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Dennis fire engine history sought
We recently stopped at the original Ettamoggah Pub, just north of Albury and came across this somewhat neglected Dennis fire engine. Once one of the showpieces at this Table Top institution, the old engine needed some TLC.
However, we suspect it’s unlikely to get any attention in the short term, because the Pub and its provenance are up for sale. That maybe a good thing, because we reckoned the whole establishment needed some serious TLC.
The Dennis is branded ‘Ettamogah Pub Fire Brigade’, but that’s publicity nomenclature. We were interested to find out more about its history, so we contacted our mates at the Museum of Fire, in Penrith, NSW and received a quick response:
“It’s a Dennis 250/400 that spent its entire working life at Barham Fire Brigade from 1933 until 1963,” said the Firey’s curator. “However, I’m not sure about its history after it was removed from active service, or how it ended up at the Ettamogah Pub”.
Maybe, one of our Historic Vehicles website visitors can shed some light on the intervening 60+ years.
Incidentally, if you wanted to buy the Ettamogah Pub property that includes its camping ground and the complete Ettamogah brand, including the intellectual property (IP), franchising rights and a rare collection of around 1500 original cartoons, you’d need access to around A$50 million, the selling agents reckon.
The property on its own – without the IP, franchising rights and collection – was advertised in 2019 for around $3 million, but it didn’t sell.
The old Dennis was once an Ettamogah showpiece, as this photo indicates
The Ettamogah Pub was inspired by artist Ken Maynard, who started drawing images of it in 1959. His illustrations were later published in the now-defunct weekly picture magazine, the Australasian Post.
The Albury venue was built by businessman Lindsay Cooper and first opened in 1987. According to the Pub’s website, the aim was to create a themed family restaurant that would become a tourist icon.
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