Devoted father on holiday journey

IT was supposed to be the beginning of a holiday in Queensland when Geoff McMonnies boarded the train in Swan Hill with two of his teenage daughters.

IT was supposed to be the beginning of a holiday in Queensland when Geoff McMonnies boarded the train in Swan Hill with two of his teenage daughters.

"He was a family man who just lived for his daughters and they were just heading off on holiday, to Hamilton Island," friend Gary Farnsworth said last night.

Geoff, 50, and daughter Rose, 17, are believed to be among the dead. His other daughter Sharise, 15, is in a serious but stable condition at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

Mr McMonnies was well known in Robinvale, a past player at the local football club. The two girls attended Robinvale Secondary and yesterday students and staff gathered at the school to comfort each other and receive counselling.

Victorian Education Department senior officer Gary Weir said the school was having a pupil-free day yesterday but said friends of the sisters were coming to the school for comfort. He said they had organised counsellors to come from Mildura to help students and staff cope with the devastating news.

Mr Weir said the latest news he had received was that Sharise was in a serious but stable condition at Royal Children's Hospital.

"We believe they have just done some surgery and she is not in a life-threatening condition," he said. "We believe she is stable.

"The father and two girls were on their way to a holiday on Hamilton Island."

Mr Weir said mother Julie was not on the train at the time of the accident and received the news while teaching at the school on Tuesday. Mr Weir said Mrs McMonnies had worked at the school as a teacher for 26 years.

"She and her husband Geoff were students at Robinvale Secondary College and Julie came back to teach," he said.

Additional reporting: Verity Edwards