The Forests Commission purchased two Bedford RLHS cab/chassis trucks that were imported into Australia from England in January 1959.
John Phillips and Syd Bloxidge were flown to Sydney by GV Clarke Motors to drive the vehicles back to Melbourne.
They were assembled as tip trucks for use on the Tamboritha Road project north of Heyfield.
Based on their success, additional trucks were purchased and fabricated into FCV fire tankers.
They were designed using the configuration of the earlier ex-military Blitz tankers, with a rectangular tray-mounted water tank and a manually operated hose reel attached to the tank lid. Grab rails were installed along each side of the tray.
The water tank had three connecting compartments providing a total capacity of 600 gallons.
The Howard pump engine equipped with a rope start could be temperamental and difficult to start and was later replaced with an electric start 7 HP Wisconsin Gaam 30B pump.
This example of a Bedford bullnose tanker from Casterton is refilling at the Stawell fire #16 in March 1964. The truck was notable for having a forward-opening windscreen. Les Twigg was driving but the other two people are unknown.
Photo: Gregor Wallace Collection.
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 