Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge a ceremony that took place at the weekend at Bakers Creek near Mackay in my electorate of Capricornia. The ceremony marks a plane crash on 14 June 1943, which was, at the time, Australia's worst air disaster. On board the Flying Fortresswar plane were 41 American servicemen who were enjoying recreational activities. There was only one survivor.

Mackay RSL historian, Col Benson, organises an annual ceremony at what is known as the Bakers Creek memorial, erected to mark the crash. The cause of the tragedy is still unknown. Due to the war and sensitivity at the time, there was a black out on reports about the incident.

On Sunday 1 June, members of the Air Force and Navy cadets were among those to mark the 71st anniversary of the crash. Mr Benson will head to the Meyer-Henderson-Hall military base, the US Army headquarters base, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in the United States for a parallel ceremony on 13 June.

See this speech in context