Welcome

We are a vital link in the Victoria Firefighter Emergency Services Sector. This website aims to link our members and the community through shared knowledge of our purpose and around the wide array of issues that we encounter. It is difficult to think of any area of public policy that isn’t somehow related to fire prevention, firefighting and rescue. The website serves as an evolving resource in the face of the challenges our members confront daily.

In The Beginning

It was January 22,1911. A group of Melbourne firefighters gathered at Fire Station number 1 to formally establish your Union. They elected George Tuck as the first secretary, Arthur Collins president and set up a delegate structure with a representative from each fire district.

Within a year, John Grace took over as Union president, and in 1912 Bill Friend became secretary. Four years later, James Murphy, a cordial manufacturer and soon to be Labor MLA for Port Melbourne in the Victorian parliament, was appointed secretary. As a paid official recruited from outside the fire service, Murphy remained in office for twenty years.

At the outset, the UFU had 173 members and a bank balance of £21.12.6. The Union decided to affiliate to the THC (Melbourne Trades Hall Council), join the Australian Labor Party and register the Union under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act

Today

The UFU Victorian Branch represents more the 5,000 members (Current and Past) across Victoria in continuous campaigns to achieve improved working conditions for the men and women who confront dangerous and often life-threatening situations in their daily work and their supporting staff.

Secretary Peter Marshall