news, latest-news,
The Woden floods which took the lives of seven young people, including four children, have been remembered in moving ceremonies on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. Bereaved families and friends met on Tuesday morning for a small private ceremony. The first public commemoration of the tragedy was held in the evening. On January 26, 1971, a freak, one-in-500-year storm quickly turned roads into rapidly flowing rivers. Five of the dead were in one car which was swept away. They were Carmel Smith, 19, Margaret Smith, 15, and Michael Smith, 6, and their cousins, Jennifer Seymour, 12, and Dianne Seymour, 8. Lon Cumberland, 18, was swept away on his way back from basketball training. Roderick Dumaresq Simon, 20, died on his way to pick up his wife in Farrer. Bishop Pat Power knew many of the people involved and 50 years later, he was a central part of both ceremonies. He led prayers for those who died. “Remembering is a very important thing,” Bishop Power said. He said that he felt that the floods were a reminder of the “tragedy of life” but also of how healing can come out of events like that. There were about 20 people at the private open-air ceremony in the morning. They sang the hymn Come as You Are. The 23rd psalm, The Lord is my Shepherd, was read. In the evening, a public gathering at the memorial to the floods marked the anniversary by placing white ribbons on trees. “It was a major tragedy in the community and we wanted to provide people the opportunity to come together and talk about it,” Fiona Carrick, the president of Woden Valley Community Council, said. “It’s good for young people to see the older people get together and care about what happened.” The floods seemed to happen in a moment when the volume of rain – 90 millimetres in less than an hour – proved too much for the area’s drains. The raging waters then swept cars away, some disappearing into stormwater drains, with the occupants trapped inside. The fiftieth anniversary has been a particularly poignant time of remembrance. Retired police officer Blen McInnes told The Canberra Times that he still gets chills every time he thinks about the floods. “I remember those seven little bodies down at the mortuary, God rest their souls,” he said. “Frail little bodies, that they were. “You think, what would those kids be doing today? What professions would they be doing?” At about 8pm, there was a knock at his door, with a man asking if he happened to have a rope because people were trapped at the intersection on Yarra Glen and a lot of people had been swept away. Mr McInnes didn’t have a rope but he knew that there was flagpole – and so a rope – at the nearby Slovenian Club so he went and got it. READ MORE: The Woden floods are the natural disaster few Canberrans properly remember He waded out to two men who were clinging on in the middle of fierce flow. He saved them just as they were about to be swept away. “I’m not a very biblical person,” the former policeman says today. “But the irony that someone happened to knock on my door miles away and that I knew there was a rope available at the club. “Then these guys had hung on for so long, I was able to undo the rope and throw it over them all in one movement, just as they let go. “You’ve got to think someone upstairs was looking after me.”
/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/pMXRnDj3SUU44AkPpn97sC/a8d3b5e4-d860-4848-bc31-97bfbdc974f9.jpg/r0_381_5000_3206_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
The Woden floods which took the lives of seven young people, including four children, have been remembered in moving ceremonies on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
Bereaved families and friends met on Tuesday morning for a small private ceremony.
The first public commemoration of the tragedy was held in the evening.
On January 26, 1971, a freak, one-in-500-year storm quickly turned roads into rapidly flowing rivers.
Five of the dead were in one car which was swept away. They were Carmel Smith, 19, Margaret Smith, 15, and Michael Smith, 6, and their cousins, Jennifer Seymour, 12, and Dianne Seymour, 8.
Lon Cumberland, 18, was swept away on his way back from basketball training. Roderick Dumaresq Simon, 20, died on his way to pick up his wife in Farrer.
Bishop Pat Power knew many of the people involved and 50 years later, he was a central part of both ceremonies. He led prayers for those who died.
“Remembering is a very important thing,” Bishop Power said.
He said that he felt that the floods were a reminder of the “tragedy of life” but also of how healing can come out of events like that.
There were about 20 people at the private open-air ceremony in the morning. They sang the hymn Come as You Are. The 23rd psalm, The Lord is my Shepherd, was read.
Marianne Bateup, Anne Walls, and Jeanette Regan were school friends with Carmel Anne Smith, who along with six others, perished in the Woden flood on Australia Day fifty years ago. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
In the evening, a public gathering at the memorial to the floods marked the anniversary by placing white ribbons on trees.
“It was a major tragedy in the community and we wanted to provide people the opportunity to come together and talk about it,” Fiona Carrick, the president of Woden Valley Community Council, said.
“It’s good for young people to see the older people get together and care about what happened.”
The floods seemed to happen in a moment when the volume of rain – 90 millimetres in less than an hour – proved too much for the area’s drains.
Retired police officer Blen McInnes at the Woden Flood Memorial. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
The raging waters then swept cars away, some disappearing into stormwater drains, with the occupants trapped inside.
The fiftieth anniversary has been a particularly poignant time of remembrance.
Retired police officer Blen McInnes told The Canberra Times that he still gets chills every time he thinks about the floods.
“I remember those seven little bodies down at the mortuary, God rest their souls,” he said.
“Frail little bodies, that they were.
“You think, what would those kids be doing today? What professions would they be doing?”
Police searched stormwater drains and Yarralumla Creek for the bodies of people caught in the floods. Picture: Canberra Times archives
At about 8pm, there was a knock at his door, with a man asking if he happened to have a rope because people were trapped at the intersection on Yarra Glen and a lot of people had been swept away.
Mr McInnes didn’t have a rope but he knew that there was flagpole – and so a rope – at the nearby Slovenian Club so he went and got it.
He waded out to two men who were clinging on in the middle of fierce flow. He saved them just as they were about to be swept away.
“I’m not a very biblical person,” the former policeman says today.
“But the irony that someone happened to knock on my door miles away and that I knew there was a rope available at the club.
“Then these guys had hung on for so long, I was able to undo the rope and throw it over them all in one movement, just as they let go.
“You’ve got to think someone upstairs was looking after me.”
