Southland Fire Museum president Les Costigan said since he was appointed to the role eight years ago, he had wanted to do something to preserve a historic memorial stone that honoured the fallen firefighters from the Invercargill Brigade that went overseas to fight for their country during World War 1.
"While the majority of them did come back, it was still [to] remember their services for the country and — over and above — their service for the fire brigade."
The stone was originally unveiled on November 30, 1919 at the old fire brigade station at Esk St. Mr Costigan, who has been a volunteer firefighter for 42 years, said he did not know when the stone was brought to the museum but since then it had been stored there.
He would hate to lose this memory as the fire services were like a big family, he said.
"We had this memorial stone seated in a corner and it is quite a heavy stone. I was very fearful that if it got dropped, it would get damaged and then we could lose part of our history.
"I felt it was my duty, so to speak, to record all of this."
Three months ago, Mr Costigan found the solution for this problem when Ann Robbie and her husband Peter approached him, interested in restoring the stone.
Mr Costigan said Mrs Robbie took the piece away to be cleaned, plastered and remounted it and it was now ready to have a new life in a more prominent location at the museum.
Along with the restoration, members of the museum also started looking through the old records and news articles to find more information about the stone and its honoured members.
They managed to track some of the families and they were invited to take part of an unveiling ceremony for the memorial stone on November 26 — 103 years after the first ceremony — at the Southland Fire Service Museum.
"I’m getting very excited, actually. All members here are looking forward ... I think it is something that we can show that is what the museum is all about.
"It is not just sticking something in the wall ... it is recording the people and that way the history of the fire brigade is continued on."
The ceremony will be open to the public and starts at 3pm, he said.
