The 50th anniversary of Violet Town’s Southern Aurora railway tragedy will be acknowledged at a series of events in the town.
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From a vigil in memory of the nine people who died on Thursday, February 7, to the official opening of the Southern Aurora Memorial Garden on Sunday, February 10, Violet Town will experience a rollercoaster of emotions.
Southern Aurora Memorial committee chairman Gary Abley said while the tragedy happened 50 years ago, the effects still lingered for many.
He said although the collision was just a story for some, it was a horrific reality for many others, and hoped by opening a public space to recognise the event, people would use it as a place to reflect or let go of things they had been holding on to.
Mr Abley said the memorial garden, which was in the pipeline for about 18 months, had been an old paddock full of oil drums, transformed into a beautiful space.
“We’ve planted nine trees in reference to the nine people who lost their lives,” he said.
“We’ve got a shelter with a barbecue area, we’ll have seating around the place with interpretive boards.”
To make the area an extra bit special, the committee had an old train carriage brought in to be a part of the garden.
“At the moment it’s got some graffiti on the outside but we’ll clean her up — shine it up, put the windows in and inside we’ll deck it out how the old sleeping cars used to look like at the time,” Mr Abley said.
“Our idea is to have some decking that will go up beside it so that disabled people can get up with a ramp and people can look into it at what would be platform level.”
Mr Abley said works on the train would take place during the next 12 months.
He said the garden would officially be known as the Southern Aurora Memorial Garden, but would also go by ‘Helping Hands Garden’.
“In a sense it’s a nickname really, ‘Helping Hands Garden’, because there’s heaps of photos from the crash of the local community and surrounding people with their hands up in the air trying to get out the injured and it’s just all this show of hands,” he said.
Mr Abley said a walking track would also be installed from the garden to the collision site.
“There’s also going to be a track out to the monument where the crash happened — so we’ll have interpretive boards out there as well to tell the story.”
He said between the path and the garden, the committee was delighted to have received extensive support from various organisations who generously contributed funds, services and goods to make the project possible.
Mr Abley said in the lead-up to the garden opening a range of events would be happening in the town starting with a vigil on the morning of the anniversary.
“We’re going to read out the nine names that died and gong a bell for each of them,” he said.
“Then at 7.03 am we’ll have a minute’s silence — that’s pretty much the exact time that the accident happened.”
The four days of events would also include a parade of old emergency vehicles from the time of the collision, including the first ambulance to attend the scene in 1969, and a Southern Aurora exhibition.
“The Sydney museum have loaned us their Southern Aurora collection for our exhibition, which is incredible, we’re just so thankful for that.”
He said the town’s well-known market would be taking place with live music to follow on the Saturday night and plenty happening during the weekend.
The vigil will start at 6.30 am on Thursday, February 7, at the collision site on Mcdiarmids Rd, Violet Town. For information, visit www.southernauroraviolettown.com.au
How the tragedy unfolded
The Southern Aurora railway collision was a head-on crash which happened just after 7 am on February 7, 1969.
A freight train and a passenger train were due to pass one another at a crossing loop in Violet Town when the driver of the passenger train suffered from heart failure 9.7 km from the stop.
The freight train driver had slowed when approaching Violet Town and ready to enter the loop, but realised the oncoming train had not done the same.
He applied emergency braking and started flashing the headlight in an attempt to warn its driver.
The two trains collided at a closing speed of about 172 km, forcing the locomotive of the Aurora and several of the goods wagons into the air.
Six of the passenger carriages were derailed and one was completely crushed by the other wreckage.
The wreckage piled up to be more than 9 m high.
It was later found that the driver of the passenger train, John Bowden, 52, had suffered cardiac failure and had been dead for at least 10 minutes before the crash.
Coroner H.W. Pascoe found that the fireman and guard of the Southern Aurora were partly to blame for the crash.
The coroner said the “real blame” should be attached to Bowden for continuing a responsibility he was not physically well enough to perform.
The passenger train driver knew he had a
pre-existing heart condition and was advised by his doctor he could die at any time and he should retire.
When asked what would happen if he died suddenly at the controls, he said there would be another crew member who was qualified to stop the train in an emergency.
As it happened, there were two other crew members on board at the time who were qualified to perform the task but both failed to act.
Nine people died and more than 100 people were injured as a result of the tragedy.
The coroner made several recommendations involving more stringent medical tests and major changes in warning devices and in the layouts of various sections of the train.
He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure on the eight people who were killed in the crash, and death by natural disease, namely cardiac failure, on Bowden.