A bell stolen by a pair of drunken teenage brothers 50 years ago has been returned to a north-west Queensland fire station, along with a touching letter of contrition.
Mount Isa Queensland Fire and Emergency Services firefighters with the returned bell. Photo: Twitter / Qld Fire & Emergency
The handwritten note, which was sent to Mount Isa Fire Station earlier this year, was filed away in a desk and all but forgotten until the arrival of a rather heavy package a few weeks later.
At that point, the letter - addressed to the "chief fire officer" and signed only with a first name - was dug out to make sense of the parcel's contents.
"In the early '70s my brother and myself were 15 years old and 17 years old, doing apprenticeships and cadetships at Mount Isa Mines, and stayed in the old Base Supply Depot barracks," the letter read.
"Drinking was about the only activity available, apart from sport.
"One night near the barracks there was a big party at one of the houses.
"A long story short," the letter continued.
"My brother was killed in a mine - we shifted his widow to Mackay.
"Recently my other brother died and his widow rang me and said what was I going to do with this bell?
"I don't know how she came to have this bell, 50 or so years later.
"Anyway, I think this bell was a fire bell stored while renovations were being done at your station."
'A good thing'
Firefighter Bastien Vincent said emergency service workers often received letters of thanks from the public, but correspondence of this nature - not to mention the hardware that succeeded it - was certainly a first.
He said the bell and the miner's letter would have pride of place somewhere in the office.
"I think he felt a bit of guilt and just wanted to do a good thing," Vincent said.
Staff have declined to reveal the first name provided by the author, but are concerned the number given at the end of letter asking for a text to confirm that the bell arrived is incorrect.
Readers are encouraged to contact the station if this story rings a bell.
- ABC
