FORGOTTEN VICTIM
REVEALED: Second death linked to 1987 gas explosion
A SECOND death has been connected to the 1987 Cairns gas explosion which rocked the city 30 years ago.
Officially there was one fatality, 71year-old Frank Schiller, but the Cairns
Post now learns there is probably a second victim.
City historian Marjorie Earl says she was told Edward (Ted) Henry Joy also died as a result of injuries in the blast.
She said his late wife, Cath, told her Mr Joy was 57 when he died from his injuries on September 15, 1987, about a month after the tragedy.
However, there was no official acknowledgment of Mr Joy and little compensation for his family.
THE death of elderly man Frank Schiller as part of the 1987 Cairns gas explosion has become a sad part of history.
But rumours have swirled over the years of a second fatality, a man who died weeks after from his injuries, whose death was never linked directly to the blast.
City historian Marjorie Earl learnt of Edward (Ted) Henry Joy through his wife Cath, an old friend.
She said Mr Joy was 57 when he died from his injuries on September 15, 1987, about a month after the blast, but there was no official acknowledgment of this and minimal compensation for his family.
Officially the death and injury toll stood at one death – 71-year-old Frank Schiller – and 27 injuries, which included three firefighters.
Mr Joy’s name is not included on a list of the injured who were treated at Cairns Hospital.
One possible theory raised by a former police officer at the scene was he may be the man they picked up from outside the National Hotel, now known as the Cape York Hotel, and drove directly to hospital.
Trevor Crawford and partner Paul Priest were on the corner of Bunda and Spence Sts, cordoning off the area, when they tried to get a man to leave the area who was on the steps gathering tools.
They both described him as a man in his 50s.
“We shouted out to him to get out but our pleas to evacu- ate were met with indifference and he continued packing his tools,” Mr Priest said. “Trev and I decided to physically remove him before he was killed and we quickly drove closer to the front of the pub. I opened the door to get out and that’s when the gas tanker blew.”
The officers’ car was hit by the blast and they assumed the man would be dead given his exposure. But he walked towards them in the aftermath, was put in the car and they drove him to hospital.
“He was obviously in a lot of pain because he’d been in the fire,” Mr Crawford said. Mr Priest added: “I was told he passed away – quite some time later (but I can’t confirm that)”.
Marking the 30th anniversary, Ms Earl paid tribute to Mr Joy, the possible forgotten victim, via historical museum social media group Lost Cairns.
“I would personally like to offer condolences to any family and friends of Ted Joy who, I believe, died some time later from his injuries received that day – and who has still not been acknowledged,” she said.