Another month, another ‘Find of the Month’ from ArchivesACT, this time the secrets of the Canberra Fire Brigade’s Daily Occurrence Registers.
Dating back to June 1913 when a firefighting machine was first bought for the Federal Capital Territory, the life of the local Fire Brigade begins in August 1914.
Disbanded shortly after its First World War birthday the Canberra Fire brigade was re-established in 1920 with the Archives records unbroken from 1924 to 1969.
According to Archives, the daily event records covered matters such as station procedure, staffing, duty rosters, calls attended and results, as well as the servicing of appliances, routine checks of alarms and fire equipment.
“In 1935 the Brigade took on the additional role of the Ambulance Service, so details of the calls attended to requiring ambulance transport are also recorded,” Archives said.
“Much of the activity of the Brigade was within the metropolitan boundaries of Canberra but there were certainly occasions when its appliances were required to fight bushfires,” it reports.
“It is well known that the January 13 ‘Black Friday’ bushfires of 1939 devastated Victoria, but perhaps a little less known is that fires also burnt within the ACT at the same time.. threatening Mt Stromlo and Hall.”
The Fire Brigade was also called to the 1945 Canberra Air Disaster when the RAAF Lockheed Hudson crashed landing at Canberra airport killing 10 people including three Commonwealth Ministers and the Defence Chief of Staff.
“This required the services of both a fire unit and an ambulance,” Archives said.
Their Find of the Month records also reported the death of Prime Minister John Curtin in 1945 when the Fire Brigade helped arrange his lying-in-state at Parliament House before returning to Perth for the funeral.
“Some additional details about these arrangements are revealed in the corresponding daily occurrence book”, Archives said, “the Brigade having received a call from the funeral directors at the Lodge to ‘convey the body of the Late Prime Minister to Hospital’.”
According to ArchivesACT, the Canberra Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service Occurrence Registers are just one series that will be featured when it launches its public database this April.
In the meantime readers interested in learning more about the Canberra Fire Brigade’s daily occurrence books, Archives’ ‘Find of the Month’ can be accessed at this PS News link.
