1950, Correspondence and Papers, MFB Archives Press Button Dispute, record of proceedings before Mr R. H. Beers, Arbiter, commencing 23 October 1950, MFB Archives

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

258

Trades Hall Council, Executive Committee Minutes, Melbourne University Archives United Firemen's Union of Victoria, Correspondence and Minute Books, Melbourne University Archives United Firemen's Union of Victoria and Professional Fire Brigade Officers' Association, Chief Secretary's Papers, Department of Police and Emergency Services Records

Interviews Alan Cole 2.4.85 Alan Davidson 7.5.85 Frank Johns 22.3.85 Bert Manning 7.3.85 Jack McKimm 28.2.85, 21.3.85 Stan McNamee 29.3.85 Duffy Plummer 9.3.85

Ern Tamme 18.6.85 Mrs R. Tanner 18.6.85 Gladys Tueno 11.6.85 Bill Webber 29.7.85 Mrs Wilson 16.6.85 Recorded by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson Peter Holton 2.5.88 Len Hubbard 29.4.88 Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88 Ern Osborne 8.6.89 Ron Pasquill 30.3.89 Jock Pollock 24.7.89 Alan Richards 26.4.89 Bill Webber 18.7.88 John Whiteoak 19.10.88 Neville Van Every 17.6.88 Shirley Van Every 25.4.89 Recorded by Sally Wilde

Sources for chapter 6 Books Ditzel, Paul C., Fire Engines, Firefighters, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1976.

Periodicals Annual Reports of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board Fire Mark From the Board Room MFB News Review The Age The Australian Firefighter The Herald The Institution of Fire Engineers: Jubilee Report The President Reports The Sun

Documents Fire Reports, MFB Archives Gross, Alan, 'Firefighting in Melbourne', typescript MFB Training College Library Marjorie Leonard collection of documents and press cuttings MFB Board Minutes, MFB Archives Ern Osborne collection of documents and press cuttings

INFORMATION SOURCES

259

Report from the Hazardous Material Steering Committee, June 1987, MFB Archives `Report of Overseas Visit of Chief Harrie B. Lee, 1923', Melbourne Fire Museum The Development of First Response Appliances Pumpers (Hose Carriages) 1958-1985', MFB Workshops UFU and Board correspondence, MFB Archives Working Paper of the Project Team on Hazardous Material Handling in Emergency Situations, 15 August 1985, MFB Archives

Interviews

George Niblett 23.4.85, 9.5.85 Recorded by Katie Holmes and Alistair Thomson Lou Barbuto, Lance Deluca, Keith Farmer, Jim Forrest and Bruce Kendall 18.4.89 Brian Butler 6.5.88 Don Cameron 5.6.89 Jeff Godfredson 2.6.89 Len Hubbard 29.4.89 Maurie Kean 26.4.89 Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88, 28.6.88, 19.7.88 Albert Lindner 18.4.89 Rick Merrin 29.5.89 Ern Osborne 8.6.89 Brian Parry 16.6.89 Geof Patman 1.6.89 Ron Pasquill 30.3.89 Neville and Shirley Van Every 7.6.88, 13.6.89 Bill Webber 18.7.88 Recorded by Sally Wilde

Sources for chapter 7 Books Nassau, Peter updates.

Derek Hendry, Building Control in Australia inc. 1989

Articles

Frost, L.E. & E.L. Jones, The Fire gap and the Greater Durability of Nineteenth -Century Cities', Planning Perspectives, Vol. 4. 1989, pp. 333-470. Kennedy, Ian, The Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board and Its Special

Services', Fire World. Knowles, Rod, 'Fire Protection Industry Vultures Buzz Melbourne's FES', The Australian Firefighter, March 1988. Marryatt, Harry, '100 Years of Automatic Sprinkler Performance in Australia and New Zealand 1886-1986', Proceedings of Eleventh Australian National Conference on Fire, 16-18 September 1987. `Melbourne Makes Fire Prevention Pay', National Fire Prevention Association Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2, October 1944.

Periodicals From the Board Room MFB Board Annual Reports The Age The Herald The Sun

Documents

Band files, MFB Archives

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

260

Bushfire Review Committee, Chairman S.I. Miller, Chief Commissioner of Police, 'Victoria: Report of the Bushfire Review Committee', April 1984 Sam Capes collection, newspaper cuttings Extinguisher files, MFB Archives FES records, FES Fire Investigation Committee, Co-ordinator Deputy Chief Officer B. Potter, `Report of Fires Originating on Wednesday 16th February 1983', CFA Metcom Automatic Alarm Monitoring and Computer Aided Despatch System files, MFB Archives MFB Board Minutes, MFB Archives MFB Board, 'Strategic Location of Fire Suppression Resources', April 1987 MFB Board, Strategy Plan Consultancy Brief, 1986 Mt Eliza Consulting Group, W.A. Purdue & K.E. Davis, `MFB Board, Report on Corporate Planning 1988-1992', 28 January 1988 Ern Osborne collection, documents and newspaper cuttings Outside Drills files, MFB Archives Public Service Board of Victoria, Ministry for Police and Emergency Services, 'Proposed Organisation and Funding Arrangements for Fire and Emergency Services in Victoria', November 1983 Special Service Files, MFB Archives

Interviews Keith Adamson 6.5.88 Brian Butler 6.5.88 Don Cameron 5.6.89 Jim Dance 7.8.89 Ken Dyster 19.7.89

Andrew Forbes 19.7.89 Jeff Godfredson 27.6.89 Alan Griffin 8.8.89 Peter Holton 11.8.89 Terry Hunter 10.7.89 Ian Kennedy 19.7.89 Laurie Lavelle 22.6.88, 28.6.88 Peter McEwan 3.8.89 Jack McKimm 4.7.88 Harrie Newport 10.8.88 Dave Nicholson 3.8.89 Ern Osborne 8.6.89 Brian Parry 16.6.89 Alan Richards 3.8.89 Jack Sheridan (telephone) 29.8.89 Erne Tamme 15.8.89 Allan Thompson 31.7.89 Neville Van Every 13.6.89 Kevin Whelan 15.8.89

John Whiteoak 19.10.88

Tom Williamson 11.8.89 Bob Wright 14.8.89 Recorded by Sally Wilde

accommodation in early years, 32, (photo) 33, 116

at Eastern Hill, 79, 126, (photo) 126

in First World War period, 123-4 in Second War period, 143, 148 Adams, G., 179 Adamson, K., 216, 220 Albion Fire Brigade, (photo) 15 Aldridge, W.T., 158, 160-1 Admad warehouse fire, 216 Appeals Tribunal, 151 appliances in early years, 32, 77 first covered -in, 73 in First World War and after, 72 in Second World War and after, 144, 170-4, 187 see also fire engines; hose carriages; ladders; pump, snorkels; water tankers

Ballenger, J.R., 30, 113, 120 Band, the Fire Brigade, 78, 134, (photo) 135, 152, 206-7, 233-5 Barrett, L., 135 bells replaced on appliances, 184 Blair, G.W., 230 Board see Metropolitan Fire Brigades' Board boxing, 130-1

breathing apparatus compressed air, 176-7

Draeger, 177 early use of, 67, (photo) 72 positive pressure (Auer), 177 Proto, 175, (photo) 180

Salvus, 175 Brigade Christmas cake, (photo) 124 Brigade school, 120 Brigade Valour Medal awards Draper, T., 175 Griffiths, W., 88 Scott, F.W., 181-2 Stirling, A., 181-2 Webb, L.W., 83 Brighton Fire Brigade, 17, (photo) 18 Bronco Watson's MFB

Serenaders,

(photo) 122

building collapse, 53-4, 65, 7980, 83, 88-9 building regulations, 211, 214, 216 Bunn, H., 96-9, 103 bushfires, 172, 179, (photo) 188 see also grass fires Butler, B., 186, 226-7 Butler's Transport Depot fire, 190

Cameron, D., 196 Carey, R., (photo) 188 charity fundraising, 119, 125, 129 Chief Officers, 112-37 restriction of powers, 164

list of, 249 see also under individual names Chipman Report, 163 Cobb, F., 9, 10

Cole, A., 66-7, 71

command at fires, 12-13, 21, 23-4 Communications Centre, 226-8, (photo) 228

computer aided despatch system, 225-8 computer use in MFB, 227 Control Centre, 224 Cooke, F., 88-9, 120, 136 Cooke, W., ix, 52-3, 68, 94 Cornwall Fire Insurance Company, 4-6, (photo) 5, 10

Corporate Plan, 231-2 Cremean, H., 141, 146 Cremean, J., 146, 149 Crews, J.B., (photo) 13 Cronin, G., 183 Dalton, J., 6-7, 11-12 Dance, J., 219, 228-9 Davidson, A., 143, 146 deaths in fires, civilian in Brooks Building (1962), 214 Clapp (1854), 9 Lett (1935), 83 Murrell (1934), 95-6 Symes (1935), 86 William Booth Hostel (1966), 181

Williams (1889), 24 deaths in fires, firefighters' see firefighters' deaths on

duty demonstrations, competitive,

19-22, (illus.) 20, (illus.) 22

Deputy Chief Officers, list of, 250 discipline postwar (1945), 144 under Aldridge, 158-9 under Stein, 116-7 under Whitehead, 150-1 under Wilkins, 136-7 districts, 80-111 'A', 81-4 'B', 84-9

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

262

89-93

-D', 93-6

96-9

-F', 100-4

104-8

list of stations (1910), 108-11

Donovan, F., 131 Draper, T., 132, 175 drills horse rescue, (photo) 86 hose, 52-3 outside', 219-20 Wednesday, 79, 195

Easton, R., 135 Electrical Department, 46-7, (photos) 48-9 Emergency Services

Superannuation

Scheme, 232 examinations, 120, 159, 161, 196-8

false alarm, 44, 50-1, 223 family life, ix, 122, 124-8, 206 finance, 8, 11, 13, 21, 123-4, 169, 229-31 fire alarms early, 27, 44-5 false, 44, 50-1, 223 in 1926, 49 private, 45 sprinkler, 45-6 street, 45-6, (photo) 47, 223 telephone, 45-6 testing on bicycle, 78 Fire Brigades Act early moves for, 20-1 passed in Parliament, 24

subsequent amendments to, 164

Fire Brigade Band see Band, the Fire Brigade Fire Brigade Employes Union of Vic., banner, (photos) 144-5 fire brigades in Melbourne first, 5 in Fitzroy, 81 insurance companies, 11, 21 municipal, 21 volunteers, 10-13 see also volunteer fire brigades; Insurance Companies Brigade, Combined fire cover, 80-1, 86-7, 92, 101, 166-7, 228-9 fire engines -Australia Felix', 7, 10 chemical, 62, (photo) 65, (photo) 66 Cornwall, 4-7, 11 -Deluge', 12 Hotchkiss, 42-3 Langland, 7

manual, 4-7 Menyweather chemical, (photo) 66

motor pumps, 61 motorised, 38-9 'Neptune', 12 Shand -Mason steamer (1910), (photo) 58

Shand -Mason steamer -Lady

Benjamin', 24, 57, (photos) 25, 55 steam, 25-6, 57, (photo) 59 steam Italia', (photo) 44 Waterous petrol, (photo) 38, 89 see also appliances; hose carriages; pumps Fire Equipment Services, 21819

see also Special Services Department fire extinguishers, 62, 64 fire hydrants, 14-15 fire loss low in Melbourne, 21012

fire plugs, 14-16 fire prevention, 73, 219-22, (photo) 221 fire protection, 210-16 fire stations, 76-111 daily routine, 78, 81-2 early design, 84

Eastern Hill, 76-80

list of, in 1910, 108-11 original head station, 31, (photo) 31, 76

photos: Abbotsford, 85; Altona, 101; Caulfield, 95; Coburg, 50, 84; Croydon, 93; Glenhuntly, 95; Hawthorn, 90; Kensington, 107; Nth Fitzroy, 82; Nth Melb.,

105-6; Northcote, 88; Prahran, 39; Richmond, 87; Ringwood, 92; St Kilda, 97; Sth Melb., 99; Sunshine, 103; Surrey Hills, 91; Williamstown, 104; Windsor, 94; Yarraville, 102 Firecom, 225-8 firefighters, partially paid, 81, 87, 92, 101, 108, 152 firefighters' deaths on duty Adams, G. (1968), 179 Box, J. (1889), 24 Cooke, F. (1940), 88-9 Fox, J. (1889), 24 Gee, C. (1895) (first MFB), 79 Holness, F. (1925), 79-80 Jamieson, E (1968), 179 Johnson, E (1889), 24

Laite, T. (1889), 24 Lindsey, G.L. (1936), 121 McCurdy, W. (1935), 83 McLeod, J. (1889), 24 Parsons, Capt. (1889), 24 Smith, W. (1945), 175 Wright, M. (1940), 88-9 firefighting, 52-73

firemarks, 7, (photos) 5, 7 fires in Melbourne 1838, first, 3, (illus.) 4 1845, Condell's Brewery, 4-5 1889, Bijou Theatre, 24, (illus.) 26 1889, George & George Store, 24 1897, -Block' - Craig Williamsons & Fink's Building, 54-8, (illus.) 55, 114, 210-11 1909, Williamstown, 60, (photo) 60 1922, Friedman's Building, (photo) 69 1922, Spotswood oil depot, 100 1925, Lincoln Knitting Mills,

83-4

1929, Paynes -Bon Marche' Store, 65, 67, (photo) 70 1932, Shell depot, Newport, 100 1933, Graves Timber Mill, 85 1934, stables (Garryowen), 95 1937, Victoria Dock stores,

69-72

1940, Australia Paper Mills

store, 88

1962, George Hotel, (photo)

213

1962, Box Hill Gasworks, 178 1966, William Booth Hostel, 176, (photo) 181 1967, chemical warehouse, (photo) 193 1976, Amad warehouse, 216 1985, Butler's Transport Depot, 190 1986, Invicta Carpets, (photos) 192 1988, United Transport Depot, 190-3, (photos) 200-1 & 204-5 & 208 1989, Fleur Furnishings, (photos) 224-5 foam, 101, 178, (photo) 184 football, 131-2, 134

Forbes, A., 219

INDEX

263

Freemasons, 118, 121, 129, 206 Friday display at Eastern Hill, 78, 120, 194

fundraising see charity fundraising Garryowen's death in stable fire, 95-6 Gee, C., 79

Godfredson, J.R., 203, 219, 220-2, 232 Godfredson, R., 53-4, 130-1,

(photo) 131 gold rush, 8-9 grass fires, 86, 91, 108, 166-8, (photo) 168, (fig.) 168, 174,

222

Griff, W.A., 119 Griffin, A., 229-30, 232 Griffiths, W., 88 gym team, 132, (photo) 133, 152, 207

Hall, J.C., 10 Hawthorn Fire Brigade, (photo) 17

hazardous materials, 177-8,

change to 10-14 system, 1645

continuous duty vs platoon, 148-52 during Second World War, 143

early years, 32, 78, 115, 121 in 1922, 123 for officers, 160 for special service firemen, 74, 217 Hughes, J.C., 230 Hunter, J., 228 Hunter, T., 220

industrial relations, 121-3, 141 65, 221-2

Institution of Fire Engineers, 196-8

insurance companies

early involvement in firefighting, 4-8, 11-13, 20-4 Insurance Companies Brigade, Combined, 11, (photo) 11, 20-1, 24, 31

Jamieson, E., 179 187-93 Johns, F., 127, 137, 142, 146, Hoad, Supt, 16, 20-2 151, 164 Holness, F., 79-80 Johnsion, E.V., 226, 228-9 Holton, P., 159 horses and firefighting, 33-5, 40 Johnston, Massa', 134, (photo) 135, 233 (photos) 34-6 & 65 hose, 16, 179 Kean, M., 169, 170-1 hose carriages Kellett, H. de C., 30, 113 Albion, 62, 169-70, (photo) Kemp, J., 120, 141 172 King, R., 98 first closed, 170 first seated, 62, (photo) 172 ladders first closed, 170 curricle, (photo) 36 first seated, 62, (photo) 64 Hayes, 64 first water -carrying, 171 Leyland -Metz, (photo) 71 Hotchkiss, 42-3, (photo) 45, Magirus-Deutz, 174, (photo) 92 61, (photo) 180 International (Mk 1), (photo) Merryweather combination, 173 (photo) 39, International ACCO, 184 65, (photos) 67-8 Merryweather combination, combination, (photo) Morris 65, 173 (photos) 39 & 67 Morris Magirus, 65 (photo) Mk 3 pumper, 186 70. Morris, (photo) 73 Magirus Morris (photo) Morris Commercial, (photos) 41-2 169, 170 new chassis for old turntable, see also appliances; fire 174 engines electric, 65, (photo) 70 petrol hose drill, 52-3 pompier, 194 hose reels, 32, 40 Shand Mason, 64, (photo) 66 first motorised, 38 wooden, (photo) 177 hours of work W., 130 Lambert, campaign to increase, 160, 162

Lavelle, L.G., 159, 181, 198,

203, 207, 220, 232-4 Lee, H.B., 41-2, 47-8, 59-61, 73-4, 114 119-28, (illus.) 128, 198-9, 212 Leonard, J., (photo) 122 Leonard, W., 52, 125, 200, 202 life insurance, compulsory, 11819

Lindsey, G.L., 42, (photo) 48, 120-1, (photo) 122 McCurdy, W. & Sons, 83, 87 McEwan, P., 224 McKimm, J., 53-4, 67, 83, 121, 134, 141-2, 151, 162, 206-7, 2334 McNamee, S., 106, 108, 132 Manning, B., 88, 141, 156, 161, 163, 175, 214 manpower, 32, 72-4, 117, 120, 148, 167, 194 Mather, T.W., 75, 217 Mauger, G., 74, 120 Mauger, S., 16, 23, 30, 113-15, (photo) 113, 120, 197 Melbourne Fire and Marine

Insurance

Company, 3-4 Melbourne Fire Prevention Society, 5 mess room, 133-4 Metropolitan Fire Brigades Association, 21, 23 Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board change in structure, 164 committees, 115 first meeting, 30-1 industrial relations, 123, 141-65 list of members, 236-44 list of officers, 248 Moor, H., 5-6 Moss, S., 9-10 motor vehicles effect on Brigade, 39 first in Brigade, 37-8, (photo) 37 outside Eastern Hill, (photo) 40 and speed, 42-3 motorisation, 37-42

National Command Course, 203 Newport, H., 49, 90, 117, 127-8, 136-7, 217

LIFE UNDER THE BELLS

264

Niblett, G., 42-3, 73, 169-70, 171, 174, 186

North Fitzroy Volunteers, (photo) 19

O'Brien, W., 79, 114 Once a Year Club', 207, (photo) 209 Osborne, E., 159, 187, 194, 214-15, 225 overseas visits by officers, 198200, 203

Parish, J., 125-6, 142 Parry, J.B., 191, 221, 227, 2302

Pasquill, R., 161, 202 Paterson, J., 161-4, 174, 178-9, (photo) 185, 195 Paterson, L. Banjo', 130, 132, 136, 153-4 payment, see wages Pearce, H., wages Pearce, H., 51-2 pension scheme, see

superannuation

Plummer, Duffy', 131-2, 134,

136, 146 pole, fire station, 32-3, 125 Pollock, 'Jock', 159, 161-2 pompier ladders, 194 practical jokes, 79, 125, 133

Prahran Volunteer Fire Brigade, (photo) 13

Presidents, Board Barry, W., 149-51

Bottomley, A., 164 first salaried, 164 Johnson, E.V., 226, 228-9 list of, 245-7 Parry, J.B., 191, 221, 227, 230-2 Symes, E.C.M., 164, 202-3, 207 Wales, G., 150

Presidents, Union, 146-7 see also Webber, W.; Woolhouse, W.

press buttons and industrial unrest, 153-4, 157

Professional Fire Brigade

Officers' Association, 148, 160, 162-3 promotion, 120, 204 of firemen during 1950 strike, 155 see also

examinations

Public Service Board Report, 229-31

pumps

Dennis, 62, (photo) 63 early motor, 61 Hale, 179, (photo) 185 Melba', (photo) 63 Merryweather Hatfield,

(photo) 62 Rolls -Dennis, 172-4, (photo) 176

radio communications, early, 51-2 recruits see training rescue, 181-3 City Square, 183 drill at stables, (photo) 86 from vehicles, 182-3, (photos) 189

response time, 222-3, 227 Retired Firefighters' Association, 209 Richards, A.V., 162-3, 203, 2256, 228 Richards, M., 125 Richards, S., 200, 202, 214-15 Rodda, J., 183 rowing team, 130, (photo) 131 St John's Ambulance at Eastern Hill, (photo) 80

Sannerman, E., 156

Scott, F.W., 181-2 Seabrook, W., ix, 131 Secretaries, Board list of, 248 misappropriation of funds, 114 position abolished, 230 see also Johns, F. Secretaries, Union, 141, 146,

149

list of, 251 see also Webber, W. Simpson, M., 206, 233-5 sleeping on duty, 116, 152-3, 157 Smith, W., 175

smoke eaters', 67-8 Smyth, W., 44, 52, 72, 90-1, 98, 105

snorkels, 178-9, (photo) 188 Special Service Department, 489, 74-5, (photo) 74, 216-19 see also Fire Equipment Services sport, 129-34 sprinkler systems and alarms, 45 early Grinnell, 27, 56 effect on fire loss, 213-14 save Mutual Store in 1897, 211 stand -pipes, 14-15

Steel, H.J., 88-9, 129-30, 132 Steel, J., ix Stein, D.J., 22-4, 30-1, 41, 549,

112-17, (photo) 112 family, 118, (photo) 118, 120 Stewart, A., 121, 130-1 Stirling, A., 181-2 Stock, W., 47, (photo) 48, 51

Strategic Location Plan, 228-9 strike action, 154-5 attitude to non -strikers, 1556

Suburban Fire Brigades Union, 21, 23 Sugden, Supt, 5-6

superannuation, 117, 119, 120, 123 (photo) 165, 232 Symes, E.C.M., 164, 202-3, 207

Tamme, E., 143, 152, 155, 158, 160-1

tradition, 157-8, 205-9 and family association, 206 Train, G.F., 9, 11 training, 193-204 in civil defence, 200-1 complaints by Union, 158, 194

disaster exercise, (photo) 208 early years, 52-4 examinations, 120, 196-7 recruits after 1950, 193-6, 201

Training College, 201-3 Tuck, G., 121 Tueno, F.E., 125, 184 Tueno, G., 124-5, 156-7 Union, 121-3, 141-64, (photos) 144-5 & 147

requests inquiry into MFB, 163

strike action, 154-5 and training, 158, 194, 201-2 United Fire Brigades Union of Vic., 121

United Firemens' Union (of Vic.), 121, 150

United Transport Depot fire, 190-3, (photos) 200-1 & 204-5 & 208 Valour Medal see Bridgade Valour Medal Awards Van Every, N.E., 159, 175, 187, 215 Van Every, S., 160

INDEX

265

Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Co., 6-7,

153, 223-4

watchtower, 44, (photo) 46, 78 watchmen's clocks, 47 (photo) 7, 10 Victorian Railways Fire Brigade, water supplies carters, 3, 6-7 (photo), 18 and grass fires, 86 volunteer fire brigades inadequate at 'Block' fire, 56Albion, (photo) 15 7 brewery, 16 piped, 13-14 Brighton, (photo) 18 problems with Board of Caverly, 10 Works, 57-61 Emerald Hill, 10-11 water tankers, 167, 169, 171 first, 10 Webb, L.W., 83 Hawthorn, (photo) 17 Webber, W., 53, 146-7, 154-7, North Fitzroy, (photo) 19 161-3, suburban, 11-13, 16-17 202 temperance, 16 Whelan, K., 219, 221-2 volunteers American tradition, 9-11, 26 White, C., 132-3 White, 0., ix demonstrations, 19-22 Whitehead, L.P., 126, 147-9, no longer needed, 27 152, 157, 160 Whiteoak, J., 234-5 wages, 5-7, 32, 132, 143 Wilkins, J.T., 37, 41, 46, 100, Wages Board, 149, 160 128-37, (photo) 135, 141 watchroom, 46, (photos) 48 & 51,

Williamson, T.F.H., 228-9 Wilson, E., 156 women in uniform, 203 Woolhouse, W., 70-2, 100-1, 141, 146-8, 155-6, 160 working conditions, see accommodation; hours of work; sleeping on

duty Workshops in 1922, (photo) 43 assemble first motor car, 378

assemble new hose carriage, 171

assemble rotary pumps, 61 early days at no. 38 station, 98

ladder construction, 65 move to Thornbury, 186 non -uniformed staff, 41 role in motorisation, 39-41 Wright, M., 88-9

_.......0111

-mg

Sally Wilde was born in Dover, England, in 1949. She has degrees in social is geography and economic history, and currently teaching at Monash University in economic history. Her other books include the history of the Shire of Warragul, Forests Old, Pastures New (Shire of Warragul 1988).