Thursday, February 22, 2018

 

Fire Station Command Centre

One room of the Canberra Fire Museum has displays of the ways that fires were reported and brigades called out in the early days. The bottom photos show 2 eras of such gear. The first is a large array of lights and switches that showed what call box the fire was reported from and enabled the controller to notify the nearest brigade/s. The second one is from 15 or so years later, when early computers were starting to be used. The control desk is much smaller. For me, the earliest example was the most interesting - the old Fire Bell which was used in the earliest stations. No phones or radio then. Firemen who were on station or in earshot would "ring the bell and run like the clappers", as our guide put it.

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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

 

Canberra's Fantastic Fire Museum

On Saturday the Oldies took me to Canberra's old Fire Station. It is now a museum containing lots of historical relics of the early days of fire-fighting in the city. The original 1927 control room is still there, as well as later communications gear. The building is just one of what was a whole complex of buildings that housed the fire crews as well as their equipment. The other buildings are now mostly office buildings. For this small bear the best thing is the collection of fire engines, ranging from old suburban hand-drawn ones to the huge airport fire cannon pump truck. The gadget at the foot of the stairs is one of the hand-drawn hose carts that were sited in different suburbs. The wheel on the left of the picture is part of a ladder on a 1930s truck. Back in the early days of the service, Canberra firemen wore uniforms like the one in the top row of pictures; I really want one of those brass helmets. The suit in the bottom row is what they wore when they had to go into burning buildings to rescue people, pets and small bears. The old fire truck, a 1929 Albion, is one of the first in Canberra. It was what our guide called "a mongrel to crank-start", but was in service into the 1950s.The other truck is one of the last red ones in service; Canberra fire engines are now yellow. Do you know why the old fire stations in old cities are on the hills? It is so it is easier for the hand-drawn (or horse-drawn) carts and slow old trucks to get to the fire quicker; our guide told me that and he knows.
More pictures from here soon.

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Wednesday, February 07, 2018

 

Hobbies and a New Friend

Things have been a bit slow here for a while. The Oldies are showing signs of their advancing age and are keeping the Canberra doctors busy. Both of them have had to get cattyracks (Bart means cataracts - Dad) removed from all their eyes. Mum is still recovering from her cattystroppik (he means catastrophic - Dad) fall 6 months ago. That means that we have had no trips away for me to report on since the Tasmania cruise. Of course there are still lots of photos from past trips that might interest you. Actually, I have been doing lots of hobby stuff. Mum makes stacks of cards and I have been helping her by doing some of the painting after she has stamped, cut  and glued the designs. The strange colour that I am in the photo is not due to me spilling paint on my fur or because I am scared, it is what happens when the Oldies use flash to take the photo. Dad has had a break from his usual plastic ship models and has made a few card lighthouses. Here's a model of the ancient Pharos of Alexandria that kept us busy building it for a while. There are lots of cards, painting, ships and lighthouses underway, but I would much rather be travelling. One addition to my circle of friends is this strange, noisy little character who flew in last week. He says his name is Buzz and claims to be a movie star. What I know for sure is that you can't leave a drink unguarded whenever he is nearby, he is even quicker than me.

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