Captain Rex Boyden, Flying Officer Beverley Shepherd, James Graham & William FountainPrint Page

Memorial erected at the crash site on the graves of the two pilots and two passengers who died on impact in the Stinson air disaster of 1937.

On 19th February 1937 Australia was shocked to hear that a Stinson airliner was reported missing on a flight from Brisbane. Bernard O`Reilly of Lamington Plateau decided to search the area where the flight path of the Stinson crossed the McPherson Range. He left the Guesthouse and followed the rugged McPherson Range to the west. He climbed Mt Throakban and sighted a tree 8 kilometres away that appeared to have been burnt. Three hours later a coo-ee startled him and he came upon the crash site to find two men, John Proud and Joe Binstead, still alive after 10 days.

Four people died in the crash on impact, including Flying Officer Beverley Shepherd who was the co-pilot, but he was told of another man Jim Westrey had survived and gone for help. Bernard left the two men at the wreck to seek assistance and as he walked down Christmas Creek he found Westrey`s body. He had died as a result of a fall over a waterfall. Bernard returned with a party including a doctor while local farmers cut 16 kilometres of tracks through the rainforest of Lamington Plateau to rescue the two survivors.

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