
Dear Monument Australia visitors, we are a self-funded, non-profit organisation, dedicated to recording monuments throughout Australia. Over time the costs of maintaining this website have risen substantially (in fact they are probably larger than those of many companies who exist for profit). In the past we have borne all the costs associated with maintaining the website but we are now having difficulties in paying the monthly expenses.
If Monument Australia is useful to you, please make a donation to keep this historical and educational resource available. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Home » Themes » Disaster » Land Transport
Clybucca Memorial GardenPrint Page 
The garden commemorates those who died in the crash of two buses near Clybucca in 1989, with the loss of 35 lives. It is Australia`s worst road disaster.
Two full tourist coaches collided head-on in the early morning at Clybucca Flat, 12 kilometres north of Kempsey, leaving 35 dead and 41 injured. The coaches concertinaed into each other, killing both drivers instantly. The impact snapped seats from their anchor bolts so that both seats & passengers were hurled about the vehicles with terrific force, which also trapped people and their luggage against the back of the bus.
A New South Wales Coroner's inquiry into the coach collision found that the McCafferty driver fell asleep at the wheel. The driver failed to negotiate a left-hand bend on the highway and the coach crossed to the wrong side and collided with the TransCity coach.
Location
Address: | Pacific Highway & Sutherlands Lane, Clybucca, 2440 |
---|---|
State: | NSW |
Area: | AUS |
GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -30.984625 Long: 152.919811 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
Monument Type: | Garden |
---|---|
Monument Theme: | Disaster |
Sub-Theme: | Land Transport |
Actual Event Start Date: | 22-December-1989 |
Actual Event End Date: | 22-December-1989 |
Dedication
CLYBUCCA BUS DISASTER
McCafferty's Coach Trans City Coach
(names) (names)
This Memorial Garden
Was Created And Dedicated
By The Lions Club of Kempsey Inc
In Memory Of The 35 Who Lost Their Lives
And Those Injured In The Coach Crash
On Friday 22nd December 1989
Also The Families And Others Affected
And All Those Involved
Directly Or Indirectly
In The Rescue
A Memorial Garden Planned
To Show
That From Tragedy Love Can
Grow.
A Place Of Beauty, A Mark
Of Respect,
Where All Can Visit And
Reflect.
May Clybucca Be A Living
&