NY fireman's family meets PM

It started with a battle-scarred fire helmet and ended in morning tea with the prime minister.

The Dowdell family of New York met Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Melbourne on Tuesday, less than a year after she used their husband and father, Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell, as an example of the ties between the two nations in her address to the US Congress.

Lt Dowdell was one of 343 firefighters who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Just a year earlier he had been part of a team of New York City firefighters who worked with their Australian counterparts to help them prepare for the terrorist threat before the Sydney Olympic Games.

At the conclusion of the training, the New York firefighters presented the Australians with a banged-up fire helmet - damaged in the line of duty - signed by the group, including Lt Dowdell.

That helmet became the symbol of the Dowdells' Australian ties when Australian firefighter Rob Frey returned it to Lt Dowdell's son James, now also a firefighter.

James, his brother Patrick, a veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, and their mother Rose met Ms Gillard to thank her for her kind words in her speech to Congress.

They also added another symbol to the Dowdell-Australia connection, presenting the prime minister with a piece of steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Centre.

The Dowdells are in Australia to meet Mr Frey and Lt Dowdell's other Australian firefighter friends.