Historical Society - more ambulance info
History Notes
The meeting on Tuesday went off well with much discussion about the success of the markets and what we could add to make it even more interesting for both those visiting and those taking part. The next markets will be on Easter Saturday which could mean quite a crowd attending and much chatter. At the moment our market coordinator is suffering some health issues and we wish her well – we are well on the way to running the markets while she recovers so don’t stress Diana.
The interest in the history of the ambulance and its station is great and it was also nice to hear from Grahame Down again. His name appears in the records quite regularly especially when he held the position of treasurer early in the 1960s. A difficult time as Barraba was trying to raise money to build an ambulance station, run an ambulance and find and pay a permanent officer. At one stage the Inverell ambulance came to the aid of a road accident near Cobbadah and the Barraba committee firmly told them to stay in their area! I remember the accident but did not realise that the Inverell ambulance had attended and been rebuffed!
Money for the ambulance station was being raised from a number of directions as well as donations. Council land had been offered for the proposed station in 1956 and the building was to be of brick. Required fencing was discussed at length and actually changed once or twice before being finally built.
Ian McGuffog was the ambulance officer in Barraba for six years, resigning in July 1966 to go to Walgett. In April 1965, Bill Randall was accepted on to the committee and car tracks to the car port were to be cemented on 18th November 1965 and a tender for a Chev. Ambulance was accepted on 8th March 1966. I also note that Mr J.B.Smith was President in 1966.
The typed notes end here so I will need to visit the Historical Society storeroom to continue from 1966 as soon as I can find time. In the meantime, if the photo is of a Chev ambulance on cemented car tracks I will stick with last week’s decision – Bruce Smith and Bill Randall are definitely in the photo in 1966/7 accepting a new ambulance. Mackenzies are still in business across the road. I wonder has anyone found the appropriate newspaper?
Easter is almost upon us and no doubt there will be visitors in town – we will be open while the markets are on and will gladly help any visitors that ring the given numbers.
Please do not ring to get a member to the museum and then ask about the Falls or Glacial area and take off without a glance at the museum. This happened to one of our members a couple of months ago and it is not on.