There were 38 people on board the ‘Macrossan Bus’ on the day of the 16th of September 1948.

During WW2 the RAAF used semi-trailers for transport of equipment and stores. Many of the Repair and Salvage Units used them for salvage of downed aircraft. However, they were often used for a secondary function – the transport of personnel.

The semi-trailer involved in the Macrossan Smash was transferred from the Breddan RAAF Base in 1947 to Macrossan after a Motor Transport Survey Party recommended that it was in too poor a mechanical condition for primary use, and was placed in the Service Pool.

It was a standard Chevrolet Series MS semi-trailer, and had had wooden bench seats fitted down each side and in the middle, and was covered by a tubular steel and canvas canopy. It was placed in service as the ‘Charters Towers Bus’ on 1^st April 1948.

This ‘bus’ did the round of the Replenishing Centre, and several other collection points around Charters Towers before heading out to Macrossan. On the day of the accident, nothing was out of the ordinary – pick-ups were made, paperwork was in place and the run was on time. The driver that afternoon was A/Cpl William Turner. He was said to be a good, safe driver.

On its approach to the bridge that afternoon, witness estimates as to the speed of the vehicle vary from 15 to 25 miles per hour. As the semi came down the incline to the bridge the driver’s foot was off the accelerator, and then he spotted a woman on the bridge. He took measures to avoid her, turning to the right side, but when he tried to turn back to centre the dual wheels and weight of the trailer caused the unit to mount the curb and roll over the edge of the bridge.

The woman on the bridge was Mrs Maud Davies, who, with her husband Bert was passing through and had stopped to camp for the night at the river.  At the time of the accident, her husband was in the river bed while Mrs Davies crossed the bridge 15ft above him on the bridge with a billy-can of water. She heard the vehicle approach and as it passed she saw someone wave then turned back to her husband. She then heard a scream and turned back to see the truck tipping over the side away from her. She and Bert ran to assist, and with Syd Willis, who had been sitting in the cabin with Bill Turner, the driver, and was thrown free, they began pulling injured passengers from the wreckage.

Bert Davies drove to Macrossan Siding in his jeep to get help. Ten people died at the scene. As the truck hit the river bed, most of unrestrained passengers were thrown forward into a heap and struggled to get free.

Once brought out, the injured were stretchered up onto the bank then shuttled to the district hospital by four ambulances, while the less injured were sent by private cars which had been commandeered to help.

Dr Coates and Dr Edmeades from the hospital, aided by several nurses assisted the twenty or so patients admitted to hospital. Three of these patients died in the following days, bringing the total fatalities to 13.

The wreckage lay in the river bed for nearly a month before being cleared.

A mass funeral was held on the 18^th of September for nine of those who had died at the scene. The caskets were transported together on the back of a semi-trailer in procession down Gill Street, which was lined with people from the community who had come to pay respects. One other, Edgar Flewell-Smith, was transported for burial to his hometown of Gladstone.

The impact of this accident stretched far into the community - family, friends, neighbours and colleagues of those injured or killed were left shocked and bereft for years to come. 

Those killed in the crash: 

Patrick James Hansen

Robert George Tait

John Herbert Delacour

Henry James Knudson

Harold Williams

Thomas Henry Simpson

Archibald Campbell

Joseph Richard Simpson

Mervyn Harry Neumann

Edgar Flewell-Smith (buried Gladstone)

Susan Agnes Turley (d 18/9/1948)

Robert Thomas Calder Stewart (d 19/9/1948)

Walter George Thomas (d 20/9/1948)

Others in the bus: 

Margaret Bourke                                                        Edward Peck

John Briskey                                                                Neville Price

Ernest Bruce                                                               Ernest Shun

George Cairns                                                             Arthur Shun

Herbert Cairns                                                            George Snell

Ronald Chubb                                                             Carl St Clair

Noel Coward                                                               Robert Stewart

Alfred Fisher                                                               Sydney Thomas

Joseph Hardy                                                              William Turner (driver)

William Henderson snr                                              George Urquhart

John Lye                                                                      Sydney Willis

Edmond Lyons                                                            Robert Wood

Gordon Martell

Robert Martin

Donald Matheson

Written by: Jody Read

Source of information: 'An Unfair Hand: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Macrossan Smash 1948-1998' by William E Henderson