On a very hot Friday, 7 February, 1969, just after 7.00am, the Southern Aurora, Australia’s overnight express passenger train between Sydney and Melbourne, collided head-on with an Albury-bound goods train, 174km north of Melbourne. The Melbourne-bound Southern Aurora ran through the Violet Town crossing loop where it should have waited for the goods train to pass.
The Southern Aurora bore the brunt of the collision because the goods train was heavier. Nine people were killed (2 drivers, 1 electrician, 1 conductor and 5 passengers) and 117 passengers were injured. Most deaths and casualties occurring in cars 7 and 8. The two locomotives (S314 and S316) and five carriages were written off. The first two sleeping carriages of the express were crushed, a third sleeping carriage and a lounge car were thrown from the track and landed on top of locomotive S316. The fireman on the goods train jumped out of the locomotive cab prior to the collision whilst the driver went back into the engine room of the locomotive. He did not survive the impact of the head-on collision.
Track damage stretched over a distance of 200 yards and involved the restoration of 450 yards of rail, 270 sleepers and 300 cubic yards of ballast.
The coroner, HW Pascoe, found that John Bowden, the driver of the Aurora, died from heart failure before the crash. Bowden knew that he had a pre-existing heart condition and was advised by his doctor that he could die at any time and that he should retire. When asked what would happen if he died suddenly at the controls, Bowden said that 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 qualified to perform the task, fireman Mervyn George Coulthard and the guard at the rear of the train William Frederick Wyer, but both failed to act.
Coulthard was preoccupied making a cup of tea and Wyer admitted to ‘dozing from time to time’. Consequently, Wyer’s entries in the guard’s journal were falsified and deemed by Pascoe to be ‘largely a piece of fiction’.
The coroner, Pascoe found that Coulthard and Wyer breached their duty in relation to public safety and that the tragedy could have been prevented if they had been alert or awake. He declared both men ‘extremely negligent’, but stopped short of declaring them culpable. He decided that the resulting deaths of the accident were caused by ‘misadventure’.
It was determined there was no mechanical failure on board the Southern Aurora and that all appropriate maintenance had been carried out. There was no criticism of the crew on the goods train as when the imminent collision became apparent, they could do nothing to avoid the accident.
The recommendations put forth by Pascoe included annual medical tests for drivers with an electro-cardiogram every two years, installation of a vigilance control button to be pressed regularly to prevent guards from sleeping whilst on duty, the fitting of speedometers to guards’ vans to warn them if the train is speeding and potentially not in control of the driver, and the adoption of a modified vigilance control in locomotives on passenger trains with the driver and fireman confirming regularly that they are alert to their duties.
The Library has 50 digitised photographs of the Southern Aurora train crash in its collection.
1. Banger, C 2012, Southern Aurora: and Melbourne Express & Sydney Express 1962 -1993, Australian Railway Historical Society New South Wales Division, Redfern, N.S.W.
2. Fiddian, M 1990, Victorian railway mishaps, Pakenham Gazette, Pakenham, Vic.
3. Pascoe, H.W. 1969, Findings of the City Coroner, H.W. Pascoe, 1st July 1969, upon his investigations into the fatalities arising from the collision that occurred between the Sydney to Melbourne Express passenger train, the Southern Aurora, and a Melbourne to Albury goods train, near Violet Town on 7th February, 1969, Victorian Railways, Melbourne, Vic.
4. Pearce, K 1999, Australian railway disasters, IPL Books, Davidson, N.S.W.
5. Victorian Railways, 1969, Railway accident : report on the collision that occurred between the Sydney to Melbourne express passenger train, the Southern Aurora and a Melbourne to Albury goods train, near Violet Town on 7th February, 1969, Victorian Railways Commissioner’s Office, Melbourne, Vic.
Contributions by Russell Wallace, Senior Collection Access Officer. Russell worked for Victorian Railways for 35 years.
This disaster forms the background to the novel by Steven Carroll “The Art of the engine driver” (first published in 2001). Chapters 41, 43 and 48 deal directly with the disaster and its aftermath although the novel refers to the disaster as involving the Spirit of Progress rather than the Southern Aurora as was actually the case and the names of the crew in the passenger train are altered.
Wow Mick! The third sleeping carriage was thrown from the track and landed on one of the locomotives. It would have been a traumatic ordeal for all involved. Thank you for sharing your personal connection with the event.
Reading all the above and seeing the photos brings back vivid memories.That day is engraved in my memory forever, I was the fireman on the goods train and 0710 hrs 7 Feb 1969 is like a birthday to me, I survived, where too many did not.
I can imagine revisiting the events of that fateful day would open the floodgates. The survival instinct is a strong force. I’m glad you managed to jump from the train when you did. The disaster resulted in a tragic loss of life that could have been prevented. Thank you for sharing your part in the story.
Hello Fred, it was a terrible day. I lived 12 km away and for me etched in my memory is the awful sound of the crash. 4 members of my immediate family were involved in fire fighting, rescue and other important activities. The local Violet Town community is planning a remembrance weekend on the 50th anniversary in Feb 2019. Depending on funding we hope to create a range of respectful tributes to the volunteers, organisations, victims and survivors of the tragedy.
I am a West Australian survivor of the Southern Aurora crash if you would like any input regarding my experience of that horrible day.
Hi Judi, I only just saw your reply here. Thanks for your message. Sorry I hadn’t replied earlier. It would be great to speak with you!
I visited the site today and felt quite moved being there. I was 12 at the time of accident and remember it well. I had traveled on the Spirit of Progress with my parents a couple of years before and was impressed with seeing the Aurora depart ahead of us.
In 1987 my wife and I traveled on the Aurora with our then baby daughter. I can only imagine the horror of that fateful morning at Violet Town.
1982 that should have read.
Thank you for sharing your connection to the event. It was indeed a fateful morning on that hot summer’s day in February 1969.
The Violet Town community hopes to greatly improve the small tribute at the crash site with landscaping and information, but also to create a meditation garden next to the railway line in town, across the tracks from the station.
I’m glad your grandparents lived to tell the tale. They were up with their technology. Super 8 cameras were relatively new at that time. The first one was manufactured in 1965.
That’s amazing Dean that they had footage. I have seen a lot of photos, but would like to see that footage some day. It would be great to have that as part of the history I am putting together. Cheers. Bruce.
My grandmother’s brother Fred McKenzie was the conductor that was killed.
This is the first time I’ve seen pictures of the accident. I can’t believe anyone survived!
Thank you for taking the time to comment. The images of twisted metal are confronting. It looks like a bomb blast.
It was a very tragic day with loss of life, and many injured. Thanks to the efforts of many people, there were not more losses.
Hi Debra. The Violet Town community is trying to find the families of all who died that day, so we can make contact and ensure the family can attend our commemoration next February.
for details. This is just a new website we have launched.
Your grandmothers brother (Fred McKenzie) family is one I have not been able to locate to invite to the Southern Aurora commemoration at Violet Town in February 7-10 2019.
Would you be able to contact me please so I can send an invitation?
They were somewhat primitive by today’s standards as you could put a toolbox on them and continue running unlike the push button ones they have now, at least the American versions had these pedals. Numerous accidents in the USA were caused by crews sleeping and I always wondered if the Southern Aurora’s second engineer was really making tea in the rear of the locomotive as reported at the time..
Thanks for taking the time to comment Malcolm. Even modern ‘dead man’s pedals’ aren’t fool proof. In the 2003 Waterfall rail accident, the pedal failed to activate and 7 people including the driver were killed. We will never know for sure if Coulthard was distracted making a cup of tea, but we do know that if he and Wyer were alert and/or awake, the outcome could have been very different.
Thanks for your comment. The driver of the Aurora was advised by his doctor to retire to avoid an incident such as this. He chose to continue driving in the knowledge that he was putting the lives of others at risk. He bares responsibility for the fatal consequences of that choice.
Hi Sarah, would you know where I can find a list of the dead and injured from the crash? No websites pertaining to the disaster appear to have a list. I would appreciate this information to assist in a contribution to a segment of my partner’s 50 year school reunion later this year, in which memories are to be shared of experiences had since the students left school all those years ago, which have impacted their lives. My partner (as a 19 year old ) witnessed the immediate aftermath of this horrific accident unfold with a friend, as they were driving alongside the railway, and rushed to the scene, being the first to arrive at the site, at the same time as a unit of the local rural fire brigade. By co-incidence, one of the female victims was from the suburb in Brisbane in which he grew up, and it is her name we are keen to confirm.
Thanks for your question. I’ll get back to you through your email.
Hi Carmel. That’s amazing your partner arrived first on the scene, it would have been shocking. My 20 year old brother and 18 year old brother were both there too, with our father and very involved. I think they got there about 1/2 an hour after the crash. I was 15 and my father dropped me off at the bus stop to go to school, and the smoke was going up like a ribbon thousands of feet into the sky. It was spooky.
Do you think I could speak to your partner about this as part of my recording the history?
The list of dead and injured is in the official report into the accident that we hold here at the Library.
Railway accident : report on the collision that occurred between the Sydney to Melbourne express passenger train, the Southern Aurora and a Melbourne to Albury goods train, near Violet Town on 7th February, 1969 ([Melbourne] : [Victorian Railways Commissioner’s Office], ).
I’ll send you the names of the mother and daughter from Doveton in a separate email.
The second young daughter was badly injured, and was the last person rescued. It was a terrible situation for her of course. She was rescued by a team which included my father and brother. Indeed, she very clearly remembers someone calling “Bill, Bill” (my fathers name) saying that he had heard a voice calling for help from the bottom of the wreckage. As a result she worked out who Bill probably was and then found my name in the phone book. It has been lovely to make the connection to our family. And it was coincidental that I was already compiling a local history of the tragedy. Cheers. Bruce. See contact details in another post above.
Hello K Williamson,that was my mother Nora Newell and my sister Lorna,tragically both were killed and l survived.
Hello there. Heather I was the young girl that visited you in the Wangaratta base hospital. Julie Bowdern. I would love to catch up. Every Week end I went up and stayed with you.
I served on the the Ballarat – Mildura line from 1974 to 1989. Stations i worked at, Maryborough, Dunolly, Cope Cope, Donald, Bealiba, Birchip, Bet Bet, Emu, Bacchus Marsh, Parwan, among others.
My highest rank was Acting ASM at Watchem in the 1980s.
Thanks for reading the blog Ian and sharing your connection to regional railways in Victoria.
I know Merve personaly have done for quite some years, very caring man he is now in an aged care facility and has been for 3 years. He has never discussed the accident to anyone so this was a big shock when I came across the article. It now haunts him deeply along with his dementia, very sad.
If you know Merve and family etc, are you able to make contact and see if he/they would like to attend the 50th anniversary commemoration at Violet Town Feb 7-10 2019.
I just hope that Heather makes contact with me. I have searched tiredlessly to find her.
Hi Julie. I am often in contact with Heather. She was found by my father and his mate in the wreckage and I speak to her regularly. It has been nice in recent years to establish a connection to her with me and family.
Hi Julie, this is heather here,l am not sure who you are?Were you in tractor accident on your parents place.?
I am a nurse that looked after you in the Wangaratta Base hospital after the accident. I often wonder how you are and how you got on after your time with us.
We ( the nurses )would read stories to you when we had time and try to entertain you as you were often very bored. It was very difficult for a little girl to be tied to a bed, waiting for your leg to heal.
While you were a patient you wrote a letter to your local paper to thank all the people who had helped you, you drew a picture of me next to your bed. We still have a copy of it.
Hi Heather. That is a great connection! I was contacted recently by another nurse who looked after Heather. She lives in Benalla. Her father also was involved in the aftermath, as were so many local people.
I emailed the names to you a year ago. I’ve just forwarded it to you again.
Hi Colleen, many thanks, we are progressing gradually with the project, and still seeking more funds to help us, but its going well.
Today a friend of Allan Hyatt from Ballarat dropped in to the local cafe. Unfortunately they didnt catch a name. Look forward to meeting you in February.
Hi Julie sorry for very late reply,were you in wheelchair,please send me your email,mine is hevs2@bigpond.com,Cheers Heather.
My father (Charles C. Clayton) was at the time the Assistant Chief Signal and Telegraph Engineer and, as you might imagine, the accident played a big part in our lives. He was summoned to determine if a signalling fault caused the accident (it didn’t) and I distinctly remember the point blades that the Aurora ran through at speed were on his office floor for several months. They had a deep gash there the S class wheels struck them. Apparently his department had recommended vigilance controls (known as “dead man’s brake”) be fitted to all mainline locomotives for several years prior to the 1967 Broadford goods crash but the Commisioners considered it too expensive. Of course, after the Aurora crash….
Dad retired in October 1970 and passed away in October 1982.
Thanks for sharing your connection to the event Fraser. Tragically it is too often the case that safety measures aren’t put in place until serious injury or fatalities occur. It must have been very frustrating for your father.
Hi Fraser, great to see your comment here, I hadn’t noticed it before. It was also great to catch up with you in February. Will catch you next time you are passing through and have a coffee!
I quite by accident came across a news article about the 50th anniversary on the Friday night of the weekend of the anniversary. My mother Joan Mullins & I were survivors of the Southern Aurora train accident. My mother has since deceased.
After some phone calls & organising I was able to drive to Violet Town from the Sth Highlands NSW to attend the commemoration of the garden on the Sunday. I met committee members Gary & Bruce & other Violet Town folk who were so welcoming & grateful I made the trip at short notice. So am I. And it was so nice to meet the lovely lady & her daughter who cared for some of us at her home after the accident. And to meet Nurse Heather, and a niece of one of the passengers who sadly died was special. And the thoughtful people I met & chatted with, thank you.
The exhibition Bruce Cummings has created is no mean feat & added to the memories I have in a scrapbook of the accident.
To visit the site of the accident after all these years, I still cannot describe how I felt. I have memories of the accident but memories of it actually happening are quite vivid. We were fortunate, my mother & I to be in the first passenger carriage after the dining car to remain on the line. We were not too seriously injured, though I do remember the pain my mother was in with her neck when we were travelling back to Adelaide that night on the Overlander train from Melbourne. Despite the pain she was in, my mother feared if we didn’t get the train home that night, she would never be able to get on another train.
I am forever grateful for the tireless work the committee has done & is doing to create such a meaningful & moving memorial which will bring calm & peace to many. It is a tragic event that will not be forgotten.
Thanks for getting in touch and sharing your personal experience of the accident. So glad you were able to make it to the commemoration.
No worries Bruce. I’m glad the blog has provided a platform for people to connect with others and share their experiences related to the event.
hi Brenda, it was great to meet up with you at the exhibition and chat for a while. I am so glad that you found out about the commemoration events and you were able to come down at short notice. It was a very meaningful weekend for all involved in any way.
I was constantly asked by visitors to the exhibition what the plans were next for the exhibition, and they all wanted it to continue in some way.
As a result I kept it open in the big hall for another 10 days when we needed to move it out for another function.
I have moved most of the exhibition into adjacent rooms in the Violet Town town hall complex, but it isn’t quite as spacious, however it is working well with constant visitors. The plan is to keep the exhibition there for the rest of the year. When we can seal and restore the Aurora carriage to a display space we hope to move the whole exhibition into the carriage. We are still chasing funding support for that work, and we are increasing our band of volunteers, so the important work goes on.
look forward to another chat as part of my compiling the peoples history.