60 years since Mackay plane crash tragedy

The TAA Fokker F-27 Friendship crashed into the ocean killing all 29 on board including children

Searchers retrieve wreckage from the TAA Fokker F-27 Friendship plane Abel Tasman, which plummeted into the ocean at Far Beach killing all 29 on board on June 10, 1960.

ON A foggy night 60 years ago, the TAA Fokker F-27 Friendship plane Abel Tasman plummeted into the ocean at Far Beach, killing all 29 people on board.

The tragedy remains Australia’s worst civil aviation crash.

The 36-seat aircraft was due to arrive in Mackay at 8.30pm on Friday, June 10, 1960 after travelling from Brisbane via Maryborough and Rockhampton.

But due to the heavy fog over runway 14 about 8.45pm it was diverted and instead circled for an hour and 15 minutes close to the airport near Illawong Beach.

Men inspect wreckage found from the 1960 plane crash. Picture: Daily Mercury Archives.

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Wreckage recovered after the disaster. Picture: Daily Mercury Archives.

Meanwhile, anxious friends and family were waiting at the airport for their loved ones to arrive. They included the families of nine schoolboys from Rockhampton Grammar School who were returning home for the Queen’s Birthday weekend.

The late Vida Kidd, of Seaforth, told the Daily Mercury in 2012 that she was at the airport that night waiting for her 20-year-old daughter Helen Kidd to arrive.

She said “panic descended on the airport” at 10pm.

Helen Kidd, 20, was one of 29 killed when the Fokker aircraft crashed into the ocean. Picture: Contributed

“They’d lost radio contact and the plane was now located in a stationary position seven-and-a-half kilometres southeast of Mackay.”

In the succeeding hours, boats patrolled the coast searching for survivors, bodies or wreckage.

One of the divers tasked with recovering wreckage after the disaster. Picture: Daily Mercury Archives.

They discovered the first bodies and wreckage near Round Top Island at 3.15am the next day.

Authorities were unable to determine the cause of the crash but it was the impetus for the compulsory installation of black box flight recorders in flights thereafter.

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The memorial at Far Beach that pays tribute to 29 people who died in Australia’s worst civil aviation disaster. Picture: Daily Mercury Archives, 2010

A memorial plaque at Far Beach commemorates those who died that night.

They are Captain F.C. Pollard, First Officer G.L. Davis, hostesses June Hamilton and Mary Wilmer and passengers A.E. Cole, K. Van de Velde, Mrs R. Sherren, R. Sweeting, R. Walker, C.R. Williams, J. Fisher, Helen Kidd, C. Rhodes, Patricia Bishop, V. Nicholas, Mavis Harris, J.F. O’Grady, D. M. Phillips, H.P. Rasmussen and J.D. Saul.

The students were Maxwell J. Barclay, Donald F. Brown, Brian F. Burnell, Edgar L. Dowse, Frederick J. ‘Ricky’ Graham, Stuart D. Jackson, Allan Morrow, David A. Patterson and Trevor Patterson.

Families still pay tribute to their lost loved ones but this year, COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the large commemoration ceremony that had been planned for the 60th anniversary.

In its place, a small low-key ceremony was held at Far Beach this morning. It was attended by Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson and councillors.

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