History Notes - Barraba Fire Brigade
History Notes
This week marks the start of the Historical Society's busy month with the markets on Saturday - the usual markets with the usual features. Next week we have the Annual General Meeting and then the special book markets on the following weekend and that will be followed by the street stall.
The historical enquiries have slowed down just a little but the Society has been given a very interesting history of some of our first nations people and we thank the author for all the hard work that he has obviously put into it.
After last week's story of the disastrous fire in Queen Street in 1921 it is time to look into the formation of the local fire brigade. Some of this information comes from the ‘Back To Barraba 1983’ booklet which was put together by the late Marie Smith.
As we know Barraba suffered a number of fires in the early days and they were more serious than they need to have been because there was no water supply and no fire brigade. Manilla had a fire brigade before Barraba but imagine the time it took for them to travel to Barraba in those days.
In 1935 the Royal Hotel was burnt to the ground for the second time. The Connor's Creek Dam had been completed and water was available in the town but there was still no brigade or equipment in the town.
A fire brigade was established in Barraba on Monday 14th October, 1935 - six months after the hotel fire. The first fire engine, a No.42 Garford Hale with hard tyres, arrived in Barraba by rail and was garaged in a shed behind the Monterey Cafe.
It was not long before the brigade was set up in its own station fitted out with a siren and a telephone. The Fire Brigade Inspector interviewed candidates for the Brigade and ten Barraba men became the local fire brigade under the leadership of Wally Flynn.
The fire brigade section of Marie's book is well worth the read for anyone interested and there is a photo taken in 1983 of the Brigade taken with their current engine in front of the old station in Maude Street.