HEROIC CLASS OF ‘87
Bus tragedy 30 years on: Teacher recalls teens’ courage
CAIRNS State High School physical education teacher Brian Stopford has described the actions of “heroic” students who went to the aid of their classmates after a tragic bus crash 30 years ago.
In a rare moment, he recalls the horror of the fatalities, to be remembered today at an ecumenical service.
A TEACHER, who was one of the first at the wreckage of a school bus that rolled off a cliff on the Gillies Highway west of Gordonvale, has recalled the heroic efforts of students in a “war zone”.
Cairns State High School PE teacher Brian Stopford was on another bus behind and remembers students, fraught with emotion, running to help their classmates in one of the most terrifying times of their lives.
The 62-year-old, who has stayed at the school since the tragedy, rarely speaks about the 1987 crash that killed eight students and injured 32 plus two teachers and the driver.
“I would have used the word ‘heroic’,” he said.
“They are 16 years of age, dealing with their peers, in the shock and horror of a war zone with dead peers, bleeding peers, kids who were trapped and pinned and all that awful stuff.”
Memories of six students grabbing a log to lever the bus off a classmate’s chest, 16-year- old Raymond Driberg weaving in and out of the wreckage and the countless others who kept their injured friends company, has stuck with Mr Stopford for the past 30 years.
“I think in these circumstances a higher level of thinking kicks in,” he said.
“These kids put aside their own emotions and concerns.
“They worked together to minimise the harm and damage – they were heroes.”
The class of 1987 was returning from a leadership camp when the bus brakes failed, causing the tail end to spin out, sending the bus over the edge.
The trauma didn’t begin to fade for years, for some it still hasn’t.
“What some of them have had to live through, particularly when they were late teens, you never forget it,” Mr Stopford said.
“For the first year it came into my mind every single day. I didn’t want it to, but it did.”
The ripple effect of the crash was felt through school for months after.
“They are very raw emotionally and don’t know how to deal with this stuff ... the whole school was going through a pretty tough time,” Mr Stopford said.
“In those days it caught everybody out. It just spreads like a virus. It took a long time for anything to be close to being back to normal.”
On the eve of today’s 30th anniversary, Mr Stopford believes a memorial should be built at the crash site on the Gillies Highway.
“I just think it is such a significant event, not just for the school, but for the entire community,” he said. “It is like all these catastrophes, nobody who was not there has any idea what it was like.”
THEY ARE 16 YEARS OF AGE, DEALING WITH THEIR PEERS, IN THE SHOCK AND HORROR OF A WAR ZONE WITH DEAD PEERS, BLEEDING PEERS, KIDS WHO WERE TRAPPED AND PINNED AND ALL THAT AWFUL STUFF BRIAN STOPFORD