The new Bathurst Fire Brigade Board immediately set about its task, ordering a fire engine from England and instructing an architect to prepare plans for a substantial fire station. Tenders were called and, in September 1886, the Board accepted that of Dunkley & Bartlett. The two-storey fire station (in Williams Street) was completed in early 1887, and "officially opened" on Saturday 25 June 1887. James Butcher, the first captain, recalled in 1910 that the observation/bell tower was not part of the original plans: "The contract price [of the fire station] was £1100, but subsequently a tower was erected at a cost of about £165".Butcher 1910:para. 3 Eighteen years later, Station Officer George Butcher wrote that, once the brigade had been formed:
