Mt Buninyong Auxiliary turns 40
This year marks the 91st anniversary of Mount Buninyong Fire Brigade and the 40th anniversary of its Auxiliary.
The brigade celebrated the milestone with a post-COVID 19 party, where more than 70 past and present members attended including four of the original Auxiliary members who still play a part in the brigade.
Mount Buninyong Fire Brigade is part of the Buninyong Group of small town brigades south-east of Ballarat. The brigade was formed in 1932, following severe fires around the state in 1930. This was in the days of arriving on horseback and using rakes and beaters to fight fires.
Over the years, the Auxiliary has organised a full calendar of fund-raising events including cake stalls, dances, garden parties and catering for clearance sales and family memorials.
Its first fire truck arrived in 1944, ex-army and fully equipped with a 200-gallon tank and a high-pressure pump. The first fire station was built in the 1960s and the current one opened in 1991.
It was the disaster of Ash Wednesday in 1983 which prompted the women brigade members to form the Auxiliary later that year. Back in the 1980s, supporting the brigade was quite a different matter from today. It was up to the women to feed their own firefighters and it was not unusual for them to make sandwiches on the back of a ute by torchlight in the middle of the night.
The Scotsburn fire in December 2015 saw crews working hard in their own backyard, then the Auxiliary sprang into action in January 2016 to provide meals for the BlazeAid volunteers who came to the area to rebuild fencing that had been lost.
The brigade has continued to defend the local area, using both the CFA fire truck and one which was bought through fundraising – this one always stays at home to secure the immediate area.
The brigade has had competition-winning Junior teams and many of the brigade’s fireys have volunteered for duty statewide and interstate in times of emergency.
Members are looking forward to a very big party in 9 years’ time.