Parents ref lect on Cave Creek tragedy 25 years ago
It is a place of beauty forever linked to tragedy.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Cave Creek disaster, where a poorly-built viewing platform carrying 17 students and one Department of Conservation (DOC) staffer collapsed and fell 30 metres into the chasm below. Only four people survived.
The Cave Creek resurgence, where the waters of the creek come up from underground, is on the West Coast in Paparoa National Park. Before 1995, Virginia Pawsey had never heard of it.
Almost every year since, she and husband Harry have made it there for the anniversary. ‘‘It’s very, very peaceful and quiet when you get down there. It’s a really moving place to remember everyone who died.’’
The North Canterbury farming couple lost their son, Kit, in the disaster. He was just 17, and in his first year studying at Tai Poutini Polytechnic.
As time has passed, Virginia Pawsey said the way she thought about Kit on anniversaries had changed. At first, there was incredible sadness thinking about him as he was, at his life cut short, but as the years passed, she started to think about how he would have lived his life.
‘‘I wonder what he would have been doing. That’s what I think about.’’
This year, the lockdown restrictions have thwarted plans made by the Cave Creek families to mark the anniversary.
In collaboration with DOC, the families had planned to unveil a series of panels placed near the existing memorial rock to tell the story of the tragedy, and the lessons that came out of it. Now that would likely take place later in the year.
Virginia Pawsey had also approached DOC director-general Lou Sanson with a request that the section of track be named the Cave Creek Memorial Track. Sanson had embraced the idea, she said.
‘‘There are so many people who don’t know what happened anymore. People think these accidents can’t happen again but if they don’t remain vigilant, well they can.’’
A new interpretation panel will be unveiled at the entrance to the Cave Creek walk when coronavirus restrictions lift.
A commission of inquiry into the disaster found multiple failures in the way DOC constructed the platform, including: a lack of involvement by a qualified engineer; the project did not have building consent; and nails were used instead of bolts because the right drill wasn’t taken to the building site.
The inquiry also identified systemic problems within DOC, finding it was frequently forced to accept poor quality standards due to its lack of funding.
‘‘At 11.25am, DOC staff around the country will stop work to reflect on why this tragedy happened and how we can collectively make sure such an accident can never happen again,’’ Sanson said.