Fighting Fires
The first fire the brigade attended was across the Daylesford Road, between the Gong Reservoir and Pootilla. The fire was in young pines in the Water Commission area and burnt for about three quarters of a mile. It was stopped at the Daylesford Road. Water Commission employees and Ballarat City firemen also helped put out the fire, which Eddie Keeble thought burnt about 150 acres. He said possibly 15 or 20 men from Bungaree attended.
One of the biggest fires Eddie Keeble recalled the Bungaree brigade attending in its early days was at Millbrook, in about 1943. He said the fire started alongside the railway line, about half a mile from the former Millbrook Railway Station. The brigade had quite a battle to save a house belonging to Lubys on the Melbourne Road. The house was saved and the Lubys were so pleased that they sent the brigade a donation of £10, which was a lot of money in those days.
A fire at Clunes, probably in 1944, was the first big fire Roy Tinney attended with the brigade. "We had Leo Kelly's truck and we put the tank on the back of that," he said. "The fire had been going for a fair time by the time we got there. Nobody was there to direct us, so we decided to try and save a house which was on a road off to the right of the Clunes-Creswick Road. It was fairly windy for break burning but it was felt that if we did not have a try, the house would go anyway. We managed to get enough burnt to save the house."
A good supporter of the brigade in its early days was Jack Armytage from Dunnstown who was a member of the Buninyong Brigade. He often came over to Bungaree with his ute and pump to help out.
Bill Martin said some of the good early members were: E. Keeble, E. Hanrahan, R. Hamilton, K. Sheehan, J. Armytage, G. Trigg, A. Taylor, the Maher brothers and R. Tinney.
Leo Rix recalls that Eddie Hanrahan was a very enthusiastic fire fighter. He once raced off into a large burning bushfire by himself, equipped with just a knapsack extinguisher.
Bill Martin said some of the good early members were: E. Keeble, E. Hanrahan, R. Hamilton, K. Sheehan, J. Armytage, G. Trigg, A. Taylor, the Maher brothers and R. Tinney.
Leo Rix recalls that Eddie Hanrahan was a very enthusiastic fire fighter. He once raced off into a large burning bushfire by himself, equipped with just a knapsack extinguisher.