George Firman

GEORGE FIRMAN
George Firman was born in West Hartlepool, Durham, England on the 10th of December 1877.   George was the second youngest child of 13 and trained as an Engineer.

 

In April 1908 George arrived in Dunedin on the ship “Tongariro”.   He worked in Invercargill and then for a contractor at the Waipori Project.   He also spent a brief period working on the installation of generators at Lake Coleridge.    In 1919 he was appointed Fitter/Engineer at the Waipori Falls Development which was then owned by Dunedin City.   He and his family lived in one of the staff residences in the Village and the family of 5 attended the Waipori Falls School.   At Waipori he was responsible for the installations of generating equipment for the No. 1 station and part of the turbines in No. 2.   Owing to his special knowledge he was later also involved in changing the runners and overhauling the turbine when he was asked to return after retirement to supervise new installations in the No. 1 station.

 

According to employment records from the Dunedin City Archives he retired at the age of 69 years, then moving to Dunedin.   George’s youngest son, George Jnr. who was an Apprentice Turner at Hillside Workshops, joined the Airforce during World War II, never to return.   His name is included with three other young men on the Waipori Falls School Memorial now installed in the grounds of the Power Station.

 

George snr.  died in January 1965 at the age of 87.