By Renee Wood
Warburton resident Barry Marshall has been awarded the Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award for dedicating decades of his life to the community.
Mr Marshall has been part of the Warburton CFA brigade for more than 65 years and a loyal employee to Martyrs Bus Service, working with the company for almost five decades.
The award came as a surprise to Mr Marshall.
“I just felt a bit humble; I didn’t expect it – no way in the world. So I suppose it puts another feather in your cap, I think that’s what it is,” he said.
Another feather in the cap indeed, standing as the longest serving member of the Warburton brigade, and 22 years as captain under his belt.
Mr Marshall signed up as CFA volunteer in 1956 thanks to his boss at Martyrs, Max Spark was also the captain of the brigade at the time and said he enjoyed the CFA games in the early days.
“We started off in 1956 when I officially joined the fire brigade and then competed in summer competitions and we went all over the country side to different towns.”
Mr Marshall said becoming captain in 1978 was a big highlight within his fire fighting career and he played significant roles in historical fire events, facing major bushfires in the Upper Yarra in 1962 and 1967.
Ash Wednesday in 1983 was another devastating time Mr Marshall led his team through.
“We started up about seven on a Wednesday night and 101 vehicles came through in the first three or four days to support.
“The fire went through until the following Tuesday and then we had a thunderstorm come across and wash all the hills down at Millgrove and washed all these logs across the highway and closed the highway for about three hours. Instead of putting out fires, you’re pushing off mud and debris off the roads.”
The past captain was also part of the 2009 Black Saturday Fire’s defence, going across to Healesville and Yarra Glen to support crews.
“I have a lot of respect and pride for the CFA – you meet people over the years and get involved with another town and you always introduce yourself and have a chat with crews in that town and they always welcome you.
Forming connections with local emergency services was key to his captaincy, conducting meetings with local police and arranging for radios to connect services.
“I use to go down at least once a fortnight and spend an hour or so with the police and have a talk to them about what’s going on and what troubles we’ve had with people in town or if we’ve had a fire bug around.
“In Warburton, we got a radio installed in the police vehicle so they could communicate with us and we also got one for Yarra Junction and the ambulance service in the 90s”
Mr Marshall’s was appreciative of his long term employees for their support when duty called.
“Martyrs were very good to be when I was the captain or in the fire brigade, any time I went for fires I was always given work off and no docked pay.”
And it wasn’t just on the fire ground where Mr Marshall supported the community, as he joined several groups and appeals.
He was part of starting the CFA’s children’s appeal and always joining the Santa runs at Christmas time and after Mr Marshall retired from Martyrs he joined the community bank for several years.
“My old ex-captain Max Sparks was one of my mentors over the years and I always thought while you’re captain, you always put something back into the community what you take out.”
Mr Marshall has previously been honoured for his dedication to the CFA, becoming a Gold Star badge recipient in 1986 from the Victorian Fire Brigade Association for 30 years of service.
In 2000, he received an Australian Fire Service Medal and wears five bars on his National Medal with pride – the latest bars were awarded at Christmas.
Mr Marshall stepped down as a fire fighter in October last year at 84 years old and remains a brigade member helping with operations and servicing.
Mr Marshall credits his wife, Sue, and family for their support over the years.
“When you come home and you’re stressed or anything like that, I could always sit down and talk it all out and work it through, that was a very, very helpful thing over the years.”
The Lifetime Achievement award recipient also hopes younger people will continue to join the CFA and aspire to stick around for life.
“Work your way through that’s the easiest way, put you mind into it and learn to live with it to put something back into the community. “
