Contents

A Brief History of Scotland Island Fire Brigade

Part IV: 1975 – 1985

Drawing principally on Scotland Island News (SI News) archives, Part IV looks at issues around water supply and old trucks.

The Land Rover and tanker trailer that served the brigade from about 1976 until 1982. The old fire shed (by Tennis Wharf) is in the background. Photo: June Lahm

Founded in 1955, the brigade’s early history is marked by a struggle for resources. By the mid-1970s the island had a fire truck and a fire boat. But such equipment is useless without water, and the island had no reticulated water supply.

Jim Duff, captain, 1971-78, photographed in 1975, alongside some of the dance group that used the old fire shed for practice.

In 1967 residents had voted 22 to six against mains water. The absence of city water on the island meant that a dry period could leave islanders’ tanks perilously low, giving the brigade little or no firefighting capacity. Even today it is essential to the island’s fire defences that householders keep their tanks well topped up.

As late as 1973 Warringah’s failure to provide the island with an emergency water supply was a source of rancour for residents. But then, sometime during the late 1970s, a water tank was installed just above Bells wharf.

Fed by a pipe from the mainland, the tank was intended for the sole use of the brigade. But it rapidly became apparent that locals were helping themselves.

Things came to a head around the time of the 1980/81 fire season. At the time Sydney was experiencing the worst drought in living memory, and the summer saw an abnormally high number of Total Fire Ban (TOBAN) days. In the absence of a viable alternative, islanders were tapping the brigade storage tank. And, complained SI News, they were doing so ‘to a critical degree’.  ‘Water raiders can threaten fire-fighting’, ran the headline. Yet the brigade appears to have been quite magnanimous, tolerating the taking of some water for household purposes, provided the reserve was never left more than half empty.

Bruce Lane, the brigade’s longest-serving captain (1978-88). This photo was taken towards the end of his stint.

Even so, the brigade was evidently worried. ‘Someday the whole bloody island could burn down’, opined one member. Indeed, the previous season had seen numerous illegal burns on the island, including one at the top of the island which consumed around half an acre. Fortunately the brigade was at the scene within eight minutes. Even Leicester Warburton, then editor of this august journal, had a close escape when a pot belly stove flue set fire to his roof.

Adding to its problems, the brigade was having to make do with a 1960s Land Rover, towing a 900-litre tanker trailer which took 15 minutes to fill from the Bells tank. By 1982 the Land Rover was experiencing more and more mechanical problems and the time had come for a new truck.

But how to fund it? The brigade’s answer was to enter a competition, run by Channel 7, which was offering two Land Rovers to the brigades making the most persuasive submission for assistance. Unfortunately the island lost out to Lake Munmorah and Brooklyn brigades who, it transpired, didn’t have any mobile equipment at all.

The International Harvester AB160 truck that arrived on the island in 1985.

Fortunately help was to hand. In 1982 SI News announced the imminent arrival of a new Toyota Land Cruiser. What’s more, in March 1985 long-serving fire captain Bruce Lane announced the arrival of a 2,300-litre tanker.

But it seems that this didn’t last long, because in November of the same year SI News reported that it had been exchanged for an ‘upgraded AB160 tanker with a crew cabin’.

The AB160 was a truck manufactured by International Harvester and which had gone into production in Australia in 1961. The age of the model supplied to Scotland Island is unknown but, according to John Travers, equipment officer at the time, it wasn’t the best of trucks.

‘I’m not sure it had any brakes’, he recalls. What’s more, according to John, it had problems starting. Apparently the brigade’s answer was to always park the Toyota Land Cruiser behind it, so that the Toyota could give the larger truck a good shove, should it be needed.

The Toyota Land Cruiser, alongside the AB160.

Scotland Island Oral History Project

The community hall during construction, 1981-2

Greg Roberts: Funeral Arrangements

Mario of the Antarctic

A few months ago I suggested a tenuous link between Scotland Island and the South Pole: Catherine Bouffier, who gave her name to Catherine Park, was the aunt of Frank Hurley, the photographer on the ill-fated 1914 Shackleton trans-Antarctic expedition. But for quite some time there was a much stronger connection: a sign on Antarctica pointing towards our island.

The sign was put there by Mariano Martinez, better known as Mario. He lived just above Carols Wharf between 1987 and 1999. An enthusiastic sportsman, Mario will be remembered by many islanders as the man who organised quadrathlons that involved kayaking to the Basin and cycling to Mona Vale.

Map showing Davis Station on Antarctica

But in 1997 Mario spent 12 months at Davis Antarctic Station, one of three permanent bases and research outposts managed by the Australian Antarctic Division. It was during his stay there that Mario erected the sign pointing to Pittwater.

Mario, who worked at the Davis base as a senior electrical technician, describes his time on Antarctica as a ‘great adventure’. Certainly it’s not for the faint-hearted. Mario was dropped off by ship in the summer, when temperatures at the base hover around freezing point. But by August Davis temperatures typically range between minus 14 and minus 20, and can drop as low as minus 42. Added to that, the station experiences virtually no sunshine in June and July.

‘They spend more time preparing you psychologically than they do physically: that tells you something about what it’s like’, says Mario. He was stationed with three women and 15 men. ‘Maintaining good relations in conditions like that can be a challenge’, he explains.

Fortunately Mario, who has a great love for the outdoors, bonded with those with a similar taste for adventure. For instance, he and a colleague once set off across the sea ice to see how far they could go. But he couldn’t have made it to any of the neighbouring stations, the nearest being several hundred kilometres away.

Davis Station, November 2005

Besides psychological training, Mario also had to learn how to survive away from base. For instance, part of a survival course required living in a ‘coffin-sized’ hole in the snow for two days.

But back at Davis, life was surprisingly comfortable. ‘We had a movie theatre, great food and plenty of good wine’, he recalls. ‘There wasn’t much suffering!’

These days Mario lives with his wife Marika in Mona Vale. Marika works in real estate and has recently handled the purchase of properties on the island, while Mario keeps in touch with a number of island friends.

West Pittwater Energy Reliability Project: Update

Scotland Island Café

Catherine Park

Sunday 9 January, 10 – 12 noon

Sunday 23 January, 10 – 2 pm

Table Tennis

Scotland Island Community Hall

Most Saturdays, 3 – 5 pm

Watercolour Workshop

64 Darley St, Mona Vale

Saturday 15 January, 10 am – 2 pm

---

Children’s Holiday Art Workshop

Expressive Painting Workshop

Markus Plattner & Friends

For tickets, click here. The Two Catherines café will remain open until 2pm.

International Folk Dancing

Scotland Island Community Hall

Saturday 29 January, 7 – 9 pm

Can anyone give Zeus a new home?

Tutoring on Scotland Island and in the bays

I’m an experienced, fully qualified teacher and education support worker (primary school) offering tutoring in all aspects of literacy over the summer holidays.

If you think your child would benefit from one-on-one tuition in reading, writing or general language skills and could do with a boost to their confidence before starting the new school year, please contact me for further information.

Helen Webster
Mobile: 0406347061

Missed out on a previous newsletter?

To Contribute

If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please send an e-mail to the editor (editor@scotlandisland.org.au).
 

Subscription Information

To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to: http://www.scotlandisland.org.au/signup.

Follow the PON

The Online Local Contacts Guide

Click HERE to load

Pittwater Offshore Photo Gallery