Still got it, after all these years...

This turntable-ladder fire truck turned heads in 1968, Steve Hepburn reports.

It was a sight to see in 1968.

Actually nearly 60 years later it is still a sight to see.

The 1968 Merryweather AEC Monarch turntable-ladder fire truck was a truck for all uses for the Dunedin Fire Brigade.

The fire engine, with its 33m (100ft) ladder, was needed as Dunedin was slowly becoming the home of some tall buildings.

Retired Dunedin firefighter Errol Thompson said the structure of fire brigades was different back then.

Brigades were split along city and provincial lines and relatively independent of each other.

The Dunedin brigade had wanted a ladder appliance for some time and dispatched a couple of men to the United Kingdom to buy one.

But they were not alone. The Auckland and Wellington brigades were also in the market for the same thing.

Dunedin, though, won out. The brigade bought the demonstration vehicle which was also being eyed up by brigades in the United Kingdom as well as others in the Commonwealth.

Merryweather had been making fire engines since they were powered by steam and had a reputation for reliability.

Dunedin paid just under £35,000 (the equivalent of $NZ1.2 million today) for the vehicle and brought the engine back to Dunedin.

Mr Thompson said funding in those days for fire services came from the Insurance Council, with half the funding, while local government contributed about 40% and central government contributed the rest.

It was something new for the brigade and even before it was commissioned the engine was brought into service when the city’s teachers’ college went on fire.

The Dunedin Teachers’ College fire in late 1968 destroyed 10 classrooms, 20 offices, the gymnasium, assembly hall and two common rooms.

But the new ladder truck worked well and it was set to be a standard draw to many fires in the city over the next 20-plus years. The hose for the ladder was 40m long, so could go to the top of the ladder.

Naturally enough the ladder was always something which stood out. The only other one of its exact type in the southern hemisphere was in Perth. They used to practise on the tall buildings round the place, Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson can remember practising on John Wickliffe House. It worked on many fires around the city and also helped educate the public.

It was retired in the late 1980s and was given to the Dunedin Fire Brigade Restoration Society, who will be looking to make it a major display with their new development on Otago Aero Club land on the Taieri Plain.