Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Sunshine Railway Accident 1908



In my search for notable burials for Taphophile Tragics I have stumbled on two separate memorials relating to a railway accident in Sunshine in 1908; one was in Kew Cemetery and the other in Ballarat Cemetery. Above is the memorial to George Wilkie McCall at Kew.

I was surprised to learn that on the night of Easter Monday, 20 April 1908, 44 people were killed and over 400 injured when a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a mail train from Ballarat, which was just leaving the station. Around 1,100 people were aboard the two trains. Almost all of the casualties were from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives. A temporary mortuary was set up at Spencer Street Station (now Southern Cross), and flags at the station flew at half-mast. The disaster was the worst train crash in Victorian railway history. 

12 comments:

  1. How sad Joe ... To think there were 1,100 people traveling by train ... That's a far cry from the number who travel by rail now days.

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  2. An horrific event that must have shaken the Ballarat and Bendigo communities and probably Sunshine too! What intrigues me too is that Flora, a daughter fell asleep at 26 years of age. That sounds as if there may be a story attached too!

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  3. Just checked...Norman Oswald GOODLIFFE married Flora MCCALL in East Melbourne on 15 Sept 1917. Both aged 26. 21 November 1917 he embarked on HMAT "Nestor" for Suez, embarked HMS "Sarnia" in Alexandria for Southampton via Taranto, arriving on 9 January 1918.

    He was advised that his wife Flora had died of TB on 20 April 1918. More here...http://www.frogs.co.nz/goodliffe/thomas3-goodliffe.htm

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  4. That sure sounds like a horrible accident.

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  5. I also found it interesting that they lost a daughter in her 20s. Maybe back then, 'falling asleep' was a code for TB much as we could not bear to write 'cancer' in death notices until relatively recently.

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  6. I always find the phrase 'the call was sudden but found him ready' rather ironic. It makes it sound like he had a choice! Sad for the family to lose 3 children.

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  7. Wow! I was not aware of this bit of our history, Joe. Fascinating what you find out in cemeteries!

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  8. I somehow doubt that poor George was actually ready to go!
    An accident like that would have certainly left an indelible mark on the town.

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  9. how sad!
    and im amazed by the wording on the stone, too.
    "found him ready", and "fell asleep". hmmm...
    everyone died so young!

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  10. What a tragic accident, but such a beautiful monument. George was indeed dearly loved.

    Herding Cats

    http://seathreepeeo.blogspot.co.uk

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  11. Once again, the comments add soo much to our posts in this meme. Good stuff, Joe ... and Gemma.

    Having surrendered my driver's licence in 2009, I have done a lot of travelling by train since, and find them invariably packed. There probably just are not as many of them as there would have been on 1908. It is definitely a working class mode of transport though.

    The other thing that I found fascinating with this headstone, Joe, is that George Wilkie was a McCall and not a Taylor, and yet the pairing presumably begat 3 sons and 2 daughters, over quite a period of years.

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