Thanks to the work of the city’s firefighters and the wider community, the Number 470 Fire Bell, located at Bathurst Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) station, was recognised for its significant history.

Bathurst FRNSW retained deputy captain Dave Pennells has been a firefighter for 40 years, and has long been interested in preserving the city’s firefighting history.

“I can’t believe that’s happened to it, we just wanted to restore it,” he said at yesterday’s heritage listing ceremony, which was attended by Minister for Heritage Rob Stokes.

Mr Stokes presented a certificate and said the bell played a central role in the city’s firefighting history.

“The bell is held in high esteem by our local firefighters and amongst crews across NSW, who regard it as an important part of their history and heritage,” he said.

Deputy captain Pennells said the bell, named after its casting number, may have started its grand history in Scotland in 1855, but it ended up hidden away from the world in a disused building in Bathurst before being rediscovered.

“The fire bell was found at number one George Street, in the old heritage building,” deputy captain Pennells said.

The large brass bell was manufactured in Glasgow in 1855, and was later imported to Australia by Thomas Bown, one of the state’s first professional firefighters.

It was then installed in Sydney’s Bathurst Street fire station in 1860 in the days when it would toll to call firefighters to the station to attend to a call out.

It was used until 1884, when metropolitan fires were increasingly reported via telephone, and was then purchased by the Bathurst Fire Brigade Board in 1887.

From 1888 to 1963 it was used at Bathurst Fire Station at its original location on William Street, where the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre now stands.

Deputy captain Pennells and captain Kevin Ryan worked to restore the bell and the city’s original fire observation tower so they could be displayed together.

“I’ve been a firefighter for 40 years and I just wanted to give something back,” deputy captain Pennells said. 

“Out of the 53 [bells] they cast there’s only one other, the one at headquarters [in Sydney].”