Ballarat East Icon Turns 150

In April 2014 it will be 150 years since the iconic Ballarat Fire Brigade bell tower was first used. The following is a brief history of the tower written by David Elms Curator, BFB Historical Collection.

“In August 1863 the Ballarat Fire Brigade decided that it need a watchtower and belfry that would allow Ballarat East to be monitored for any outbreaks of fire and also the brigade’s bell to be heard throughout the area. Calls for designs were put out and in November a design simply titled “Stability” was chosen as the successful design. Mr Henry Caselli, an eminent Ballarat architect at the time who designed a number of significant Ballarat buildings was announced as the successful designer. Mr William Cowlands, a brigade member was successful in tendering to build the tower.

On the 1st of January 1864 the foundation stone laid by Captain Spark amongst much celebration and ceremony. The stone was laid by the Captain using a special trowel that was presented to him by the honourable secretary of the brigade, Mr Charles Dyte. The trowel was made by Mr Bennett, a silversmith of Bridge street in Ballarat and was fashioned similar to the one used by Mr Fraser M.L.C. when laying the foundation stone for the St. Kilda town hall. A capsule was placed inside the foundation stone. The capsule contained various coins of the realm, a copy of ‘the Ballarat Star’ of that morning, a copy of the ‘Evening Post’ from the previous day, a photograph of the building as it will be and other documents.

A Mr I.M. Phillips was appointed as the watchman for the tower on the 1st of February 1864 and was to be paid 15 shillings a week for his duties. The tower was officially complete and opened for use on the 6th of April 1864. The brigade took another 5 years to pay back money borrowed to build the tower.

The bell that stands atop the tower is actually the brigade’s third bell. The first bell having cracked and the second found to be too small to be heard from any distance. The current bell was manufactured by Naylor and Vickers & Co. in England and was shipped out to Ballarat on the vessel the “Doul McAbe” in August of 1863. The bell was originally mounted on a temporary stand beside the station until the tower was built. Upon its arrival the Captain christened the bell the “Lady Barkly”.

In December of 1873 the brigade decided to adopt a code of signals which was used to alert members to the vicinity of the fire call. Three bells would signify a fire Mt. Pleasant / Golden point area along Barkly Street. Local members would attend the fire directly or via one of four satellite stations owned by the brigade which contained a manually pulled hose reel while the remainder of the brigade would respond with the major appliances from the main station. The code of signals rotated in an anti-clockwise direction with four bells signifying Main road and Clayton street area and five bells for Eureka Street. This continued around until 11 bells were reached which signified the CBD response area. The brigade also reportedly had a telephone type system that was invented by local inventor Henry Sutton, that linked the Ballarat and Ballarat City (Ballarat West as it was known at the time) watchtowers that allowed the watchmen to communicate between stations.

In 1966 the very top of the tower had to be removed as it had fallen into a state of disrepair and become dangerous to those below. This top was not replaced until 1983 when the new replacement was hoisted by crane back into position. The tower and existing station were recognised by the Historic Buildings Council in 1994 where they were placed on the historic building list. During the mid-1990’s the brigade received a grant that allowed some restoration of the interior of the tower, this saw a new coat of paint inside, windows repaired, missing lead treads on the stairs replaced and new lighting to be installed. In 2013 the tower once again saw repairs to the sections of the top of the tower due to wood rot and bird damage that will hopefully last for many years to come. The tower tour is always a popular attraction on brigade open days and during heritage weekend with many locals keen to finally climb to the top of the staircase and see the view from the tower they have been past many times.”

Tours of the station and tower are available to community groups and other similar organisations and can be made through the brigades email – ballarat.fs@cfa.vic.gov.au

Tags:fire, fire station