Eric Hurt, Chief Fire Marshal Warwick Farm

Hullo All;
Could anyone tell me if Eric Hurt and his wife Gloria are still alive?
I ran into Eric at an HSRCA meeting about 7 years ago.
Somebody at the meeting mentioned that Gloria was not well.
Living in fair Van Diemens Land you have a tendency to miss out on general goss.
Any information welcomed.
Cheers.
Roger.

My first meeting with Eric was in 1963 at his home in Bulli, north of Wollongong to learn the art of being a Fire Marshall at NSW Race Meetings.

He & his wife were always good to us that were under his control, not only looking after us as Father/ Mother at race meetings but involving us from the South Coast in Social & Training at their home.

There were at least 12 of us from surrounding Suburbs of Bulli that were on his team during the 1960, Marshalling at Warwick Farm, Oran Park, Catalina Park & Bathurst, in real life Eric was the Local Butcher.

Eric had a long standing with the ARDC & was awarded the Australian Sports Medal on 24 October 2000 for being an “Official 1954-1994. Flag Marshall to NSW Chief Fire Marshall 1957-94”

Hi Dan;
Thanks for the reply.
I worked with Eric for over 25 years at all circuits.
You may remember his offsider Hilton Gambling.
Hilton passed away a few years ago.
I believe that he still lives in the Illawarra area somewhere.
From memory he used to work in a butchers shop in Bulli many years ago.
Not sure, but I think the owner of the shops surname was Williams.
Thanks again. Cheers.
Roger.

Hey, don't forget Amaroo!

Eric and Gloria were particularly important at the meetings run by Mary Packard, a great couple full of enthusiasm and friendly to all. Hilton... the one with a gammy leg, right? Shame about that, he can't have been very old.

Hi Dan;
Thanks for the reply.
I worked with Eric for over 25 years at all circuits.
You may remember his offsider Hilton Gambling.
Hilton passed away a few years ago.
I believe that he still lives in the Illawarra area somewhere.
From memory he used to work in a butchers shop in Bulli many years ago.
Not sure, but I think the owner of the shops surname was Williams.
Thanks again. Cheers.
Roger.

Roger, yes I remember Hilton, sorry to hear of his passing.
The Butcher shop is correct, it is or was situated on the top of the hill in Bulli on the Princess Highway, funly enough my ex Brother in law was a Williams & worked there, small world.
Not sure if Eric or wife is still with us, there is no listing in the phone book of E.Hurt in Bulli, if he is still with us he must be in his 80's by now.
When were you with Eric's team?

Hey, don't forget Amaroo!

Eric and Gloria were particularly important at the meetings run by Mary Packard, a great couple full of enthusiasm and friendly to all. Hilton... the one with a gammy leg, right? Shame about that, he can't have been very old.

Ray do you have any photo's of Eric???

No, but I doubt they'd be all that difficult to find...

Someone somewhere will have taken pics of his fire extinguishing demos if nothing else.

Hullo Again Dan;
I started on the fire crew in I think 1967.
Worked with Eric until he gave it away in 1995 I think it was.
Still stayed on the crew until we moved to Tassie just on 10 years ago and am still active down here.
Hilton was in his early seventies when he passed away.
I think it was Ray asking about photos of Eric.
My suggestion would be the Lance Ruting collection.
You know what Lance used to be like with a camera.
Anywhere and everywhere sometimes at VERY inappropriate times!!
Cheers.
Roger.

Both Eric and Gloria are still with us.
Eric has suffered prostate problems and is not too well, but Gloria still gets around.
Contact for a phone number.

It wasn't me... I answered it...

But I certainly knew Lance Needs and his potential for sticking cameras where they weren't wanted. But I would reckon that the RCN files would turn up something too, they're with Chevron now, as firefighting demos were sometimes photographed and Eric was in the thick of them.

Also if anyone took photos of the trophy presentations at the AARC meetings at Amaroo, Eric and Gloria are likely in the background somewhere.

Hullo Again Dan;
I started on the fire crew in I think 1967.
Worked with Eric until he gave it away in 1995 I think it was.
Still stayed on the crew until we moved to Tassie just on 10 years ago and am still active down here.
Hilton was in his early seventies when he passed away.
I think it was Ray asking about photos of Eric.
My suggestion would be the Lance Ruting collection.
You know what Lance used to be like with a camera.
Anywhere and everywhere sometimes at VERY inappropriate times!!
Cheers.
Roger.

Roger I believe that I had moved on before you became part of the Fire Crew as I was running cars in Hill Climbs & Speedway by 1967.

If I remember correctly A Fire Marshall had to carry a Tool Kit with him at all times, 6 inch Adjustable Spanner, Large straight blade Screw Driver, a large pair of Pliers or Multigrips (Pliers perferred as they could cut cable) & a good sharp knife.

Eric tought me that if an accident occured the first thing to do if there was no fire was to isolate the ignition system, disconnect the positive side of the battery then check on the Driver & assist to extract him or her if they were in a resonable state of mind with no injuries or wait for Ambulance assistance if not & the last thing to do was if it was a big accident was to cut the Seat Belt so that it could not be used again.

After all that had been attended to & the race was continuing you went back to your post & at the end of the race assisted the Flaggies in cleaning up any left over mess that could affect Drivers of the next race, so that was the life of a Fire Marshall in the early 1960's, had it changed much when you came onto the scene Roger.

Hi Dan;
No,it had not changed when I first joined the crew and there was very little change for quite a number of years.
Basically the only really big changes were fire resistant (Proban) overalls and whatever fire resistant underwear you could afford.
(Pure Wool, Wool TT Nomex.) also balaclavas and decent gloves.
Still carried the shifter,screwdriver though but no knife.
Just a thought.
Just imagine cutting a belt now!
You would probably end up in a lawsuit!!
Another thing that changed was footwear.
Before,if you were lucky , you used second hand boots from the Fire Brigade stores.
This changed when the Defence Dept. phased out leather Sea Boots for the Navy and they came into disposals stores.
These were brand new absolutely the highest quality leather and for what they were cheap as chips.
Only thing you had to do was put a rubber sole on them.
I had a pair of them for years and years.
Really the firies job has not chaged much albeit having better equipment back up etc.
Still,a typical officials job getting bagged by all the armchair experts under the sun.
Nothing changed there I can assure you!!
Cheers.
Roger.