Drain Plane

Each day I cycle to work I ride beside a fair section of the stormwater drain running through New Lambton, Broadmeadow and Hamilton North. There’s some strange things down the drain sometimes – earlier this year I saw someone’s shiny 4WD down in the drain beside New Lambton Park, obviously a result of forgetting to put the handbrake on. But that’s nothing compared to what the residents of Broadmeadow saw on 10th August 1944.

1944

1155824063_05fe48ed72_o

Photo from Candice Campbell’s collection on Flickr.

2015

IMG_2806At first I wasn’t sure that this photo I took today was the same spot, as the bridge here only has 2 supports, where the bridge in the old photo has 3. A quick check of the plaque on the bridge however shows that the bridge was rebuilt in 1957. What confirms this as the location is that in both the old and modern photo you can clearly see the distinctive outline of St Laurence O’Toole church on Broadmeadow Rd.

IMG_2805

The star on this old map marks the approximate location of the plane crash.

The star on this old map marks the approximate location of the plane crash.

Newspaper articles

Article Date Event DateNotes
11 Aug 1944
10 Aug 1944
A D.C. 47 Army transport plane, with 25 men on board, skidded 200 yards on a wet runway, hurtled through a fence and then crashed into a stormwater channel at Broadmeadow aerodrome.
12 Aug 1944
10 Aug 1944
Photo. The Douglas C47 transport plane in the stormwater channel at District Park aerodrome, Broadmeadow, where it landed in bad weather on Thursday.

Then and Now 3

1901

3219718626_1d96b00941_o

The Gully Line railway crossing the stormwater drain in Broadmeadow. Photo by Ralph Snowball. University of Newcastle Cultural Collections.

2014

Img_2508aThe Gully Line railway ran from Hamilton North to Raspberry Gully (at the bottom of the ridge, just north of Charlestown) to serve the South Waratah colliery. The railway line was completed in 1876. The colliery ceased production on 22nd December 1961. The photos above and below were taken on 22nd December 2014, 53 years to the day after the mine closed.

IMG_2510