Country Fire Brigades Board

Good things come in pair! Not only do I now have a CFBB button to add to my collection, but  two from two makers. They also came with a cloth badge, and a set of CFA buttons, so they probably belonged to a Watchem resident.

The CFBB was established in 1890, and superceeded by the Country Fire Board (CFA) in 1945. It had responsibility over all fire brigades based more than 10 miles from Melbourne, but represented urban brigades in cities and larger towns like Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo for the most part.

Watchem is a town in north-western Victoria. Watchem applied for affiliation with the CFBB in 1915. However, according to their Facebook page, the Watchem CFA had its 100th anniversary in 2020; perhaps, due to its small size, it did not qualify until 1920. This photo from Google Street View in 2008 shows it still has a small station.

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