Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 12 December 73 years ago, Grafton experienced one of the worst tragedies it has ever had. It started as the annual Christmas picnic to Susan Island for 31 scouts and cubs. When they were returning home at 5 pm in a 12-foot flat-bottomed punt, disaster struck. About 400 yards offshore, the wind picked up and the water became choppy. Three older scouts jumped overboard to keep the punt steady, but a wave broke over them and caused it to capsize. Within 30 minutes, thirteen boys aged between eight and ten years old had drowned in the Clarence River. Men playing bowls nearby heard the screams and rushed to the scene in any boats they could find. They managed to pick up 18 survivors.

Those whom our community lost that day were Graeme Corbett, William Dillon, Cecil Lambert, Raymond Morris, Brian Munns, Keith Rennie and his brother Robert, Edmund Retchford, Alvin Spicer, Richard Steinhour, Dale Thorsborne, Allan Tobin and Robert Wilkes. Of the 13 victims, nine are buried side by side in the South Grafton cemetery. Three supervising scouts who survived, 17-year-old Charlie Penn, Rex Oxenford and Jimmy Doust, were rightly commended by the coroner for their actions that day.

I have spoken to Rex about this day. He, like many, was very brave, but has had to live with the images of this tragedy ever since. We remember them on 12 December.

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