The West Gate Bridge Collapse - Melbourne 1970 (Documentary)

One of Australia's worst engineering accidents occurred during the construction phase of Melbourne's West Gate Bridge, when a 2,000 tonne steel span collapsed onto the work site huts below. 35 workmen were killed and 18 more seriously injured.
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Although focused primarily on disasters, this channel is all about the interesting, the strange, the unsolved, the tragic. Our world has a varied history full of terrible tragedies, bizarre tales, unexplained events, and extravagant people. I hope you enjoy some of the fascinating stories we have here.#History #Disasters
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[@TombstoneHeart]

A few years after the bridge fell down, I was driving trucks from a yard in Braybrook. One of the blokes I worked with, Harry, was an Irishman who was a boilermaker by trade, but preferred to drive trucks. One day, he lost his licence, so his father, also a boilermaker, got him a job as his T.A., working on the bridge. The night before he was to start work, he ran into an old mate, also a truckie, in the pub and, as you did back then, he gave Harry his licence to use so he wouldn't have to go back on the tools. When Harry didn't turn up for work on the bridge the next day, His father was told to just work in the yard that day, because there wasn't much use sending his father up on the steel without a TA. That was the day the bridge fell down and the section that fell was the one Harry and his father would have been working on. It's almost 50 years since I worked with Harry and when I'm reminded of the Westgate Bridge disaster, I remember Harry and his father and all I can think of is the luck of the fucking Irish!

[@ScottJohnCaile]

That's an amazing story. Reminds me of the stories you hear from people who were late to work in the twin towers on the day of that attack.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really

[@straingedays]

As my Irish mate would say: ""Feckin' Lucky"" If if his mum heard, gave him a swift whack!!! Ow, But ma, I didn't say F**k, , I only said Feck WHACK !!! (another back of the head clip😂)

[@katrinamenzies9398]

Ah to be sure to be sure

[@feelincrispy7053]

I wasn’t born in that time but I did my apprenticeship as boilermaker and worked with old men who worked on the bridge. They told me you could see the steel literally turning bright blue from the stress and the snapping bolts went of like a machine gun

[@TombstoneHeart]

Yep, that's true. The bloke in charge of the men on the section that fell had noticed that the surface rust on the steel was popping off the steel into the air, then it changed to a blue colour, a sure sign of steel under great stress. He phoned his immediate superior and asked if he should get the men down of the bridge, but it was too late - the span fell before he could do any more.

[@Lakridza67]

Wow, that’s crazy! I’m in the Western suburbs. It still scares me when I drive over the Westgate bridge😟

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@paulbell4062]

Yeah I was a boilermaker too until 15 years ago, and I heard about men saying they could hear a screeching sound as the bolts tore loose, and the engineer saying I wonder if I should get the bods off just before it collapsed think the engineer was someone called Jack Hindmarsh, could be wrong on the name tho

[@rainer250]

​@@paulbell4062You'd think the screeching sound of steel bolts tearing loose would tell you to get off the span instead of debating whether or not to do so.

[@bobnash4150]

I was working in the drawing office at Government Aircraft Factories on the opposite side of the river that day. I will never forget the terrible roar and the double impact that shook the ground. Nor will I forget the view when I looked out of the window. A horrible day.

[@markd5548]

Hi Bob, were you working with Jim, Albert, Craig and Alan?

[@Mc.1506]

You would have worked with my grandfather Iain McCreadie I believe

[@rthefish]

My Dad was at CAC, and saw it fall.

[@joebloggs619]

I was working at GAF when the bridge crashed. I remember the mighty thud and wondered what on earth had happened...

[@aurea232]

@@rthefish as was mine. CAC - Commonwealth Aircraft Company, Then Hawker De Havilland and then Boeing

[@Sciencerocksmyworld]

I worked at Williamstown Hospital 40 years after the bridge collapse, had one patient who was made a widow that day and another who lost their brother, two cousins and his best friend. Neither had never once driven across the bridge in those 40 years.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@rgb188]

The bridge is strong & sound.

[@bigbluenationsmith2489]

He does a phenomenal job at piecing everything together along with fact checking. The video is under 15 minutes but it goes by so fast. It’s like the viewer gets locked into the story. Great job.

[@kerriemccoy1647]

On the 50th Anniversary they did do a documentary about the disaster

[@somedumbozzie1539]

One man was under the span he was on the Cleddau job so as soon as he heard "the bolts going off like a machine gun" he ran and was picked up by the rush of air and thrown into the Yarra river from such a height that he broke two ribs on impact with the water.

[@theravenseye9443]

That sounds like one lucky guy - the blast must have been incredibly powerful at that close distance.

[@somedumbozzie1539]

@Alfred Weber For exactly the same reason as the Cleddau collapse this was the second time they had tried this the with the same safety officer who lost his life in the second one. It was common knowledge around the city at the time that the project was in trouble and years behind schedule they had been trying to get it built for about a decade.

[@jamessimms415]

@@roberthughes9856 We had a University of Alabama student who survived our 27 April 2011 EF4/5 tornado. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the Semester so she went home to Joplin, MO. There, she survived their 22 May 2011 EF5 tornado.

[@troo_story]

@@jamessimms415 What's that got to do with the price of fish?

[@andrewford80]

@@troo_story one pound fiiiiiish

[@chatteyj]

Having the workers huts directly under the bridge during construction doesn't sound safe under any circumstances.

[@muzzamoose]

I recall this day too well .We were in Footscray seeing a ex-workmate of my dads when the bridge collapsed.We heard the thunderous noise, it was massive .My dads friend face turned white and i could not understand why until dad said that his mates son and brother were working on the bridge .We rushed to the scene but it was chaos.Dads friend jumped over the fences to look for his brother and son but was restrained by rescue crews who later found that they had both been crushed in the shacks on the ground.I was only 5 and just in awe how such a huge part of the bridge could just fall. I felt a bit sad for my dads friend but it was the first time i met him .His wife and 2 other kids came down to the bridge later and took him home in a crying mess.My dad later told me that his friend had developed depression of losing his son and brother and tried to kill himself but his wife stopped him.Im glad i saw this vid as it explains the cause quite well.I can still recall the smell of the oil fire and the chaos on the day like it was yesterday.I still have the newspaper of the day as my dad like keeping records of important events, JFK assasination , first moon landing etc.

[@SurfingTubes]

"JFK assasination , first moon landing etc." Interesting thoughtful comment, but combining fake events with real.. JFK, "moon landing" both fabricated. JFK was all fake, and the moon landing hilarious. The lunar "Lem" is actually part of the hoax, as "Lem" was JFK's boyfriend. American politics is ALL fake, entirely one big stage of ruling tyranny and entertainment. Just saying.

[@muzzamoose]

@@SurfingTubes stay off the drugs , what the hell has your stupid comments have to do with this vide?.Just fuck off idiot.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@rgb188]

My Uncle Dennis O'Brien was 24 when he went to work on the bridge. He was on the bridge that day & was one of the 35 who never came home.

[@chuxxsss]

My uncle Bernard was on the bridge that day, I still go to his and my parents' grave here in Bendigo.

[@Vline_trainsporter]

Rest in peace 🙏 🕊

[@jadethornton7975]

When I was growing up in Croydon North I lived near an old man in Patterson street who was retired by then but used to work in construction. He was working on the west gate when it fell. He lost some friends on it when it fell. He then proceeded to tell me his letterbox was made from part of the bridge that collapsed. It's still there today.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

Your channel is going to be big. You aren't just covering the same incidents that have been covered dozens of times already 👍👏🎉

[@theravenseye9443]

One of the reasons I started the channel was to tell some of the stories I already knew about, but no one seemed to cover....

[@Matt_matt1]

Keep grinding it raven, liking the videos

[@greebo7857]

I hope you are right. I actually asked Kristian of Fascinating Horror to do this one. He still might, but Raven has done it brilliantly.

[@AndrewBrowner]

@@theravenseye9443 cant find a video on the Claddeau bridge collapse mentioned here, maybe the next video idea?

[@TupacNation]

My father was literally 500 meters away when it went down. He was driving a truck, he's told me the story since i was a little kid. I'm 43 now and my father is still going almost 80 years old now.

[@michaelcauser474]

Thank you for this history. I lived and worked (at Coles warehouse) in Port Melbourne at the time, having arrived here as a migrant only 3 months before. It had always amazed me how the wretched thing had stood up with those roadway bits sticking out with no means of support. On the day of the drop a number of fellow workers came running into the staff canteen towards the end of lunch shouting that the bridge had fallen down. I thought that they were talking about the bridge being built over the railway line on Graham Street. When they explained it further we were pretty much all gob smacked. For many years after the bridge eventually opened I would drive the long way around and avoided West Gate like the plague. It is still a memory I wish had never happened.

[@austinlawler3739]

I'm glad I clicked on this video. It came up in my feed a couple of times, and I was drawn to the bridge support towers, I have never seen straight slabs of concrete like that before for supports. This video was very interesting, informative, and was a story I have never heard before. I also appreciate you don't use stupid sound effects, music, or b roll/stock footage that has nothing to with the accident. You just made your self a new subscriber!

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for subbing!

[@edwardgiuliani9431]

I saw the that part of the bridge fall, I was a leading Seaman in the RAN down at Williamstown working on a Navy work boat when it fell, I remember it falling in slow motion, it didn't register until the noise reached me, I went to the scene in my boat and patrolled the area keeping other boats away, the sight of bodies stuck in the mud was horrendous..

[@greebo7857]

I was at school in South Yarra on that day. We felt it. I remember reading about a worker seeing a "bolt turn blue". A truly terrible moment in Melbourne's history.

[@catey62]

I remember something similar in an article in a newspaper many years later, and that some workers had said something about bolts changing colour as they succumbed to the stresses placed on them. I was only 8 when it happened so dont really have any memories as such of the actual incident. but what a horrible thing to happen. the only other disaster like this involving bridges were the one in Tasmania, and the Granville bridge collapse in Sydney.😢

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Whenever next you get the means and opportunity, pick up a piece of "coat-hanger wire" or any similar (roughly 1/8 inch or 2-ish mm thick) steel craft wire... and use your bare fingers (the best you can) to bend it back and forth as precisely as you can... just wherever in the middle (approximately) that works for you... Pay particular attention to when it gets uncomfortable... You'll notice if you're attentive to the details, that it gets HOT... not just rough on your fingers (which it IS understandable)... BUT physically HOT... The actual coat-hanger and equivalents WILL even burn your fingers a little (first degree, and nothing a little cold water won't cure, if that much)... The POINT is that the steel turning blue is the shear force SLOWLY enough to deform those bolts before they snapped. It was just "smushing" the metal out of place enough to create HEAT... Steel commonly turns blue around 500F, and that blue is a "tell-tale" that you're ruining temper in tool-steels when you grind it, like using a power tool to sharpen a knife or cutter... It's why we (in the trades) keep an icemaker handy in the shop and a few modest containers for cold water for when we set up a bench grinder or belt sander for shaping bevels or any "serious" grinding on the cutters and blades around the shop. Usually, you just keep your fingertips close to the "business" of the bevel you're shaping and regularly stop grinding to dip and swirl the blade/cutter in the ice-water to chill it back down... BUT while you CAN fix it if you DO see bluing, you should make note to be more aggressive about dipping and chilling and LESS aggressive at grinding... In any case... There are LOTS of stories about workers and metal experts noticing "bluing" in steel components before a failure, and now there's a little context as to WHY that's a thing to watch for... AND of course, if you ever see it, SAY SOMETHING!!! TELL SOME BODY!!! ;o)

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972

[@ONAFIXEDINCOMEAlley-fz8tg]

That coathanger analogy is great, and the advice helpful. Thank you!

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@ONAFIXEDINCOMEAlley-fz8tg Always welcome!!! Thank YOU for reading!!! Hobby metal smith and knife and tool maker... so I know a bit about metals changing colors in the process and how or why... Glad I could share something helpful and useful in a way you could grasp relatively easily. ;o)

[@smizmar8]

I've really enjoyed Raven Eye's commentary on the various videos I've seen. To me, it always sounded respectful to the people local to the incident. So it was my pleasure to hear the events of the Westgate bridge disaster described in the same way. It was well before my time, but I certainly heard stories as a kid, and have driven across it countless times. The use of the names that are so familiar to me were pronounced so naturally, and the whole presentation felt to me like another Aussie telling me about it. That is honestly very rare to come across for any commentary about Australia online. I think the amount of Aussies in the comments recounting their stories about the disaster is testament to that. So to you Raven Eye, thank you.

[@MickOBrien-MOB]

My Grandfather was in charge of First aid at the time through St Johns. I was staying at Grandpa and Nans house in Kingsville at the time and they sent a police car around to pick him up and take him to the site. I don't remember why he was home, but do remember the sound of the collapse from their home. Great video and well detailed.

[@bushranger51]

I was in the Army at the time, stationed at Broadmeadows Army Camp when we got the call to assist in looking for survivors in the afternoon, but when we got there, we were told that there were too many volunteers already, so we were on site, on stand by for some time in case we were needed, we weren't of course, so were sent back later in the evening. What I saw has stayed with me all these years, and every time I cross the West Gate, I still say a little prayer for those blokes. Of course you can travel on the road that goes under the bridge on the West Bank (Douglas Parade I think,) and right under the replacement span there is a memorial for them with all their names on it.

[@hebneh]

It's very difficult to believe that such a huge, obvious and dangerous inconsistency in the construction was handled so incompetently.

[@Tamaresque]

The Aussie attitude then was, "She'll be right, mate!"

[@mrjjman2010]

They basically tried bend a gigantic bridge section like you do to get a couple of boards even when putting something together. Absolutely nutty.

[@woodennecktie]

if it wasn't for the lack of experience , in steelbuilds it is practice to do a lot of tricks and methodes to get the prefab pieces fit together . the company in charge just used to much guess and went over the safe line

[@lawdpleasehelpmeno]

All my life I have hated going over the westgate knowing this collapse happened. I've never been able to shake that fear from my childhood that it was going to collapse beneath me. I know it's illogical, but I just do not like that bridge. Combined with the amount of suicides and other horrible incidents surrounding it and a lot of people say it is cursed.

[@Tamaresque]

Interesting. Hobart also had a bridge collapse, and I've been across that bridge multiple times without even thinking about that past experience.

[@ellenbryn]

Oof. Not a single person working on joining those two sides had ever done a stitch of sewing. I'm terrible at it, but even I know it buckles in the middle if you sew from both ends of a seam and work your way in. And that's with flexible fabric that fits together perfectly. :/

[@TracyA123]

Wow! Crazy how that guy survived inside the span! Chilling! Great video!☺

[@theravenseye9443]

I know - being inside that thing when it fell. It's the last place you would imagine anyone would survive.

[@joyleenpoortier7496]

This happened the day I arrived in Melbourne as part of the SA calisthenics group I was 15 years old at the time. When we got off the train we went to the Victorian Hotel and to our surprise there was ambulance and police screaming down the roads and helicopters flying around. I really thought that this was normal for Melbourne but I did not know at that moment this tragedy had happened. I will never forget.

[@Mister_Holdsworth]

Being around 10 years old at the time it was the biggest thing to ever happen here. I remember dad driving us all down to see the destruction. Then a few years later, our first trip over the giddy heights, it was incredible. Now it's just another road.

[@mvfc7637]

Fun fact: I attended a course with a sales rep of the firm which manufactured the steel bolts that were used in the box-girders. According to him, the other firms involved in the construction of the bridge tried to shift blame to the company he worked for and it was only the fact that the heavy steel blocks used to flatten out the curve which saved his company from liability, the steel bolts they manufactured weren’t designed to carry that much weight over an extended period of time.

[@harryricochet8134]

That's correct, particularly the part about attempts being made to blame the bolt manufacturer at the Royal Commission, which devolved into an exercise of the responsible partners shamelessly trying to shift the blame to others, but the Royal Commissioners saw through that and delivered the correct findings sharing the blame equally between the architects Freeman Fox and Partners, the builder World Services Construction and the Unions through repeated institutionalised interference with construction through extortion, theft, graft, standover tactics and wholesale corruption. However, the blocks used to attempt to flatten the buckle were in fact made of concrete not steel, each weighing 8 tonnes and are known as kentledge. 10 of these were placed on the span. It was revealed during the Royal Commission that when the chairman of the Lower Yarra River Crossing Authority, the private corporation established to build the bridge, made a scheduled progress inspection visit of the worksite a week prior to the collapse the workers had spread rolls of hessian along the buckle to conceal it from his view.

[@paulroberts3639]

That was fascinating. Well put together. And I learned quite a bit. When I was a kid - sometime around 1976 - my father drove up onto the incomplete bridge from the Williamstown side. The Geelong freeway turned off at Williamstown road, but for some reason your could get through (I think my father moved a few witch’s hats, but that is about it.). You could drive about half way to the centre, then there was a cyclone fence completely blocking the road. But other than a 20- 30 metre section in the very middle, the bridge was finished. It sat incomplete for a few years. Union bans I believe. But on this day I remember clearly seeing the missing section. The bridge curves so you get a partial side on view on the approach to the middle. I had always thought that this was the piece that fell. Now I just learned that I was wrong all of these years and that the failure was much larger. So they immediately went ahead and almost finished the bridge. Then stopped. Probably until the lawsuits were settled (I am speculating) But I always think about going onto the bridge before it was finished. My father just driving on. And how he told about the tragedy whilst we stood at the fence in the middle of the vacant Melbourne bound lanes on a sunny Sunday. No one around. You would never get away with that now. Driving onto an unfinished project site. Ahh, the 70s. Where builders hadn’t heard of high vis cloths and dads ignored keep out signs to show their son something interesting.

[@augustusomega4708]

Holden or Ford, what did you drive in with?

[@paulroberts3639]

@@augustusomega4708 I think it was a fairlane. One of the big square 60s ones.

[@jayjaynella4539]

The safety agenda has completely destroyed our freedom to undertake such actions and has destroyed a large part of being human, that of learning from our mistakes. I used to work in that area, but now regard the safety crap as living as a communist and not as a human being.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@nancycurtis7315]

I was at primary school that year. At secondary school, my classmate was a lovely kid, but so sad. His dad died working on the bridge that day. My dad worked for Melbourne Harbour Trust, at the time. He was seriously affected by the collapse.

[@MelbourneTuffCars]

Worst Industrial Disaster in Australia ever. My grandfather Anthony Falzon a carpenter went down this the bridge leaving a wife and 5 children behind. To think of the incompetence and negligence John Holland played in the death of these 35 men and their families is crazy. What’s more frustrating that still to this day John Holland is award most of the Government Big Build works is just a slap in the face and Un Australian in my eyes. RIP Nannu

[@skwervin1]

I was a child when this happened and I vividly remember the news coming on the TV. We would drive to my grandparents who lived near the bridge most weekends and I would watch the bridge grow from each bank. After the accident, it took a while for construction to begin again and in the years since it opened, I have probably crossed it a thousand times. One outcome of the disaster were changes and improvements to workplace safety, which continues to this day

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972

[@lebojay]

I like that this is a brief video. Ten minutes is enough to get the important points, and I did. Thank you!

[@ondrejsedlak4935]

I drive across this thing almost daily and normally, this incident is barely at the back of my mind as I go over. The full impact of the incident comes out when I'm stuck on the thing due to traffic incidents. The very obvious swaying once coming to a complete stop at the top doesn't help.

[@mikef.1000]

Chilling how supposed "engineers" engaged in bodge after bodge. 5" difference in height between the spans? No worries mate, just add a few hundred tons to flex it all down, she'll be right...

[@ickleshouse]

seams to me that ,with any of these catastrophise , its a case of "last one left after running gets the bill/blame".

[@michaelslee4336]

It was “only” 80 tons. 10 concrete kentledge blocks each of them 8 tons, but I get your point.

[@transkryption]

should have used for duct tape... every engineer knows this

[@raychapman1134]

What does bodge mean???? Is that a word for f*** up???

[@michaelslee4336]

@@raychapman1134 Bodge job is Aussie for a carelessly performed job or a job done poorly. Hacked up, cobbled together, rough shod, done rough etc.

[@JennyA1961]

I remember this happening when I was a kid. My classmates dad was hurt when it fell. I've driven over it more than a thousand times and all these years later, it still gives me the creeps. RIP to those men who died.

[@lyedavide]

I find it impossible to believe that anyone with an engineering degree would think that using force to get two prestressed box girders off by 5 inches to fit together was an acceptable solution. That would be equivalent to pressing pistons meant for a Ford 351 into a 302 engine block thinking that will make the 302 a 351. Absolutely genius. Unbelievable.

[@tubester4567]

That was the best explanation I have heard on KZbin. Its still an impressive bridge, I drive over it all the time. Its much higher than it looks in pictures. Melbourne traffic would be a nightmare without this bridge.

[@mickryan2450]

John holland again

[@holeephuk]

Melbourne traffic is nightmare regardless..

[@frednutz1604]

The Westgate Bridge is now too small to carry the amount of traffic in Melbourne & this means traffic jams on a daily basis. 1 breakdown or accident on or near the bridge causes gridlock almost daily. A new crossing is needed urgently to handle the traffic from the Monash fwy heading west onto the M80 ring road & Westgate/Geelong fwy & no the new Westgate tunnel does not do this.

[@kaspernbs]

It doesn't do anything due to the fact its still being made.

[@frednutz1604]

@@kaspernbs But when its finished it still will not help traffic from the Monash!

[@kdfrkdfr]

I remember that day very well. Arrived home from school and mum exclaimed "the west gate bridge collapsed!" Attended school 3 or 4 miles from the site but not a word was going around amongst the students about it. A fellow student lost his dad. My uncle was on top of the span and rode it down, I remember him wearing a neck brace for a while afterward.

[@theravenseye9443]

Your uncle was on the span when it fell ? Wow...

[@kdfrkdfr]

@@theravenseye9443 yes he's in this clip at 3:06 being assisted away by two people. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHPOZpWbmMlmnrM He passed away in suddenly June 2007 in his 70's or 80's.

[@paulweston285]

You went to St Joes Too ?

[@kdfrkdfr]

@@paulweston285 me? No sir.

[@paulweston285]

@@kdfrkdfr I went to St Josephs Tech Park St Sth Melbourne around lunch time word had spread about the collapse. We could see the bridge being built from a second floor maths classroom, on that day we could see the dust rising in the air. A class mate of mine also had a father ride the bridge down luckily he survived and some months later we saw him at school with a walking stick.

[@noelroberts8199]

This is a very comprehensive documentary of this terrible accident, congrats to the Raven's Eye Channel.........

[@asd36f]

As an Australian, can I suggest you do episodes on the 1975 Tasman Bridge collapse and the 1977 Granville train disaster?

[@sentimentalbloke185]

no

[@JBRAI22]

Qxir made a good video on the Tasman bridge

[@Ducatirati]

75 , Cyclone Tracey , what a monumental tragedy, as was Granville , shocking all , cheers

[@turbogav8674]

Its always terrifying going across the west gate bridge. Not because it collapsed once, but because you are going into the western suburbs.

[@1966cain]

lol

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

much scarier going to Richmond etc. Where all the crack heads are 🙂

[@Tamaresque]

ha ha ha 😑

[@thehehrarchive1556]

Remember this day well, I was living in Newport opposite the then briquette fired Power station. I was waiting at home for an Insurance agent when the house shook as it would in an earthquake. Around 5 minutes elapsed and then there was the sound of emergency vehicles, sirens blaring. There was news flashes on Radio and TV (B&W) in those days. Our family was, as was all of Melbourne, deeply shocked by this tragedy. Every time I drive over it now I think about that terrible day. Great documentary 👍👏👍

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@jarjarbinks6419]

Thank you so much for uploading this! 💜

[@planetdisco4821]

So the Bolte Government also forced many of the traumatised workers back to dig out their buried comrades because emergency services were so overwhelmed. I worked years ago with an old Greek boilermaker who was there, when I asked him what he did when it started to fall he looked at me like I was an idiot and said “Whaddya think boy!? I ranna like f$@k!!!” He’s still alive now! I only spoke to him on the phone recently..

[@kaspernbs]

They volunteered to pull people out. The army was on site but told to hold off as too many volunteers were on site.

[@damienmilk3025]

This incident was another time stamp in my childhood. Thanks for your making this video with the respect it deserves. Subbed.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks - always happy to get another subscriber!

[@richardfinlayson1524]

Me too

[@tommo9176]

While I spent much of my youth in Japan, I went to high school back home in Melb and it was so briefly discussed. I did my undergrad degree at Monash in the clayton campus and had no idea parts were there! Just in this clip you've taught me so much. I wish you'd shown an image of Melbourne now with the bridge. Incredible skyline and you get the best view from the West gate, that really shows the density of Australia's second largest city (and soon to be largest in not too long). Such a good doco, thank you.

[@alanemarson]

Another great video, thanks!

[@saxongreen78]

A symptom of the fever which afflicted the 1960s in Melbourne: 'Rush! Rush! Rush!' Developers were on a crusade to turn that city into a vast concrete misery factory with no soul and got dangerously used to getting their own way - and they became arrogant and cavalier. Expensive, beautifully ornate old buildings were leveled to make way for disposable skyscrapers that would themselves be flattened within 30 years. Safety was a dirty word.

[@tbone2646]

Still Sydney's motto to this day

[@allegra0]

You are absolutely right. ….out with the old - in with the new….progress “modernisation” the glittering future….

[@rogerbrown1750]

I was working at Brambles transport 2 klm away,I remember the ground shaking a bit,and hear the distant rumbling of the fallen section,and ten minutes later,dozens of Ambulances screaming past.and later I was about 1 klm from the Hobart Bridge when that was hit by a cargo ship.

[@jayjaynella4539]

Remind me not to be too close to you. 🤨

[@Dico6]

Great Doco, thanks. I remember a girl I went to school with in the 70's, Katie Tuke, her uncle was one of the people killed in the disaster.

[@nkelly.9]

Thank you for sharing this content with us. I have read the Royal Commission report into this tragedy and you have left important points out. From my reading of the report: Firstly there were two crews building the bridge. The east crew and the west crew. They were effectively competing against each other in terms of outputs, and so, an adversarial ethos rather than a collegiate one materialised. The bridge design is virtually bullet proof when installed and operating, however, there is the construction phase to consider. The oversight in the building/construction of the bridge was the achilles heel, The spans were constructed on the ground and then lifted up on to the supports. It was during the lifting stage that the spans were vulnerable. The east crew experienced warpage lifting a span and modified their lifting techniques/bracing to remedy the situation. The east crew did not communicate their experience to the west crew. The collapsed span warped/distorted when it was being lifted in to position by the west crew. Once it was up, bolt holes were misaligned then filed/grooved/elongated/drilled out to try to get them to fit. Other bolt holes were left unfastened and then kentlidge, ( dead weight) was positioned on the warped sections to try to press it down so that the bolts holes could be aligned , fitted and fastened. It was at this point that the bridge collapsed. An avoidable tragedy. There is no such thing as bad men, only bad officers.

[@nkelly.9]

@@GuitarRyder11 Pretty sure that since then that site huts are not positioned below anything being comstructed....

[@deborahgeorge3238]

I lived in Brisbane at the time of this accident. Only a child, but I know of the story of the bridge and really don’t like going over it if I can help it. Makes me very nervous with the sheer volume of traffic on the bridge. I had a friend in Hobart who witnessed that bridge come down. She called it ‘that bridge’, knew every bridge disaster that ever happened. We bought her back on the Spirit of Tasmania to stay with us and she had dosed off in the back seat. I was glad as I knew how she felt about this bridge. She roused in time to remind us of the disaster and grip the seat in front in fear.

[@jonnawyatt]

I avoid driving over that bridge. In that current photo, there is a high fence on the edge, put there as someone threw their child off the bridge. Another horror story.

[@GL-xz3xk]

Was put in because of the high suicide rate of people jumping off the bridge after loosing everything at Crown Casino. Was almost one a weekend at one stage but was never reported.

[@aidanthomas2510]

​@@GL-xz3xkwasn't just because of the Casino, one was a bullying victim and others had other forms of mental illness.

[@aidanthomas2510]

If that guy had any shred of decency he'd have jumped off after her. It's been 16 years and I still think about that every time I see the bridge. Horrible, worse than any of the suicides. What made it even worse was finding out later it was over a custody issue.

[@Tamaresque]

@@GL-xz3xk Suicides were never reported in the media then because they found in the past, that it encouraged others to do the same. 😞

[@GL-xz3xk]

@@Tamaresque yeah, in the university sector we never reported international student suicides either as a precaution about it becoming a trend amongst student cohorts. Was a bit hard to ignore the Westgate ones though as the abandoned cars were pretty obvious on the bridge 😬😞

[@nathjohn3158]

Great video, thanks. Unbelievable to think shortcuts were taken on such a project. The Bridge was always going to buckle at some point even if they managed to bolt it together that day. Scary to think it could have been opened to the public. RIP to those that died

[@jayjaynella4539]

If it had not collapsed when it did, it surely would have collapsed before any traffic got there.

[@punchdrunkassassin]

Honestly I was horrified as he kept mentioning all the different ways they tried to jerry rig it together. What did they expect was going to happen? Surely they had to know that faking it til they make it was absolutely going to fail on them at some point. It's one thing to try tricks to get it to look like it fits if you're building a bridge out of toothpicks at school or something. But this has far, far greater consequences - as they unfortunately found out. Unreal how it all happened.

[@paulweston285]

I was at St Josephs Tech school Park street Sth Melbourne in 1970 and from the maths class room on the second floor we could see the bridge slowly making progress throughout the year our teacher often referred to the maths & engineering involved in its construction. On that tragic day around lunchtime word had gone around about its collapse up on the maths balcony/walkway we could see the dust cloud over the fallen span. A class mates father rode the span down ( perhaps the one mentioned here ) luckily he survived we saw him a month later with a walking stick. RIP to the deceased.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@richardfinlayson1524]

Thanks for that, didn't know all the details, great vid mate,take it easy.

[@josh656]

Totally binging on this great channel

[@KleosAu]

Great video mate, very well done

[@LBG-cf8gu]

Excellent history. thanks for the upload.

[@igitha..._]

The Shaun Micallef impression of Billy Connolly narrating about Melbourne's greatest asset the Westgate Bridge was his best work. Howdy from Melbourne Australia!

[@crazyham]

ThankYou for the Video 🙏

[@LopuDesigns]

Incredible video 👏 Well done 🎩And thank you 🙏

[@YanestraAgain]

Crazy. You don't have to be an engineer to imagine that the procedure was dangerous.

[@davesmith4807]

OH i remember this all to well i had just that morning in Perth signed the papers to enlist in the navy the next day we were flown to Melbourne and the crew told us to look out the window and we could see the whole thing. they told us as lots had asked where it was as it was huge news around the country. Thanks for the reminder even now it still shocks that it happened and still feel for the guys killed and their family's.

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@binaway]

The bridge had to be high to allow large ships to pass underneath. There were a lot of low bridges across the Yarra only a mile or 2 up the river all inside the central business district with heavy traffic. The location was to connect both sides of the river, where the merchants ships docked, with the highway system and bypass the busy city center.

[@terryford7168]

Well done that was a fantastic explanation of the disaster.

[@murraystewartj]

Reminds me of the Second Narrows Bridge (now renamed Iron Workers Memorial Bridge) in Vancouver. Think it was 19 dead and many injured - due to a junior engineer's goof up on calculating the necessary strength of temporary supports. I like that some twisted remnants of the West Gate Bridge are set as a reminder to future engineers of the responsibility they bear. It's like the Quebec bridge that collapsed twice during construction. I believe that there is at least one or more engineering schools whose graduates get a plain steel ring made from metal from that bridge - a talisman to due care and diligence and a reminder of the cost in lives if those are ignored. Good job - I've subbed to see more content like this. Thanks.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks for the sub.

[@michaelslee4336]

The sections are at Monash University, Clayton Campus. Jump online and you can see some pics of it.

[@miktriks5720]

Great vid!!!

[@cyclemoto8744]

Thank you for sharing. Cheers

[@melbournestreetdrummermsd3202]

Quality produce video, narrated details well-delivered tone explaining this tragic event. lmportant to know the full story, the boy who took the amazing photo was all we really knew about it. Thanks.

[@jdh992]

I get nervous going over it everytime and i didn't even know until now that the bridge had collapsed during construction. So sad. A well put together documentary.

[@wayveyjayvey]

First video the I watched on this channel. Very interesting to learn more about it as it was before my time and also in my own city.

[@sixstringedthing]

Not pronouncing Melbourne like "Mel-boorn"? Instant Thumbs Up from me. Thanks for covering this tragedy. I'm a Sydneysider born at the tail-end of the 70's so I didn't know much about it at all until recently. By the time I was old enough to understand such things it was a 20-year-old disaster which happened in a different state. I'm sure it is still horribly fresh in the minds of many Victorians though. May those lost rest in peace.

[@iniquity123]

The narrator is from the Midlands (UK) - it is his accent.

[@paulorocky]

English people have no issues with pronouncing it given the city was named after a former PM.

[@iwaswrongabouteveryhthing]

Pronounced mel-ben

[@shootinputin6332]

I only clicked on this video to give him shite about pronouncing it Mel-born. He pleasantly surprised me.

[@shootinputin6332]

@crassgop yes, but it is easy to say ben, right? Melben. Done.

[@c_lakindick]

Love the channel!

[@theravenseye9443]

Thank You Christian... it's appreciated

[@craigk5452]

It’s sad that apportioning blame does not seem to reduce the number of tombstones.

[@davidhoward4715]

Apportioning blame may help prevent future disasters.

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

I remember this. I was living in Wellington at the time. Thank you for another informative video. From Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@kyleg9735]

That intro sound is so eerie. Its perfect.

[@theravenseye9443]

I keep trying out other bits of intro music but the original one still seems to be the most fitting...

[@waynedavis3956]

I was 8 years old at the time, a classmate sadly lost her father in the accident, we were told by the Headmaster to not t talk about it to her when she came back to school, I don't think anybody did. The Westgate was the scene of another tragic event in January 1990, a father pulled his car up in peak hour traffic and threw his 4 year old daughter from the bridge while her 3 & 6 year old brothers watched on. The Father received a life sentence,...as did the poor girls remaining family.

[@notorri]

2009*

[@richardfinlayson1524]

I can still remember this , a bit surprising as I was only 5, but it was a huge disaster here in Melbourne, that bridge has been in the news a few times

[@samanthagomez7074]

Wow really l wasn't born jet when this happened l was born in 1972 in Mexico

[@JohnDoe-tx8lq]

Why on Earth would you use a company specialising in concrete to build a massive load-bearing steel structure?? 'They happen to be there already'?? It's like using the gardener to doing your electrics, while they're at it.. completely different jobs.

[@TC-yx2ss]

Budget and time constraints.We have to get this done now.

[@Graham-ce2yk]

Thanks for covering what the song "Happy Birthday Helen" refers to as '...that bridge that fell down...". People always tend to forget the tragedy that lay behind those words. Interestingly it was not the only collapse of its type. Two other bridges under construction using the same technique, one of which from memory was in Germany also failed in similar ways, but are much less well known than the West Gate failure.

[@sandraashton868]

That was very informative I never knew the backstory of the collapse a deadly stuff up all round

[@lumabi25]

Whenever I'm driving on motorways and bridges I often think about engineers, about how complex their projects are, and it's sobering to think how they absolutely must be very carefully thought out, because people's lives are at stake.

[@michaelslee4336]

Dad had a 1964 long wheel base Landrover ute with a canvas canopy on the back. Mum Dad and baby in the front and 5 kids in the back army style going over the bridge on the day it opened, along with the rest of Melbourne it seemed. Good memories for 6 1/2 year old kid. It was years later visiting the shrine under the bridge when I recognised a name, I went to high school with a kid of the same name and I found out it was his Dad. Damn. Update, I just read 140 odd pages of the Royal Commission Report. Nice to fill in the missing details. A little edit to this vid is needed. World Services and Construction built and erected the boxes but got behind so John Holland took over only the erecting part way through. WSC built them but John Holland dropped them.

[@TC-yx2ss]

We drove over it after work the night it opened and stopped at the top to have a look to see how high it was.Damn high.

[@fahndraco526]

Great Video, it was very informative... I just wish you had linked the "Cleddau Bridge Collapse" with your Video!

[@jet_GraveWhisperer]

My grandpa was working on the west gate bridge and decided to go have a ciggie break when the disaster happened. His neighbour who lived across the road from him was not so lucky and perished that day

[@apseudonym]

smoko actually SAVED a life?

[@jet_GraveWhisperer]

@@apseudonym yep. Sure did!

[@bringtheseo]

Brilliant video thank you

[@theravenseye9443]

Cheers mate!

[@every1665]

Great video - all the facts and relevant stories without a long boring intro or padding. As for the bridge, I'm no engineer and I can easily imagine how hard it would be to get such large components to match up, but when you've got to use 80 tons to line up the bolt holes and seeing such bad warping of huge steel beams, surely it was time to call a halt.

[@midnightteapot5633]

I remember this coming on the news at the time and talking to my school friend about it, I was nine.

[@janbarber7807]

Very talented weaving,sir!I'm hooked.

[@Vasilioo7]

I was a kid on a building site in the 80s where I met a painter that told me his brother died in this disaster and said people where screaming under the steel and downed aswell as died on impact. Something I have always remembered.

[@robbiewales3007]

A person that I met in Melbourne once was on a school excursion on the day of the disaster. He told me he heard a grinding noise then a almighty crash. The West Gate bridge carries the West Gate Freeway formally Lower Yarra freeway

[@fordprefect80]

Worker's huts underneath an enormous, heavy, under construction, unproven section of a bridge?

[@MrGroganmeister]

Yeah, what could go wrong?

[@simonjester0074]

Fine work , Raven's Eye

[@apswainy]

Excellent coverage of one of Melbourne's worst disasters

[@tigerkuma1011]

Lived in Yarraville for 25 years. Always nervous driving over that monster bridge.

[@mikldude9376]

Good video, I used to drive trucks over the Bridge. It always gave me the creeps . Some years ago trucks were restricted from driving in the left lane for a period as with the advent of B doubles which were heavier. They had to strengthen the bridge , and the thought of the earlier bridge collapse always crossed my mind while going over the bridge, rest in peace the bridge workers.

[@leopold7562]

Most of the bridge collapse videos I’ve seen are from those that were poorly maintained or badly under-engineered which dropped some time after they were finished. I thought this would be the same, but to hear they’d barely even started and it collapsed during construction thanks to so many poor decisions. In a way, I’m glad it didn’t even get to completion, it would’ve been an utter disaster.

[@cr10001]

It was completed and it's still in use. Unfortunately not unusual for bridges to collapse during construction (Quebec Bridge 1907 and 1916 comes to mind), usually because the in-service loads have been very carefully designed for, but construction loads can be very different, only happen once, can be very dependent on the method of construction which may be chosen by the contractor so not always expected by the original designer (not necessarily saying that was the case here) and so individual members may experience loading in excess of their in-service loads.

[@benjigray8690]

Thanks for doing all the research and editing to make this video. I hope that all Engineering students all see this video, and that they are taught what went wrong, like what caused this disaster. There's no excuse for shoddy cost cutting design or construction. It's true that even on small jobs, the person or company paying for the project often puts pressure on the builders/ designers to "do it cheaper". This "pressure" often comes from folks with very little knowledge of construction /design ' and an even smaller amount of scruples or ethics, if they do have any scruples, they've probably stolen them from someone.

[@leeoshea2290]

there's a lot of pressure from unions too, brown paper bags etc., remember, the first steel company was terminated and the 2nd company were experts in concrete, not steel. The problem was first spotted when the bolt holes didn't line up with the steel girders, right there, they should have stopped and either corrected the steel or replaced the steel. The end result, 'make it work,regardless'.

[@harryricochet8134]

The Royal Commission which investigated the collapse found that it was due to a number of factors and indeed not at all due to cost-cutting. Its findings attributed the blame to three individual entities, the London-based architect Freeman Fox and Partners for the design flaws and a lack of on-site supervision, the builder World Services Construction for the method of erection and the Unions for their incessant interference in delaying construction in order to maximise theft, fraud, graft and use of extortion and standover tactics to achieve these ends. It was revealed during the Royal Commission that when the chairman of the Lower Yarra River Crossing Authority, the private corporation established to build the bridge, made a scheduled progress inspection visit of the worksite a week prior to the collapse the workers had spread rolls of hessian along the entire length of the longitudinal buckle to deliberately conceal it from his view.

[@elmin82]

this channel is very interesting