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Michael BowmanPrint Page Print this page

09-October-2015
09-October-2015

Photographs supplied by Father Ted Doncaster

The memorial and park commemorate Michael Bowman, who was killed in a road crash in 1955. 

In December 1955, 53 youngsters from Clontarf Boys Town were on their way to an annual Christmas holiday when their bus collided with a truck on the South Western Highway, killing 12-year-old Michael Bowman instantly and injuring 19 other boys in the horrific smash. Michael`s best mate David Crisp, who now lives in Northam, and Michael`s twin brother Richard Bowman had missed the bus. The three boys were orphans and had met when they were babies at an orphanage in Swansea, Wales. They were brought to Clontarf as child migrants in 1952.

David Crisp left Clontarf when he was 15 and became a successful shearer throughout the wheatbelt. He never forgot his best mate Michael or that he had died without a family to mourn him and without his mate and twin brother. David fulfilled a lifelong dream when he unveiled a marble memorial to his best mate and all their friends at the site of the tragedy in Serpentine.

Location

Address:South Western Highway, Bowman Park, Serpentine Bridge, Serpentine, 6125
State:WA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -32.362537
Long: 115.991639
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Tragedy
Actual Event Start Date:15-December-1955
Actual Event End Date:15-December-1955

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 14th October, 2006
Front Inscription

The orphan from Wales

To our friend Mike

Taken from us too early
Always in our hearts 
Till we meet again

Clontarf Boys

Erected by his friend David Crisp

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