This Issue: full list in Contents page
Profile Mark Trollope: New South Wales Rural Fire Service Volunteer It is often said of our fire fighters that when everyone else is running away from danger, they run into it. By Christmas 2019 NSW RFS Strike Teams in the East Region had 'run towards danger' 792 times.
There are four NSW RFS Regions, and a large area in New South Wales that is not a NSW RFS Region - they went in there too, supporting their fellow brigades.
A single NSW RFS Strike Team comprises five fire trucks and a Strike Team Leader's vehicle, all filled with firefighters - sometimes five Strike Teams have been sent into one Fireground, up to 100 people of the 1200 local volunteers. Most of our NSW RFS Brigades have been on rolling deployments (24/7), day after day, for five months now.
This NSW RFS document shows you an overview of Fireground Organisation - This NSW RFS document shows you the four NSW RFS Regions.
To convey the enormity of what the 17 brigades have been doing and have done their social media posts, if they have a platform for those, was enlisted. Even those who do not have social media are there among the mix, as part of teams that have worked together as one. These platforms are used by the Brigades to assure loved ones at home they are safe, to communicate urgent fire warnings to communities, to share vision of 70 metre flame walls or explain back-burning operations, to thank those who have made donations of equipment or provisions, to educate, to share the cards and messages from children, but mostly to exhort residents to ensure their Fire Plan is up to date.
History Pittwater Fire-Boats: A History - During Winter's cooler months combined training exercises are undertaken by the West Pittwater, Scotland Island, Mackerel Beach, Ingleside, Tumbledown Dick, Terrey Hills, and combined district NSW RFS Brigades, sometimes locally and at other times 'up river' - in the Hawkesbury are focused on fire-boats. During January 2020 members of our local 'water brigades' have been deployed evacuating people from along the Shoalhaven River and gathering intelligence on fire behaviour and spread. In 2013 a series of 'on water organisations' History pages ran, and included a timeline of Marine Rescue NSW, Broken Bay - also staffed by volunteers and also active in fighting these recent fires, as well as our Water Police and Pittwater's Fire-boats. As we prepare to commence our 10th year of this news service Readers who have recently joined in looking forward to each weekly edition may be interested in how we began fighting fires not just on the land, but from the water too.
The history of fire brigades in NSW, at first following the UK system during the 1830's-40's where insurance companies provided fire fighters and people had to pay to have them attend, did not become a Government overseen and regulated practice until 1884. Although discussed in parliament as early as June 15, 1854 after the Tooth and Co brewery on Broadway burnt for five days, prior to 1884 most fires were fought by convicts and soldiers. Insurance company brigades would only attend fires with their badges affixed to the premises.
News of another fire in the Summer of 1850, which was racing towards Pittwater, tells how ill-equipped people were to defend life and property from bushfires:
CONFLAGRATION ON THE NORTH SHORE.— Since Wednesday last, raging and wide-spreading fires, caused by the prevailing hot winds, and the unusual heat and dryness of the weather, have destroyed property of considerable value on the North Shore; and it is feared that the lives of two persons (known as John the Frenchman and Joseph Curran) have also been sacrificed. At the time of our going to press, the casualties, as far as could be ascertained, were as follows:- Mr. Cook's premises, Lane Cove, have been burned, and two of his horses destroyed. Mr. Archbold's premises, furniture, ... feet of sawn timber, and twelve tons of hay, burned. Mr. Simpson's orchard and fencing: Mr. Clarke's hut and furniture: John Macmillan's orchard and fencing; Mr. Lyon's hut and furniture : Mr. Murphy's two houses and furniture ; Mr. Ross Donnelly's outhouses ; F. M'Cudden's house and furniture; all entirely destroyed. The premises of Colonel Harney, Mr. Derry, Mr. Stirling, and Mr. Bloxsome, have been partially damaged, and almost all the fencing burned. It is to be feared, that no chance of arresting the progress of the main current of the fire presents itself until it reaches the basin of Pittwater. We regret to state that among the sufferers are several who, with their families, are plunged into utter destitution by this visitation; but we sincerely hope that the sympathy of the public, if appealed to, will assist in relieving their calamities to some extent. It is perhaps useless now to express surprise at the absence of all precautions against the attack of a foe whose progress it is so difficult to arrest when once he commences his march of devastation. Here we find valuable plantations entirely unprotected, when by a little labor and outlay in clearing the grass and brushwood, the ruinous consequences we are recording might have been considerably modified if not entirely prevented. Intelligence has also been received that the bush between Wollongong and Kiama was one entire mass of flame. Communication between the two localities was wholly impossible. LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. (1850, January 12). Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer (NSW : 1845 - 1860), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59770026
Pittwater Offshore Newsletter Update: January 16, 2020
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To contact Julian: editor@scotlandisland.org.au
Ella Apology
SANDS OF MORNING.
by Ella McFadyen.
Summer breathed over the hills to-day,
A waft of the bush and a wind from the bay,
And my truant thoughts went straying:
Pittwater flickered with nor'east flaws,
The surf ran high 'tween the Lion's paws,
And the spring-fed runnels' were playing.
I saw the hills that drop to the sea,
And a honey-bird's call was a call for me
And the great grey sandstone boulders
Were elephant's browsing, heath to the knees.
And the rosy waxflowers, clotted with bees,
Fondled their lichened shoulders.
Tomorrow I'll rise and be ready to roam
In the starlit hour when the cats come home,
Ere ever the birds are waking,
When each needlewood thorn is a dewdrop's place,
And her thread-like blossoms are fairy lace,
And the whole world's mine for taking!
I must seek the lairs where I used to lie,
Curtained by trees and under the sky;
I must find and touch and recover
The sights and sensations laid away,
Where the Lion lies couchant at Broken Bay,
To welcome me back like a lover.
The strong white feet of the winter rains
Have trodden the campfire's cold remains,
The lizards my hearth are keeping;
I must find the cave where the fairy-mouse
And her wee pouched kindred kept their house,
And-the nest where her babes are sleeping.
Grape-blue the hills in the dawn shall be,
And the sun shall rise from a white-gold sea,
With light for the day's adorning,
Where the rain-washed track is a virgin sheet
For the printed tale of a pilgrim's feet;
My feet on the sands of morning.
SANDS OF MORNING. (1935, March 14). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 2 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17171195
Lion Island from West Head - photo by John Vaughan
While On Local History: ABHS Summer Hours
Cakes for Koalas raises over $400
Modus Operandi Brewing Co. Busfire Fundraiser: 15k realised
Rotary Club of Upper Northern Beaches Bucket Filled with funds for Firies
New Season for Sailability Pittwater
Sailability Pittwater is a volunteer organisation which provides sailing for people with a disability.
Our main recreational sailing activities are at Rowland Reserve, Bayview, and we run competitive sailing for people with a disability out of RPAYC Newport. We are currently looking for new volunteers for our Saturday morning program at Rowland Reserve and Tuesdays at RPA. For more information at www.sailability.org/au/pittwater or call John on 9982 5656
The purpose of www.westpittwater.com.au - is best defined by the vision of the West Pittwater Community Association.
To be a supportive community, encouraging and promoting civic pride, interest in community affairs and goodwill amongst residents.
To protect local fauna and flora and generally preserve West Pittwater and its environs.
To secure essential facilities including public wharves and reserves and to protect private and public property.
To speak with one voice and represent the interests of the Western Foreshore community when in discussion with Pittwater Council and other relevant government bodies. The WPCA website provides a forum for the better realisation of these objectives. Visit: www.westpittwater.com.au
Bush fire fund raising for Bilpin
- Bring stuff you don’t longer need to Billy’s house on Thursday and Friday and we will sell it for you during the weekend (what hasn’t been sold needs to be taken back)
- Bake a cake and bring it in the morning of the 18th, so people can enjoy a slice while looking around
- Make something from scratch that is environmentally friendly for us to sell over the weekend
- Buy raffle tickets via our online raffle
- Share this event with all your friends and come along on Saturday the 18th or Sunday the 19th.
Wildlife Care this Summer
Pets of the Week
Qualifiers Locked And Loaded For nudie Australian Boardriders Battle Series Final: Wildcard Nominations Open!
Australian Surfing Awards Nominations now Open
Click on logo above to visit their website.
