An insight on how the Young Fire Brigade was formed

Leather or greenhide was a common material for buckets as it was more readily available than metal at the time. According to Forde, other equipment in 1876 included two large bailing buckets and a wagon, ‘while the uniform consisted of blue pants, with broad red stripe, red tunics, caps, bells, axes and keys.’ Wells were the only supply of water. A twin bucket and windlass was used to draw water and thrown into a large canvas ‘dam’. Then a line of firemen passed buckets of water hand to hand to where it was needed, while empty ones were passed behind their backs. Discussions about forming a fire brigade at Young had been occurring since the 1860s and included investigating the fire brigade at Goulburn in 1865. The movement gained urgency in the aftermath of the devastating fire in the town on Sunday 4 April 1875. A year later, Sydney Bell, Secretary of the Brigade received 46 applications from people to be volunteer firemen. By that time £83 6s had been raised and another £65 was promised from people in the district. The committee then procured the leather buckets and ladders from Sydney and put out tenders for procuring the remaining equipment. However, by 1884, membership of the brigade had fallen to about 20 men and management lapsed. In May 1902 a public meeting was convened by the Mayor to discuss the reforming of a fire brigade. The motion was passed and later that year, William Samuel Millard was appointed Captain of the brigade while plans continued to be debated. Finally, in 1908 the Fire Brigade was bolstered by a grant from the NSW Government of £250 for the purchase and upkeep of appliances. Messers Green & Coy of Sydney was the accepted tender for the production of a 16 manual fire engine and appliances. In August, a site at the corner of Main and Lovell Streets was granted from the Rail Commissioners for the purpose of erecting a fire station. The engine arrived to much celebration in town on Wednesday 25 November 1908. The Museum also displays a book recording equipment supplied to each member of the first fire brigade in 1876. Thanks to Helen Forde for supplying Charles Forde’s history of the Young Fire Brigade which was one of the sources for this article.