@1:10 in the video you see a small shed my dad was there when it went down. He was doing the lights on the bridge and had just come down to go to lunch... I wasn't born yet and listening to him & my mum talk about it he had someone watching over him that day... He also lost mates :(
My aunt was a nurse at the Western General Hospital in Footscray when it happened. She & a few other nurses were on a break when they heard this rumbling sound in the distance, kind of like thunder. They were stationed on one of the upper floors of the hospital, so they went to look out a window & saw part of the bridge missing. I used to drive over the Westgate fairly frequently (I often had to drive to work sites out in the western suburbs, I was living near Frankston at the time), but haven't driven over it in at least a decade. I must admit I always felt a tad uneasy when driving over it - possibly this incident was in the back of my mind... R.I.P. those who lost their lives :'((
My wife was a student at Williamstown Girls high School, at the time of the collapse. She said "most of the girls heard the distant rumble of the collapse and soon after...many sirens"... "not long after...an announcement had came over the schools PA system, telling those students who had any family working on the bridge , that they were to leave school now ...and head home".
My grand dad worked on that bridge and on the day of the collapse he was given a couple of days of for working so much, sadly he best mate at the time went to work that very day and was one of the many body's found.
@@danielboyce8804 it wasn't one day of it was maybe a week or two off and he missed not only a major catastrophe but his pay. so your comment "a day off on pay day" isn't actually correct.
Of course they lost faith in the company engineers, considering one of them died on that bridge after lying (like the company told him to) and telling them it was safe. Does anyone blame any of them considering that company cared more about money than their safety, like too many companies still do.
Jack Hindshaw was the FFP’s resident engineer. According to one of the survivors, he was on the bridge, or “at the coal face”, as he put it, all day, every day, which gave the workforce confidence. If he was lying to the men, and knew it to be unsafe, why would he remain in the thick of it and allow himself to be killed? He certainly made a terrible mistake, but didn’t realise that the bridge had been fatally weakened until it was too late.
@@baboracus Hindshaw was involved in the design of the bridge. He was recalled to London at one point to assist with some recalculations. I hardly think he was FFP’s puppet.
I'm certainly not an engineer nor do i know anything about construction but....trying to weigh down a span with concrete cubes so it matches the next span seems stupid...the gap was 10 cm difference....how could they not know it would buckle under that stress...like a tyre with a bubble...push the bubble in but it will come out somewhere else...omg those poor workers....i still get white knuckle fever if i have to drive over it....
i was working with mlc assurance company in the city when news filtered through the office of the terrible bridge collapse. a very sad day for melbourne indeed. 50 years ago.
As kids, my brother and i would walk down to the creek and the golf course for adventure under the bridge. The monument to the dead workers was sobering, even to a stupid young kid that i was
It was a scary moment the day the Westgate bridge collapse at school assembly that day at midday when it was announced the bridge had collapsed and on the Sunday before Me and Father returning from day of boating and passed under section of the the section that next to sectiun that did not fall. God bless those men who died and survived hopefully not in vein as ii was an event that vastly impoovedt construction and industrial safety
I would agree with that. Australia's a country that sticks bandaids and stickytape all over everything when it starts to flounder. Then we go around telling everyone we're the "envy of the world" pfff whatever.
@1:10 in the video you see a small shed my dad was there when it went down. He was doing the lights on the bridge and had just come down to go to lunch... I wasn't born yet and listening to him & my mum talk about it he had someone watching over him that day... He also lost mates :(
Coming up to. 50 years. This October 15 th. R.I.P. All the victims
My aunt was a nurse at the Western General Hospital in Footscray when it happened. She & a few other nurses were on a break when they heard this rumbling sound in the distance, kind of like thunder. They were stationed on one of the upper floors of the hospital, so they went to look out a window & saw part of the bridge missing.
I used to drive over the Westgate fairly frequently (I often had to drive to work sites out in the western suburbs, I was living near Frankston at the time), but haven't driven over it in at least a decade. I must admit I always felt a tad uneasy when driving over it - possibly this incident was in the back of my mind...
R.I.P. those who lost their lives :'((
My wife was a student at Williamstown Girls high School, at the time of the collapse. She said "most of the girls heard the distant rumble of the collapse and soon after...many sirens"... "not long after...an announcement had came over the schools PA system, telling those students who had any family working on the bridge , that they were to leave school now ...and head home".
My grand dad worked on that bridge and on the day of the collapse he was given a couple of days of for working so much, sadly he best mate at the time went to work that very day and was one of the many body's found.
Day off on pay day
@@danielboyce8804 it wasn't one day of it was maybe a week or two off and he missed not only a major catastrophe but his pay. so your comment "a day off on pay day" isn't actually correct.
Of course they lost faith in the company engineers, considering one of them died on that bridge after lying (like the company told him to) and telling them it was safe. Does anyone blame any of them considering that company cared more about money than their safety, like too many companies still do.
Jack Hindshaw was the FFP’s resident engineer. According to one of the survivors, he was on the bridge, or “at the coal face”, as he put it, all day, every day, which gave the workforce confidence. If he was lying to the men, and knew it to be unsafe, why would he remain in the thick of it and allow himself to be killed? He certainly made a terrible mistake, but didn’t realise that the bridge had been fatally weakened until it was too late.
@@nkt1 Finding someone to lie for you when they're not realizing they're lying is generally a good way in telling a lie.
@@baboracus Hindshaw was involved in the design of the bridge. He was recalled to London at one point to assist with some recalculations. I hardly think he was FFP’s puppet.
I'm certainly not an engineer nor do i know anything about construction but....trying to weigh down a span with concrete cubes so it matches the next span seems stupid...the gap was 10 cm difference....how could they not know it would buckle under that stress...like a tyre with a bubble...push the bubble in but it will come out somewhere else...omg those poor workers....i still get white knuckle fever if i have to drive over it....
She'll be right attitude was used in the workplace commonly back then .
Thats probably the reason
Steel and pre stressed concrete on that scale is not to be messed with...tantamount to murder.
Significant event in Melbourne. Interesting that there arent many comments about it.
A time when unions cared about workers not blokes marring other blokes !!!!!
5:29 Pablo escobar. holy moly. he can time travel
i was working with mlc assurance company in the city when news filtered through the office of the terrible bridge collapse. a very sad day for melbourne indeed. 50 years ago.
My mum was at work in the city and could see it . I always hate going over that bridge
As kids, my brother and i would walk down to the creek and the golf course for adventure under the bridge. The monument to the dead workers was sobering, even to a stupid young kid that i was
I remember Danny O'Brien's from Port Campbell.
My grandma was at hospital during this. She was told, don't know if she saw it happen.
My nana said she was at school when this happened and felt the bridge falling 😬
I think of this disaster every time I cross this bridge. Which is hardly ever.
It's still not safe.
What about news reports of the bridge collapse from HSV7, GTV9 (News Centre Nine) and ATV0?
It was a scary moment the day the Westgate bridge collapse at school assembly that day at midday when it was announced the bridge had collapsed and on the Sunday before Me and Father returning from day of boating and passed under section of the the section that next to sectiun that did not fall. God bless those men who died and survived hopefully not in vein as ii was an event that vastly impoovedt construction and industrial safety
That’s proper Australia
Is that George Negus?
No
Warrego Hwy..
It's only a matter of time before it totally collapses due to the huge unplanned weight of the steel suicide fencing along its entire length.
Would be ironic if that eventuates
I would agree with that. Australia's a country that sticks bandaids and stickytape all over everything when it starts to flounder. Then we go around telling everyone we're the "envy of the world" pfff whatever.
What year was it?
1970.
1978
@@ghs7714 thats when it was opened
@@youtubeviewer7030 ok x
Up to this day. Its a shit bridge. Ugly as fuk, and cant handle current weight. Nothing beats the bolte bridge in strength, looks and lighting.