Dividing Impact: The Tasman Bridge Collapse

The Tasman Bridge Disaster & Sinking of MV Lake Illawarra on January 5, 1975 was devastating for the city of Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. The collapse divided the community physically and revealed the urgency for a safer way to cross the River Derwent.

▶Timestamps:
00:00 Tasman Bridge Disaster Overview
00:44 Hobart's First Attempt to Bridge The Mouth of The River Derwent
03:31 The Tasman Bridge Goes from Concept to Reality | Replaces Hobart Floating Bridge
05:14 The Bulk Carrier MV Lake Illawarra
06:51 Fog, Mist and Strong River Currents Pose a Challenge on Sunday Evening January 5, 1975
10:45 Survivors, Rescue and Immediate Aftermath
12:50 Victim Recovery - Ferries Reinstated - A City Divided
14:02 Fate of MV Lake Illawarra - Tasman Bridge Reconstruction - New Safety Procedures
15:43 The Role of Captain Boleslaw Pelc & Crew After Investigations
17:23 In Memoriam...

▶MUSIC: Produced by @Mors

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▶ A B O U T
Hey, I'm Sam! Child of the 80s turned Parent, Traveler, & Bumbling/Stumbling Nostalgic, Sentimental Creator. With a background in Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Industrial Robotics and a passion for Workplace Safety... half the time I know about 50% what I'm doing!

▶ C O N T A C T M E

#Maritime #CollapseSeries #Australia

[BrickImmortar]

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[t.j.ziegler]

I feel like 20years ago it went without saying but in the current climate it deserves to be pointed out that; the sober presentation style, and omission of flashy animations or dramatic music when discussing loss of life is appreciated. It shows respect and decorum. I only became conscious of this, after watching cable news for the first time in ages recently. You are the perfect person to be sponsored by ground news. Thank you for another high quality video.

[KlaxontheImpailr]

Between this and the Sunshine Skyway disaster, I think it’s safe to say that if you’re driving on a bridge and you see someone trying to flag you down, you STOP.

Edit: Dammit, not again!

[kateemma]

My grandfather drove over the Tasman Bridge a week before this accident. He used to tell the story a lot. He left Tasmania the day before, he was only in town to visit a friend and lived in New South Wales, but he loved that story. He also drove taxis during the Newcastle earthquake. We used to joke he doomed things by driving upon it.

[skarfmaster]

I can only imagine how absolutely terrifying it would be to be driving over a bridge and suddenly plummeting into the water below. i hope that the victims rest in peace, and the families of said victims have found some form of solace afterwards.

[guitarscience]

This is a fantastic channel. As a young adult, I lamented the loss of TV programming like this on the history channel and other cable networks. Sadly, they now offer mostly reality shows. Thank goodness for content creators like Brick Immortar. Great work!

[foxesofautumn]

My mother was a nurse. She was caring for Dr. Jones’ wife. They never told her what happened to him, she wasn’t well enough to understand and the distress would have been cruel, so soon before her own passing.
My mother remembered the doctor as a kind man. Soon after she had to be airlifted to hospital to have my brother, something she hated as she had a fear of small aircraft but my brother arrived safely though it was a tough time for her.

[Gerry-fh]

I had the great pleasure to meet and do some yard work for Murray Ling when I was visiting Hobart. He was the driver of the station wagon that was pushed over the edge by another vehicle. He did not speak of the event readily and I suspect he was still suffering from what we now call PTSD. His actions that night prevented a potentially greater loss of life. I arrived only days after the collapse and already some enterprising souls in rather small vessels were ferrying commuters back and forth. Some with coolers and cold Cascade beer! I'm seventy years old now and this is still my most interesting story to recall. Cheers for the video.

[Igloo]

Great topic. I lived in Hobart from 1964-1999 and can remember the sonic boom of when the bridge went down that night. It was colossal.
Hobart was a very small, quiet city back in those days and it was a massive shock for something like that to happen there.
I was 12 years old when it went down, I always remember the story of the elderly man that lived at North Hobart who had convinced his son and daughter-in-law to stay for an extra pot of tea before leaving to drive home across the bridge. They were found at the bottom of the river holding hands while their car was decimated around them. The poor old man never forgave himself.
Frank Manley, the man who's green 1974 GTS Monaro was hanging off the bridge is still alive, 94 years old this year and still resides on the Eastern Shore, his earlier career as a racing driver no doubt saved his life in responding to the crisis unfolding at the time.
The car is in the museum in Launceston, he still owns it, his wife passed away a few years ago.
Murray Ling, the owner of the white Holden stationwagon hanging off the bridge died in the mid 1980s.
PS: you are also correct that there were no marker buoys in the shipping channel for ships heading too and from Nyrstar (the old EZ Company), only lights are on the bridge, that is still the case.

[davidhynd]

A typically pragmatic Australian response to the situation, "Stuff reverse, just bloody well get out!" Although I live in New South Wales I remember this well because it was all over the news. The two vehicles hanging over the edge gave me nightmares. This could have been so much worse had it happened during the peak hour rush. Not that that's much consolation to those who lost their lives.

[peterstephen]

I worked in the steel industry for 10 years making high stress concrete anchors for bridges, carpark support posts and buildings in earthquake zones . I really appreciate all the work put in and the respect show to the people lost in these stories. Watching these I find myself trying to remember all the little mistakes made so I can pass them on to my co-workers so the mistake arn't repeated. I always found learning about mishaps in other steel plants really valuable because these stories were shared around all the workers to help protect each other from accidents down the road. Keep up the great work Love and Respect

[charlottescat]

Thank you for adding this. Born and raised South of Hobart, but a bit before my time. My mother worked in the city for Ansett Airlines. Basically cut off the Eastern Shore from Hobart. It was unbelievable. We have a photo of the night the bridge went down in our lounge room. I just shared your video to the Tasmanian history page.

[Furrhan]

My grandfather was a civil engineer involved in the design and construction of the Bowen Bridge after this disaster. At the time he lived with his family on the Eastern shore and my mum remembers the collapse of the Tasman Bridge and subsequently the ferries and the floating bridge very well.

Fun fact: most of us Hobartians refer to the Tasman bridge as simply "the bridge" since it's still the biggest, most used and most convenient bridge in the city. Perhaps ironically they're now bringing back the ferries as the bridge and the city in general are getting far too congested with traffic.

[pat_]

I watched this video right when it was uploaded and kind of forgot about it, until I was visiting Hobart a year later (from Germany) and the tourist ship I was on was going under the Tasman bridge when all of a sudden I remembered this video and all the infos came back to me.
It was a really sobering moment..thanks so much for making such great videos and for creating a very memorable moment for me!

[planetdisco]

I was there as a kid not long after the event and still remember gawping out of the window of our car at the collapsed bridge section while we drove across this amazing temporary floating bridge that the army corps of engineering had put together to keep the suburbs of Hobart linked. Great work! You should also have a look at the Westgate bridge collapse in Melbourne.

[jacquescusteau]

My grandparents live on the road that the Tasman bridge feeds off to. My dad remembers hearing the collision and feeling the ground shake. Nowadays crossing that bridge is a breeze. My dad's family is all from Hobart and my mum's family lived there for around a decade. I used to have nightmares about the people driving off the bridge when I was a child. I love the overhead footage of Hobart's tiny Central Business District. Thanks for covering this story BI. It feels far too surreal to listen to this being retold with all of the facts and not by my direct family.

[Sneddz]

I recall becoming aware of this incident on my first vessel which, unnervingly, was on the same run as the Lake Illawarra. I was on the bridge and we were waiting for the pilot, I was having a look at the chart of the bridge a dark and quiet night. I noticed on the chart the dotted outline of a wreck under the bridge. It wasn't until after we were alongside at Risdon that my googling uncovered the Tasmanian bridge disaster. I believe there is recent footage of the wreck available on the internet from the Australian Navy that did a wreck inspection sometime after 2012. Adding to the story from a maritime angle there is a very strict "Point of no return" abeam millers point in which its required to abort the passage if not lined up with the navigation span. The strong winds from mount Wellington and the very fast tidal flow which sometimes run's across the face of the bridge makes the approach from both sides tricky. I was on 3 Australian ships that frequented Hobart/Port Pirie and only needed to use the PNR once, owing to the professionalism of the Marine Pilots in Hobart. Obviously, they take the transit incredibly seriously. Thanks for the fantastic video, look forward to the next one.

[jacobszymczak]

That ad transition was so smooth i didn't notice until you said Ground News

[jackeldridge]

Grew up and have lived in Hobart my entire life, everybody has a story tied to the bridge if they've lived here long enough.
My grandparents and Mum were driving on the bridge a minute or two before it collapsed to take my mum and uncle to my great grandnan's place in Bellerive when they were both very little. They had just gotten off the ramp onto the highway to Rosny and the lights went out on the bridge behind them, and both of my grandparents wondered what happened.
They got to my grandnan's place and she was like "thank god you're safe" and they were quite confused about the whole thing. They thought it was just a blackout on the northern side (very common in those days, Tasmania was quite underdeveloped at the time).
If they'd left two minutes earlier they could have ended up in the water: chilling thought sufficed to say

[davetooes]

My unit 35 Water Transport Sqn of the Australian Army was tasked with going to Hobart and providing logistical support. We had 2 LCM8 there to provide ferry service for State services such as fire brigade and ambulance.