A memorial service was held beneath the West Gate Bridge in Spotswood last week for the 54th anniversary of Australia’s worst industrial accident.
At 11.50am on October 15, 1970, a span of the West Gate Bridge, then under construction, collapsed, killing 35 workers and injuring 17 more.
Survivors, their families and members of the union movement were among those who gathered under the bridge on Douglas Parade last Tuesday morning, where a permanent memorial containing the names of those who died in the collapse, is attached to a concrete pylon.
One minute’s silence was observed at the exact time the bridge came down, while those who somehow survived as the 2000 tonne span fell 45 meters to the Yarra River below, gathered for photos.
Speakers including the president of the CFMEU construction division Rob Graauwans , former secretary of the AMWU Craig Johnson and West Gate Bridge Memorial Committee member Danny Gardiner, addressed the crowd.
Mr Gardiner said many of the names on the memorial were spelt incorrectly, something the committee was trying to have fixed.
A Royal Commission established to investigate the disaster found failures in design and construction methods caused the collapse, which was described as “utterly unnecessary.”
Workplace health and safety laws were strengthened across the country in the aftermath of the collapse.
