Number 470 Fire Bell is a heritage-listed fire bell at 56 Suttor Street, West Bathurst, Bathurst Region, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John C. Wilson and built in 1855 by Gorbals Brass and Bell Foundry, Glasgow. It is also known as Sydney Insurance Companies Fire Bell and Bathurst Fire Bell. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 July 2014.
History Aboriginal people and colonisation Aboriginal occupation of the Blue Mountains area dates back at least 12,000 years and appears to have intensified some 3000–4000 years ago. In pre-colonial times the area now known as Bathurst was inhabited by Aboriginal people of the Wiradjuri linguistic group. The clan associated with Bathurst occupied on a seasonal basis most of the Macquarie River area. They moved regularly in small groups but preferred the open land and used the waterways for a variety of food. There are numerous river flats where debris from recurrent camps accumulated over a long period. European settlement in this region after the first documented white expedition west of the Blue Mountains in 1813 was tentative because of apprehensions about resistance from Aboriginal people. There was some contact, witnessed by sporadic hostility and by the quantity of surviving artefacts manufactured by the Aborigines from European glass. By 1840 there was widespread dislocation of Aboriginal culture, aggravated after 1850 by the goldrush to the region.
Prior to European settlement in Australia, the Wiradjuri Aboriginal group lived in the upper Macquarie Valley. Bathurst was proclaimed a town by Lachlan Macquarie on 7 May 1815, named after Lord Bathurst, Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies. Bathurst is Australia's oldest inland township. It was proclaimed a town in 1815 with the discovery of gold.
Bathurst Governor Macquarie chose the site of the future town of Bathurst on 7 May 1815 during his tour over the Blue Mountains, on the road already completed by convict labour supervised by William Cox. Macquarie marked out the boundaries near the depot established by surveyor George Evans and reserved a site for a government house and domain. Reluctant to open the rich Bathurst Plains to a large settlement, Macquarie authorised few grants there initially, one of the first being 1000 acres to William Lawson, one of the three European explorers who crossed the mountains in 1813. The road-maker William Cox was another early grantee but later had to move his establishment to Kelso on the non-government side of the Macquarie River.
A modest release of land in February 1818 occurred when ten men were chosen to take up 50 acre farms and 2 acre town allotments across the river from the government buildings. When corruption by government supervisor Richard Lewis and acting Commandant William Cox caused their dismissal, they were replaced by Lieutenant William Lawson who became Commandant of the settlement in 1818.
Macquarie continued to restrict Bathurst settlement and reserved all land on the south side of the Macquarie River for government buildings and stock, a situation that prevailed until 1826. In December 1819 Bathurst had a population of only 120 people in 30 houses, two thirds being in the township of Kelso on the eastern side of the river and the remainder scattered on rural landholdings nearby. The official report in 1820 numbered Bathurst settlers at 114, including only 14 women and 15 children. The government buildings comprised a brick house for the commandant, brick barracks for the military detachment and houses for the stock keeper, and log houses for the 50 convicts who worked the government farm. Never successful, the government farm was closed by Governor Darling in 1828.
Governor Darling, arriving in Sydney in 1825, promptly commenced a review of colonial administration and subsequently introduced vigorous reforms. On advice from Viscount Goderich, Darling divided colonial expenditure into two parts: one to cover civil administration, funded by New South Wales; the other for the convict system, funded by Britain.
By this time, J. McBrien and Robert Hoddle had surveyed the existing grants in the vicinity. Surveyor James Bym Richards began work on the south side of the river in 1826. But the town was apparently designed by Thomas Mitchell in 1830 and did not open until late 1833 after Richards had completed the layout of the streets with their two-road allotments. The first sales were held in 1831 before the survey was complete.
In 1832 the new Governor, Major General Sir Richard Bourke, visited Bathurst in October. He instructed the Surveyor General Major Thomas L. Mitchell to make arrangements for "opening the town of Bathurst without delay" and he in turn instructed the Assistant Surveyor at Bathurst J.B. Richards to lay out the blocks and streets. This was done in September 1833. It is believed that Major Mitchell named the streets, with George Street being named after King George III.
Thomas & Charles Bown / the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade
The name of Bown (spanning two generations) occupies a significant place in the history of firefighting in New South Wales and has a historical association with No. 470 Bell, as does the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade.
Thomas Bown arrived in Sydney from London, England, in June 1842. He was accompanied by Edward Harris. Both men were experienced professional firemen, and had been brought to the colony at the expense of the Mutual Fire Insurance Association (together with two fire engines) in order to form a fire brigade. Bown was appointed Principal Fireman and Superintendent of Water Works. Unfortunately, the brigade only lasted for thirteen months. The fire engines were consequently sold to the Sydney Corporation (ie City Council). Bown and Harris were then employed by the Corporation as firemen under the direction of the City Surveyor; however, Bown resigned just two months later in order to pursue his business interests, located in George Street.
By January 1851, the Sydney Corporation was reconsidering the justification and expense of maintaining a fire brigade, especially since it was coming under increased criticism concerning its capacity to provide adequate fire protection. This growing concern led a consortium of insurance companies to form its own fire brigade: the "Insurance Companies Fire Brigade" (also known as the Sydney Fire Establishment). Thomas Bown, was appointed Superintendent and the fire engine was housed at his premises in George Street, Brickfield Hill. Twice each month, this brigade of twelve volunteers (plus foreman Edward Harris) assembled for practice.
From 1854, the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade operated from a number of premises in George Street (all owned by Bown). In 1864, it occupied a three-storey, brick fire station, built at Bown's personal expense, at 105 Bathurst Street (opposite St Andrew's Cathedral). Tenders were called in September 1864, and the foundation stone was laid on 18 October 1864.
On the day that Bown retired as Superintendent of the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade (late 1867), it comprised twelve firemen; a foreman, an assistant foreman, a watchman, and three engineers. The brigade's working plant comprised a steam fire engine, three manual engines; a hose reel; and one hose and ladder carriage. Thomas Bown, died in January 1872 and was buried at St Peter's Cemetery, having (according to the Mayor of Sydney), "distinguished himself in the sphere of labour which he had marked out for himself - " the establishment and keeping in operation a fire brigade in Sydney'.SMH 4/5/1860:5
The retirement of Thomas Bown in 1867 did not conclude the family's association with the colony's fire protection. His nephew, Charles Bown, had arrived in the colony in 1857. Joining the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade, he was promoted to Foreman before succeeding his uncle as Superintendent in 1868, a position that he held until the passing of the Fire Brigades Act (1884). With the passing of the Act, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) was instituted under the control of a newly-instituted Fire Brigade's Board. The Insurance Companies Brigade accordingly disbanded, with many of the firemen joining the new Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The MFB then occupied the Bathurst Street fire station (leased to the Fire Brigades Board by Charles Bown, who had by that stage taken over the management of his uncle's business). Charles was elected to the Fire Brigades Board as its first Chairman: an office that he held until the institution of the state-wide, Board of Fire Commissioners of NSW, in 1910. He then became that board's first President.
Number 470 Bell Fire bells played an important role in nineteenth century firefighting - they not only called a brigade into action, but also directed neighbouring brigades to the fireground location. In 1857, Sydney was protected by the Insurance Companies Fire Brigade (located at George Street, Brickfields Hill) and two volunteer fire companies: No. 1 Company at Haymarket; and No. 2 Company in Phillip Street (near the current Justice and Police Museum).
The following excerpt is taken from an article written in June that year, which describes the completion of No. 1 Volunteer Company's new fire station in Pitt Street, Haymarket. It is significant in that it provides an insight into the deficiencies of Sydney's fire alarm system, and suggests a solution: '...The portion now finished includes ... the belfry, in which is placed an alarm bell ... With respect to the alarm bells of the two Volunteer companies, and the Fire Insurance Offices' brigade, it has been found that they are by no means adequate to give notice of the fire simultaneously, and that an alarm being sounded by the No. 1 Company's watchman in Pitt-street South, or by Mr Bown, on Brickfield-hill, cannot be heard by the No. 2 Company's watchman at their engine-house in the neighbourhood of the semi-Circular Quay; and vice versa. This defect in the arrangements has been lately brought under the notice of the Mayor and the Court of Aldermen, by Mr Torning, in the form of a memorial from the members of both Volunteer Companies, and the Insurance Brigade. The memorialists set forth the serious inconvenience and delays which arise from the want of a general alarm bell in the centrical (sic) part of the city, and they suggest that a fire bell of great capacity of sound should be hung on the top of the George-street Police Office, and watchmen ... stationed night and day; and who, by certain strokes of the bell, shall indicate the ward in which a fire may be discovered, and the firemen be thus enabled to direct their engines, simultaneously, to the scene of danger. They inform the Court, that Mr Bown has for sale the largest bell in Sydney, whose tones can be distinctly heard in every part of the city ... '.SMH 18/6/1857:6 This reference, in June 1857, to Thomas Bown possessing "a large bell" is the earliest indication that Number 470 Bell had arrived in Sydney. Number 470 Bell was manufactured by Glasgow bellfounder: John C. Wilson, on 20 January 1855. Wilson's company, "Gorbals Brass and Bell Foundry", supplied numerous bells to the colonies (including Sydney and Melbourne). The Company's register of bells describes bell number 470 as a rough finished (ie unpolished), , Turret Bell of . It also records that the bell was sold to Thomas Bown through an agent (Mr Alexander) who sold numerous bells to the Australian colonies.
The lack of a substantial fire alarm system gave rise to various suggestions for rectifying the situation, with the system used in San Francisco being a dominating topic of discussion: