Tarcoon Road memorial

Former Bourke residents Dr David Sutherland and Phillip Parnaby at the Tarcoon Road plaque unveiling last week. Photo Contributed

Forty-five years after a tragic motor vehicle accident on the Tarcoon Road east of Bourke, which took eight young lives, a commemorative plaque has been unveiled in Sydney.

The eight victims died following the collision of a 4WD driven by a teacher from Sydney’s Cranbrook School, carrying students on a trip to the west, and a panel van carrying six local youths returning to Bourke from a rodeo at Brewarrina the previous night.

The incident is regularly remembered by the Bourke community, with a memorial installed at the accident site twenty years ago.

The most recent gathering commemorated 45 years since the tragedy that occurred on August 26th, 1979, taking the lives of Bourke residents, Greg Cole (22), Peter Sloane (21), Christopher McNeill (20) Peggy Champion (18) and 17-year-old Kerrie Gower

Ten-year-old Benjamin Haski died beside his Cranbrook school mates William Service (10) and Michael Wiesner (11).

Until now, there has been no clear recognition of the incident by the Cranbrook School. […]

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