Pics from the Past | Shepparton Fire Station

By Geoff Allemand

Oct 29, 2023

History: Maude St Fire Station, 1930 built. Photo by Contributed

Shepparton’s brand spanking new fire station in Archer St has been open now for a bit over 12 months. The previous first station building in Maude St near Coles/Kmart, which opened in 1968, has been sold, I believe, so it will be interesting to see what happens to the site.

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Shepparton’s Fire Brigade was first established in 1888 from a group of 22 volunteers, with Mr T. Buchanan elected as captain. Advertisements were placed in Melbourne newspapers (The Age), “Wanted — A fire bell, state size, weight, distance sound travels. Apply W. Ford, Jun., Sec. Fire Brigade, Shepparton.”

Looking back: Shepparton's first fire station in Maude St, c1903. Photo by Contributed

The shire initially provided an apparatus shed in Fryers St next to the water tower. In 1903, a brick fire station was built in Maude St, south of the Fraser St corner, with a fire observation tower. The building was designed by Shepparton’s own architect, J.A.K. Clarke.

“The local fire brigade on Monday removed their firefighter’s paraphernalia from their old quarters in Fryers St to the new station in Maude St. The new building is not quite complete, but it is efficiently advanced to accommodate the reels, hose, carriage, etc. The change was made to enable the contractor (Mr G. Mundy) to remove the old station and tack it on to the new one.” (Numurkah Leader 1903)

This interesting article in the Shepparton News appeared in 1917. “FALSE FIRE ALARMS. Within an hour of each other, at a very early hour of the morning on Saturday, the fire alarms near the Goulburn Valley Hotel (High St) and at the intersection of Maude and Sobraon Streets were broken by some drunken or other class of idiots.

“The patience of the local brigadiers has at last been apparently exhausted, for Captain C. A. Rundle intends to proceed to Melbourne next week to apply to the Country Fire Brigades’ Board to have all the street fire alarm wires in Shepparton cut off.

“If this is done, on the occasion of outbreaks of fire in future, people will have to resort to private telephones or proceed to the Fire Brigade Station and report it.”

In 1930, a new fire station was built on the same site. In 1934, the Town Hall/Council Chambers, a grand two-story building, was built next to it on the north side.

The fire station remained on this site until 1968, when another new building was built further south along Maude near Coles/Kmart. This building served Shepparton’s Fire Brigade very well for many years until it needed upgrading again with another new location at Karibok Park, east of the old Youth Club Hall. The recently opened, state-of-the-art fire station in Archer St is jointly run by Fire Rescue Victoria and the CFA.