IN SEARCH OF THE REFOUND
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The original crash path coming up the mountain |
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| The Memorial cairn |
The Kyeema disaster in 1938 when a DC-02 passenger plane slammed into Mount
Dandenong was at the time Australia’s worst civil aviation accident,
responsible for the death of eighteen passengers and crew that included
prominent businessmen and a Federal member of Parliment it would result in important
safety recommendations that would reshape Australian domestic air services with
the creation of the Civil Aviation Authority. The new body would be given
increased resources and policing powers. Making it increasingly safer for the nascent
aviation industry.
The crash site itself left a scar on the Western
face of the mountain due to the impact and the resulting fires. But Mother
Nature is a wonderful thing and she and time both heal. So well in fact, that
40 years later it was discovered that the record-keeping was not as detailed or accurate as expected and the
exact location of the original site had been lost.
In the early 1970s questions were being asked and were unable to be
answered by the Department of Civil Aviation’s Investigation Branch due
to incomplete records of the crash, A team led by Macarthur Job was
tasked with righting these discrepancies.
Thanks to leaf litter build-up, bush fires and regrowth over the years the
mountain wasn’t eager to give up its secrets too easily. So, using original
search material documents, local knowledge in the guise of ex Forestry Commission workers, and archive photos
from The Herald and The Sun newspapers taken of the crash site,
the team were able to determine the point of impact in the form of two trees
still standing matching the old photos and a stump where that confirmed some of
the original but vague bearings from the 1938 report. They even unearthed
molten aluminium chunks and various small items overlooked by the original investigation
such as bolts, seat springs and an engine valve.
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| The missing sign |
With the original site mystery solved a stone memorial was erected to
celebrate the 40th anniversary not long after and still stands today
with an additional plaque added in 2003 identifying the eighteen victims.
An accident that if it happened today (albeit in clearer conditions) I
would be able to witness and hear from my backyard in Boronia.
On this realization, I decided to see if I would still be able to find
some traces of the crash another forty years after the rediscovery of the
original crash.
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| The sign as it should be |
Having some spare time during my summer break, I made my way up the
mountain nice and early to beat the heavy holiday tourist traffic, which I did
but unfortunately caught all the early morning holiday cyclists instead.
The site, thanks to the previous expedition was easy to find, the memorial cairn is located only a stone throw from the Bourke’s
Lookout Carpark, opposite the memorial is a very informative notice board
packed with interesting data on the crash and subsequent studies.
Behind the memorial cairn is a well-worn and winding skinny track. I
followed this down the steep incline before I checked my bearings and realized
I had descended too far. My inappropriate footwear trying hard to keep a hold
on whatever rock I could find purchase on what to my mind was a 45-degree
angle. Thank goodness for the saplings that I grabbed hold of to stop the
snowball effect of me wiping out whatever lay below me. This of course meant
the hard slog back up again. That’s when I noticed something just off the path.
Two round pine poles jutting out of the ground.
I recognized it as the “Kyeema” Crash Site sign I had seen in my
research but hadn’t to this point been able to find. I had mistakenly assumed
it was part of the notice board display up higher.
The wooden sign that virtually pinpointed the site had been removed for
repair, taken as a souvenir or vandalized I don’t know but the posts remained
with bolts intact leading me to think the latter.
Getting my bearings and using photos on my phone from the book The
Kyeema Disaster by the aforementioned Macarthur Job I found myself
staring straight at one of the trees used to pinpoint the original crash site.
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| McCarther Job's references |
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| Relic Number 1 |
I found two of the three landmarks from the crash identified in the 1978 expedition. Though they had been worn down by age and decay there was still enough left to make a match and positively identify them. I was quite proud of myself. Knowing that in a few short years even these last remaining pieces of evidence will vanish into the ground but at least I had a chance to touch an important piece of local
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| Relic Number 2 |
and national history.
There is one lingering question I couldn’t find an answer to. If all the
tall buildings in the city have red flashing lights to warn aircraft, why
doesn’t the towers on Mount Dandenong?
Does anyone know?
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| original crash investigators 1934 |
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| original crash investigatorssite photo |
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| original crash investigators 1934 |
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| original crash investigators 1934 |
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| original crash investigators 1934 |
