Penrith Museum of Fire

About

The Penrith Museum of Fire is an Australian firefighting museum that contains heritage-listed former operating and stored for preservation fire service vehicles located in Penrith, Sydney, Australia. The provenance of the firefighting vehicles date from 1841 to 1998. The fleet of vehicles was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 February 2013. In addition to the Fire and Rescue NSW Heritage Fleet, included in the museum are the heritage-listed:

1898 Shand Mason Curricle Ladders, designed and built by Shand Mason & Company of London from 1898 to 1898. It is also known as Shand Mason Curricle Ladders (1898) and No. 4 Curricle Ladders; added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register, also on 25 February 2013; 1869 Shand Mason 7 inch Manual Fire Engine, designed and built by Shand Mason Company of London from 1869 to 1869. It is also known as Shand Mason 7 inch Manual Fire Engine (1869), No. 1 Manual Engine and No. 1 Manual Pumper; added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register, also on 25 February 2013; 1942 Ford 21W Fire Brigade Mobile Canteen, the motor and chassis designed and built by Ford Motor Company, the body designed and built by NSW Fire Brigades...

Historic Fire Engine Association of Australia

On 13 March 1969 a meeting was held at Turramurra, which resulted in the formation of the Historic Fire Engine Association of Australia (HFEA). Collectively, the association's eleven members possessed some fifteen vehicles. Following the association's first meeting, contact was made with the Board of Fire Commissioners of NSW and a longstanding relationship was formed between the two bodies, with the Board's president, L. Verrills, being appointed as patron. At this time, the New South Wales Fire Brigades was still using a wide array of fire engines of different vintages. "Standby" vehicles, which were fitted with pre-war, open-cab (Braidwood) bodies, were stored strategically around the suburbs to cover "breakdowns".

In 1971, the HFEA first sought to preserve a fire engine for its historic value, successfully acquiring a Leyland FT3 pumper. Five years later, the Board of Fire Commissioners announced that a section of the new training college at Alexandria would be set aside for a Museum: the association was invited to establish and administer the new museum. The museum was completed in 1979. The following year, the museum was the proud recipient of four significant fire engines, formerly under the custodianship of the Museum of Applied Arts and Science (now the Powerhouse Museum ). These were a fine addition to the museum's collection; however, the Board soon found itself constrained to expand the training college facilities – by utilising the space then occupied by the museum.

Following consultation between the board and the museum during May 1980, a solution was found. The Board agreed to fund the costs involved in securing a lease with the Maritime Services Board and establishing the museum in a section of wharves four and five, at Walsh Bay. Two more bays of the building were later sub-leased for the purpose of providing a vehicle workshop area and, on 10 January 1981, the new museum opened for business.

At this stage, the entire staff were volunteers, mostly evenly divided between Board and private owners. As a result of a Government decision on a changed use of the wharf, the Museum was obliged to move in 1984 to No. 7 Wharf, Circular Quay, on a lease renewable yearly, but with no guarantee of permanency because of proposals re Circular Quay Bicentennial Redevelopment. The Board's Transport Department moved the collection, and the Board met the rental costs for a smaller space. A task force recommended the appointment of a full-time Director, the museum began to generate an income, and in 1985, almost broke even financially; however, later that year, the museum was once again forced to relocate

In September 1985 the museum was re-established in the old Power House at Penrith, and on 16 November 1986, the Museum of Fire was officially opened.

The involvement of Fire & Rescue New South Wales in the preservation of old equipment can be traced back to 1916. During that year, No 4 Shand Mason Steamer was approved for retention as a "museum exhibit". It is not known to which museum the engine was destined, however, and unfortunately, nothing appears to have eventuated - the engine disappears from the records in 1918.

With the withdrawal of the last of the manual engines in 1930, two (along with the Shand Mason Curricle Ladders) were retained, and were subsequently used in parades and demonstrations. Over the ensuing years, these vehicles were stored at various fire stations.

During the early 1960s, the Board of Fire Commissioners handed over five fire engines to the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (Powerhouse Museum) for custodianship. These included:

- A 1916 chain-drive Garford, which had survived since the late 1930s by being utilised as a hose-winder for "Volunteer Fireman State Championships".

- An 1891 Shand Mason Steam Fire Engine - one of the most significant, engines to be preserved. Having been replaced by the Ahrens Fox PS2 motorised pumper, the steamer was kept at various stations as a "standby" pumper, until after the post-war years. In 1962, it was restored by the Board's workshops and was presented to the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, (Powerhouse Museum), for display purposes.

- The Ahrens Fox PS2 – a super-pumper, and once the "pride of the fleet". In April 1969, the Board retained a Garford Hale pumper, the last of its type to be withdrawn from service. In 1974, the Board of Fire Commissioners consented to preserve the Dennis Big 6 (used as a funeral engine)', the Ford Mobile Canteen, and the "Scout Car". These were preserved by leasing them to the Historic Fire Engine Association of Australia, in response to their offer to store and care for them. Since that time, the "Heritage Fleet" collection has progressively grown and now comprises forty-six fire engines. This number will continue to increase under the terms of the Museum of Fire's Acquisition & Collection Policy.

The Number 4 Shand Mason, 15-metre (50 ft) Curricle Ladders (1898) were ordered by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1897, for use at Newtown fire station. The ladders are of a telescopic design and were pulled by a single horse. Following the ladders' arrival in 1898, the Newtown firemen were given a course of instruction. An additional man and horse were subsequently placed at Newtown once the men were conversant with the use of the ladder. A report by Charles Bown (President of the Fire Brigades Board) stated that the ladders proved to be "a very valuable addition to the equipment of the Brigade". Whilst attached to Newtown station, the Curricle Ladders was one of four sets of ladders involved in operations to extinguish one of Sydney's most famous major fires - the Anthony Hordern & Sons fire, at Haymarket, in 1901. 'No other fire in Sydney's history has evoked more publicity than the Anthony Hordern & Sons fire of Wednesday 10 July 1901'. This fire destroyed five major high-rise buildings, in which 1200 people were employed. Five people were killed in this blaze: four were burnt to death having been trapped inside the buildings, and another fell 37 metres (120 ft) to his death in Gipps Street (he jumped when it became obvious that the brigade's largest ladders could not reach him). These Curricle Ladders operated at this fire alongside another heritage-significant fire engine: No. 18 Shand Mason Steamer (1891) and today, they again stand side by side, on permanent display at the Museum of Fire, Penrith. In 1907, the Curricle Ladders appeared in a Fireman's Manual of Instruction with a brass number "3" attached to its hose box, suggesting that at the time, it was attached to Circular Quay fire brigade. This is further supported by a list of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade plant dated: 1 June 1909. Three months later, it was transferred to Headquarters fire station. By July 1913, the Curricle Ladders were at Darlinghurst Fire Station, from where it responded on the 18th of that month to a fire at No. 100 Brougham St, Darlinghurst, in which ten drays and three lorries were alight. It appears that the ladders were not much used at Darlinghurst after that. On 10 December 1917, Station Officer Arthur Wickham recommended that the curricle ladders be removed from Darlinghurst, for since the installation of a motorised engine in September 1913 (with its thirty-five foot ladder), the horse-drawn curricle ladders had not attended a call of fire. District Officer George Grimmond replied, "I do not consider it advisable to remove same owing to the risk in this portion of this district". He further advised Mr Wickham that the situation might be reconsidered when a "motor and 65-foot ladder combination set" could be installed at Darlinghurst. On 29 November 1922 the Curricle Ladders re-appear at Headquarters: awaiting repairs. They were no longer being drawn by horses; but rather, were towed by truck. The horse-drawn era of the fire brigade was fast drawing to an end, and by this time there were only sixteen brigade horses remaining in Sydney - all of them in the suburbs. The much-needed repairs did not take place, however, until after 26 July the following year. The brigade workshops were too busy to attend to them immediately, and so in the meantime, it was used in connection with the painting of Headquarters. The repairs were carried out after the painting was completed. It is known that the ladders were in service at Newcastle in June 1924, and that they returned to the Sydney Fire District c. 30 April 1925. After being withdrawn from service, the Curricle Ladders were presented to the Powerhouse Museum. In 1979, they were reclaimed by the NSW Fire Brigades and presented to the Museum of Fire, Penrith.

1869 Shand Mason No. 1 Manual Fire Engine

1869 Shand Mason No. 1 Manual Fire Engine is a survivor from an era of development and change, not only of fire fighting equipment and brigade organisation, but also of systems of government and their policies.

No.1 manual pumper was manufactured by the Shand Mason Company of London during a period when there was no statutory control or coordination of Sydney 's fire protection. At the time this vehicle commenced its service, Sydney's fire protection consisted of a number of autonomous volunteer fire companies as well as the Insurance Companies Brigade (formed in the early 1850s) and thus would have been originally purchased by one of these early brigades or companies. By the time the manual had become a curiosity, preserved for display purposes, statutory control was well established and the NSW Fire Brigades was a statewide fire fighting service. This engines four decades of service is therefore associated with an era in which fire protection in Sydney and NSW progressed from independent, mid-nineteenth century fire companies to a statutory, twentieth-century statewide organisation.

In the year of the manual's manufacture (1869) fire brigades in Sydney were using a variety of fire fighting appliances. It was a time of intense development and competition between the manufacturers of fire fighting equipment, with English companies such as Shand Mason and Merryweather trying to out perform each other with their respective products. It was a great period of transition in fire engines. Horse-drawn engines had largely replaced hand-drawn ones. Manually pumped engines were being challenged by the more powerful steam fire engines, however, both were being used side by side in by the Sydney Insurance Companies Brigade. If a volunteer company agreed to place itself under the control of the Insurance Brigade's Superintendent at fires, then it would receive assistance, both financially and in terms of the loan of equipment which might include a steam powered pumper. Volunteer companies which refused to be "controlled " in such a manner had no support. Consequently, steam-fired engines were largely out of the question - they were simply too expensive. For these companies manual engines were an affordable appliance to maintain and operate and they were something a volunteer company could realistically purchase through a consistent fundraising effort.

At the inception of the Metropolitan Fire in 1884 the plant included two steam engines, two manuals and a ladder truck. In 1909, just prior to the NSW Board of Commissioners taking control, the plant included some thirty manuals. Even with the first motorised pumper being introduced in 1906, manuals continued to be used. Many of them were eventually fitted with turbine pumps. In 1909 the Annual Report states 'On October 14, Messers T Green and Co., exhibited to the Board a method of conversion of manual engines to petrol motor power, which appears to have much promise' These were mainly used at country stations, however, with the last one being withdrawn from Alstonville in 1931. This 1869 Manual somehow managed to escape such modification and is, apart from minor alterations, largely intact. The last manual fire engines were withdrawn from service in 1930.