Early years
Maggie and Sidney Tucker lived in Dandenong with their 18-year-old daughter Annie and 2 sons.
The crash
Maggie and Annie went to visit friends in Scarsdale and Ballarat over the Easter holiday. They boarded the crowded train back home on the evening of Easter Monday 20 April 1908.
Their train from Ballarat was running late. It also had more carriages than usual due to the large number of holidaymakers.
When it arrived at Sunshine Railway Station, the train was too long for the platform. It let passengers alight in 2 stages. First those at the front, and then those at the back after the train moved forward.
But, as the Ballarat train was leaving the station around 11pm, an Easter special from Bendigo crashed into the rear. The Bendigo train crashed through the guard van and 4 passenger carriages. Later, the driver of this train said that the brakes had failed. An injured passenger described seeing its wheels on fire as the driver tried desperately to make it stop.
Between them, the trains contained around 1100 people returning from their holidays. Almost all the victims (44 dead, 431 injured) were on board the Ballarat train. It remains Victoria’s worst train disaster.
The aftermath
The papers afterwards described the scene as dreadful. It was dark and the rescuers had no lights or equipment. Several carriages caught fire. Relief trains, medical and firefighting crews did not arrive until after midnight.
A temporary morgue was set up at Spencer Street Station. Relatives and friends began the gruesome task of identifying their loved ones.
Among those searching were Sidney and his sons. Annie wasn't initially listed as dead, so Tucker and his sons searched the improvised morgue. Then they searched the hospital.
They found her next morning in the City Morgue. They hadn't recognised her because blood had turned her usually black hair red.
The funeral
A large crowd attended the funeral. The procession left Brunswick, the home suburb of Margaret’s mother, at 4pm on Wednesday 22 April 1908.
Annie and Maggie are buried in the Methodist section of Coburg Cemetery.
Bibliography
Adapted from material supplied by historian Dr Jan Penney, GMCT Trust member 2010-2020, by the Friends of Coburg Cemetery Inc and newspaper accounts published at the time (see Trove).
The Argus (1908) ‘The Railway Disaster’, The Argus 22 April 1908, in Trove [website]
Bagely W O (1909) Coroner’s Inquiry into the Sunshine Railway Disaster, Arbuckle, Weddell & Fawkner
Pearce K (1999) Australian Railway Disasters, IPL Books
Rigg T (2008) Sunshine Railway Disaster: A Railwayman’s Perspective, Sunshine and District Historical Society
