Clothing engineer Fiona Clements applies the buttons to an
early-1860s Dunedin fireman's tunic replica in her Waitati
workshop yesterday. Photo by Linda Robertson.
A Dunedin fire-fighting artefact has been resurrected
from the ashes of history.
Waitati designer Fiona Clements made the replica of an
original Dunedin Fire Brigade tunic for her father, Paul
Clements, who is chairman of the Dunedin Fire Brigade
Restoration Society.
"Dad wanted one to wear when he drives around in the old fire
engines," she said this week.
Mr Clements (61) is a 40-year veteran of the Dunedin Central
Station and is the author of a book about the Dunedin fire
service, Ready Aye Ready.
"He hasn't seen it yet, because he's up in Christchurch
helping out with the earthquake," Ms Clements, a third-year
fashion design student at the Otago Polytechnic, said.
The tunic was the first one worn by the Dunedin Fire Brigade.
"It was called a frock coat, because there was a skirt on the
bottom. It was ridiculous how much work was involved. It has
layers and layers underneath, which all had to be
hand-stitched. It certainly makes you appreciate the skill of
the old seamstresses 150 years ago."
Ms Clements, who describes herself as a "clothing engineer",
rather than a fashion designer, based the tunic on an 1863
photograph of Dunedin fireman Captain Rees.
"There was no physical example of the jacket in existence. I
even contacted the London and Melbourne metropolitan museums
and they couldn't tell me anything," Ms Clements said.
"It's a basic jacket, but it was much harder to make than I
thought, because you can't see where the seams are in the
photo. So, there was a lot of research and quite a bit of
guesswork involved," she said.
"For the material, I first tried felting an old Salvation
Army blanket, but that didn't work, so I managed to source
some material in Dunedin."
The frock coat was worn with black trousers with a red
stripe, a black leather armband with the letters FB [Fire
Brigade], a leather helmet for attending fires and a glazed
cap for other occasions.
The design was based on the London Metropolitan Fire Brigade
uniform and was eventually replaced in 1864.
"The reason it went out of style was because the material
became popular to make women's coats out of and it got too
expensive to make."
The 150th anniversary of the Dunedin Fire Brigade will be
held in Dunedin from March 10 to 12.
- nigel.benson@odt.co.nz
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.