As part of the Ararat Advertiser’s 160th anniversary, we are continuing our series of features on the history of Ararat and this newspaper.
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WHEN Freight Train 9784 and Ballast Train 9795 collided about 11:35pm on November 26, 1999 near the Ararat Railway Station, it was too late to get any stories in print for the Ararat Advertiser Saturday edition.
When Ararat residents woke to find the twisted pile of metal rail freight cars, the lead story in that morning’s Advertiser was about the inaugural businesses awards.
However, the Ararat Advertiser newsroom had until Tuesday’s edition to put together a comprehensive account of the catastrophe.
They did not disappoint.
The next edition carried seven pages of coverage, not just on the spectacle and unexpected horror of the crash, but reports on the heroes of the night and how the community unified in response.
“Ararat residents have been left reeling with the enormity of a train crash near the town’s railway station as a huge clean-up operation continues,” journalist Lana Best wrote.
“Residents throughout Ararat described the noise of the impact as anything from a “like a bomb blast” to “like thunder” and the sound was heard at the top of Ford Street and out to Baird Street, mainly to the north and west of the rural city for more than a kilometre.
“In some nearby houses pictures fell from the wall and occupants instinctively ducked – some fearing they were experiencing an earthquake.
“In a rescue operation co-ordinated with commendable speed and skill by Ararat emergency services and community groups the four injured drivers were quickly assisted and the site secured.”
One those necessary details were taken care of on the front page, the Advertiser spoke to the ordinary Ararat residents who ran to the scene to render what aid they could.
“Marian College teacher Darren Hovey, nurse Bray McDonald, prison officer Peter Carr and policeman Peter Bigmore are being called heroes for their efforts in finding and rescuing two injured train drivers trapped in a train engine,” the Advertiser reported.
“Mr Hovey said he doesn’t remember how he got into the train engine which was metres off the ground.”
“As doctors arrived at the scene Mr Hovey kept talking to the driver who was later found to have a collapsed lung and broken ribs.”
“Peter Carr and Bray McDonald were waiting for a taxi outside the RSL Club when they heard what they thought was a bomb going off.”
Ararat did not get any respite from emergencies that week, with the next edition carrying news of a truck crash at Armstrong.
Unlike the train collision and its miracle escape of the drivers with serious injuries, the truck incident tragically cost a man his life.