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Clybucca Memorial GardenPrint Page Print this page

Clybucca Memorial Plaque 2
Clybucca Memorial Plaque 2

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

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.
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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

Left Side Inscription

Clybucca Bus Disaster

McCafferty's Coach          Trans City Coach

[ Names ]                          [ Names ]  

Right Side Inscription

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

Inscription in Proximity

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
                               

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au