Last Saturday night I had the great pleasure of attending a dinner to mark the 100th year of the Mornington fire brigade.
At a meeting in late 1916 a group of volunteers resolved to form a Mornington fire brigade, which was duly established once all the necessary support had been received from the state in early 1917.
The brigade’s diligent and effective service to our Mornington community for more than 100 years has been recorded in the book Ready and Willing We Strive to Save by Colin Fisher, OAM.
Operating as an entirely volunteer brigade for more than 90 years until integration and transfer to a new fire station in 2008, the Mornington brigade has been an excellent example of the best possible fire service model — volunteers and career firefighters working closely together. That is of course a model that is now threatened by the Andrews government.
I wish to place on record my congratulations to the brigade on achieving this tremendous milestone, and particularly my thanks not only to the current volunteers but also to their many predecessors who have kept my community safe for more than a century.