International artist Sarah Hickey has completed her depiction of Captain Minnie Webb, at the Armidale City Centre Motor Inn. Owners the Mitchel family were present, as were Mayor Simon Marshall and Brad Widders, welcomed everyone to the celebrations. Rosemary Torbay attended and delighted everyone with photographs, badges and articles about the history of Minnie Webb. Netta Darby, Rosemary's Torbay's, mother Netta Darby was a Webb family member. Hayley Ward from the Armidale Folk Museum provided a great interest when a replica women's uniform was shown to the crowd.
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Minnie was the daughter of an Armidale fire captain who supported the first women's volunteer fire fighting auxiliary called the Amazons between 1901 and 1905. The motel is being refurbished by the Mitchell family who invested in Sarah's talents. "Although women of that era did not have the right to vote, and the men got paid to fight fires, they began to fight fires voluntarily," Sarah Hickey explained.
