By Derwent Divided. The Story of the Lake Illawarra, the Tasman Bridge and the 1975 Disaster. By Tom Lewis. ISBN 0957735111, 9780957735118. Publisher: Tall Stories 2024. This book was first published in 1998, was reprinted in 2006 and in a third edition in 2024 in preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1975 tragedy it records.
Reviewed by Desmond Woods
There can be no more terrifying death than to have the centre span of the bridge on which you are driving at night give way, dropping you and your passengers the full height of a bridge span into the river far below. This was the tragic fate of five Hobart motorists who were killed when the bulk carrier Lake Illawarra struck the supporting pylons of the Tasman Bridge across the Derwent River on the night of 5 January 1975. Thousands of tons of concrete from the broken span rained down on the ship which sank quickly taking the lives of seven of her crew. Had the accident not happened on a quiet Sunday night, but during a weekday, at a peak hour for commuter traffic, the loss of life would have been an incalculable multiple of those five people who did die that night.
This tragedy occurred just two weeks after the destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974. The author has recently provided a thorough account of that tragedy in his recently released book Cyclone Warriors – the Armed Forces in Cyclone Tracy. Darwin’s destruction has lived on in general knowledge and the recollection of mainland Australians.
The Tasman Bridge disaster is undoubtedly well remembered by older Tasmanians who had to deal with its consequences for nearly three years before the broken bridge was repaired, widened and reopened. But it has not been remembered in any detail by most Australians, who were not impacted by it, or were born since the events described in the book occurred. Many younger readers may, understandably, be more familiar with the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore when it was hit by an out-of-control container ship, the Dali, in March 2024, causing the death of six construction workers and disrupting commerce for years to come.
This new printing of this book is a timely reminder that critical infrastructure failure, through either natural or man-made disaster, can and does occur without warning. The corollary of this reality is that the maintenance of specialist skills within the ADF and civilian emergency work force is not optional for state and federal governments. That workforce must maintain, be equipped and train with specialised equipment needed to deal with such rare but catastrophic contingencies.
In this case the Australian Army’s capacity to provide emergency Bailey bridging and watercraft were critically important short term responses. Navy and Police Divers distinguished themselves with their courage and diligence.
The rescue from the water of 35 surviving members of the 42 member crew of the Lake Illawarra was achieved swiftly and efficiently in the dark, by both private watercraft and a tug. Fourteen Navy Clearance divers were brought by RAN Fleet Air Arm aircraft to Hobart from HMAS Penguin and HMAS Waterhen, in Sydney. They were on the scene of the disaster within 12 hours and immediately commenced searching for the dead in their crushed cars in the perilous currents of the Derwent.
Visibility was next to zero due to pollution and oil from the wreck. Decompression sickness for divers was a real risk and a hyperbaric chamber had to be flown to Hobart to ensure that this did not claim divers’ lives due to the ‘bends’. The diving was hazardous in the extreme and it continued for two weeks until all the motorists’ bodies that could be located had been recovered and returned to their families.
The author provides the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the tragedy and discusses these in detail. The responsibility for the collision was placed predominantly, but not entirely, on the shoulders of the ship’s master Captain Boleslaw Pelc. It was his orders slowing the ship’s engines on approach to the bridge which resulted in the ship losing way and becoming non-responsive to the helm and rudder at the critical moment. The ship’s bow yawed into the bridge pylon when the ship engines were set at full astern and an anchor had been dropped in an attempt to stop the ship and prevent the collision. The only mitigation in the findings was that a particularly strong current was running at the time which influenced Pelc’s ability to manoeuvre a safe passage between the pylons, which he had achieved on multiple occasions and was qualified to undertake without a pilot.
The book covers in detail the at first haphazard and later more systematic reinstatement of first pedestrian and vehicular ferry services across the Derwent. These vessels had been a feature of Hobart life for generations but had been withdrawn when the long planned Tasman Bridge opened in 1965. All manner of ferries were pressed into service in 1975 and new ones commenced being built. The expansion of the highly successful Hobart based catamaran construction company INCAT was made to meet the sudden demand for new vessels able to carry people and vehicles at scale until the bridge was operational again.
This 70 page book is well illustrated with contemporary black and white photographs from several sources. Hobart’s newspaper The Mercury features with a number of cartoons drawn by ‘Kev’ the resident wit employed by the paper. He caught the phlegmatic and often sardonic daily commuter’s attitude towards this sudden and unwelcome need to get to work despite being ‘by Derwent divided’ from their employment or education.
As a migrant to Australia in the early 1990’s this event was well in the past when I arrived. I am pleased to have filled in my knowledge gap by reading this 50thanniversary reprint of this detailed account of the tragedy and its years long aftermath. I recommend it to all readers similarly in need of reminder of this Australian and Tasmanian tragedy, which had the capacity to have been so very much worse than it was, in terms of both motorists and sailors’ lives lost in the River Derwent.
By Derwent Divided, in a limited 50th commemorative edition is available from Avonmore Books: https://avonmorebooks.com.au/?page=3&id=208 Signed copies can be obtained from the author on tom.lewis2619@gmail.com
