I am Australian. Of Polish Descent.

Part VI: Burrinjuck Dam Disaster

(Continued, Part V)

Thanks to Old Pat, I knew a lot more about the Australian way of life but I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

I shared my barrack with other men including two middle-aged blokes (men) who regularly went out drinking at night.  On this particular day, it was a public holiday and both the general store and pub were closed.  So we had to make our own tucker (meals).  I was in the common room preparing a sandwich when these two blokes walked in.

One said to the other “Ahh, we’re going to cook some bacon, eggs and sausages”  The other one responded “where are we going to cook?”. The first bloke answered “ON THE ROAD, DOPEY!“

That immediately got my attention     

And sure enough!  The first bloke took a frying pan, put a lump of dripping (animal fat) into the pan and carried it out to the road.  The second bloke followed him carrying the food.  They put the frying pan on the bitumen road and in about five minutes, the fat had melted and got hot.  They put the sausages and bacon into the hot fat and when the meat started sizzling, they broke the eggs into the pan.  All in all, their tucker was ready in fifteen minutes.

I found out that Australia gets so hot in summer, particularly in the middle of the day between 11.00 am and 2.00 pm, the bitumen roads become extremely hot and you can cook on them.

So everyone (well, at least the sane ones!) stay out of the sun at that time of day.  There is an old Australian saying that goes “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!”    And now I know why!

Of course, being a public holiday and in a remote work camp, you had to find ways of amusing yourself.  When the heat of the day subsided, the two blokes organised a game called “two-up” (gambling) in the entertainment hall.  Half of the camp turned up and the game was on!  There was a lot of shouting, cheering and cursing ……money was won and lost …..and that was all part of the game.

Generally speaking, Australians are keen gamblers and there is even an old Australian saying that “Australians will gamble on anything, even two flies crawling up a wall!”.

I had some great times at Burrinjuck Dam.  We often cooked freshly-caught rainbow trout (fish) in a frypan over a campfire next to the lake.  And the taste was fantastic!  The flesh of the fish was so moist and sweet that you would never experience this in a commercial fish shop.

The fishing was good there.  A 110 kilo Murray cod (largest freshwater fish in Australia) was caught at Burrinjuck.

I also learnt how to “boil a billy” (make bush tea) and this is an art of its own.   The water is placed in a billy can (a tin can with a lid and wire handle) and placed over an open fire.  When the water comes to the boil, a fistful of loose tea leaves (preferably the Billy Tea brand) is added, and it is gently simmered for a few minutes.  A fresh eucalyptus leaf is added to the tea for extra flavour and then the billy can is taken off the heat.  The billy can is repeatedly swung over the shoulder in a circular motion.  The freshly brewed tea is then ready to drink.

Weekends and public holidays were mainly spent bushwalking, rabbit hunting, reading, playing music, and hiring small boats to go upstream to fish in the lake.

Resting time at Burrinjuck Dam. Tad is playing accordion.

Occasionally, the Irrigation Commission organised entertainment for the workers at their its expense.  It could be a bush dance, movies, story-telling about the adventures of early Australian explorers and bushrangers, “swinging the bull dust” (telling tall tales) and reading the poetry of Banjo Patterson (a famous bush poet) and others.

On one occasion, a bush dance was organised and “The Bushwhacker’s Band” performed.  They played traditional bush instruments such as the mouth harmonica, lagerphone and bush bass.

The lagerphone was a popular instrument in the bush and was made out of a broomstick with lager bottletops nailed to it.  A notched bow or “rattlestick” was run across the broomstick.  The instrument was played by rhythmically stomping the broomstick on the floor while playing the rattlestick.
       
The bush bass was a stringed instrument made from a tea chest or oil drum.  A stick (sapling or broomstick) was used and strings were made from cord, wire or ordinary string.  Different notes were obtained by increasing or relaxing the leverage of the stick; changing the tension of the string.

In the “old days” there was a scarcity of musical instruments and the bushies (people living in the country) used their ingenuity to provide their own entertainment.  They made improvised bush instruments to make music using whatever they had on hand.  Some to these “creations” were the cigar box fiddle, kerosene tin dulcimer and cake tin banjo.  They also used “bones”- short pieces of bullock ribs or similar pieces carved from hardwood.

In the spring of 1951 it was very wet.  When it was raining somewhere, it didn’t just rain, it poured down.  Most of New South Wales experienced nuisance flooding and at Burrinjuck Dam it was raining constantly.  Because the dam was between hills, the rain pelted down the hillside and the water level in the dam began to rise rapidly.

The construction manager sent a communiqué to the Irrigation Commission (based in Sydney) requesting permission to open the spillways on the dam to reduce the level of water.  A communiqué came back telling management to keep the spillways closed in order to conserve as much water as possible.  The reason for this was the previous year’s drought.

The construction manager started worrying and issued another communiqué to the Irrigation Commission stating that the water level was rising one foot an hour.  That made the authorities in Sydney panic and they issued an order to open the spillways as quickly as possible.  They were concerned that if they didn’t take immediate action, the dam itself could be damaged.

Burrinjuck Dam (Photo 1)

To open the spillways wasn’t easy, particularly in wet weather, and it was very risky. One this occasion, it required men standing on top of a makeshift platform secured to the dam wall and pulling out, one by one, a series of timber logs which retained the water.  The level of the dam was already above the top of the logs and the men had to move quickly to relieve the water pressure.

As the men worked on the platform, the flying fox was hooked up to the logs to remove them a few at a time.  As soon as the flying fox starting lifting the logs, the pressure of the dam water was so great that it took the whole platform off, and the men with it, and slammed the platform, logs and men against the rock face wall.  All of the men were killed instantly.

Nine men lost their lives that day and it was the biggest disaster in the dam‘s history.

Burrinjuck Dam (Photo 2)

When this happened, the alarm sounded to alert everyone to get off the dam and work ceased immediately.  The construction manager looked devastated.

Hours later, a police contingent and rescue teams arrived.  They organised all the dam workers into recovery teams.  The police began fishing out the bodies about two kilometres downstream, past the power station.  The recovery teams, accompanied by ambulance officers, carried the bodies on stretchers up to the main road located near the township of Gundagai.

We were formed into eight groups.  Each group consisted of eight men - four men to carry a stretcher and the other four men acting as a relief team.

Every hour the teams took turns carrying the stretchers through rough terrain up to the main road where the ambulances were waiting.

We did this all night.  The mood was sombre, no-one wanted to talk, we were all soaking wet …….. but no-one minded.  The tragic loss of life weighed heavily on us.

According to unconfirmed reports, there were two Latvians, three Ukrainians, two Poles and two Australians killed in the accident.  The workers union collected money donations and the dam authorities pitched in, dollar for dollar.  I heard that a substantial amount of money was collected and distributed to the families of the dead men as compensation for their loss.

Two days later the rain stopped and a nice, sunny day commenced.  The construction manager came to me and said “I have organised two men to walk on this side of the river and I need another two men to walk on the other side because we are still missing one body.  We have accounted for all the men, except one”.  He said “would you mind going on the other side of the river with one of the Yugoslav men and walk along the riverbank, up to Gundagai, and back again.  That will be your eight hours work”.

So we commenced work, walking along the riverbank.  A couple of days later I suggested to the construction manager that it would be a better idea if the Yugoslav and I walked along the ridge of the mountain to get a clearer view of the river below.  I said that if we walked on the ridge and got a better view of the river, there wouldn’t be the need for the other two searchers.  He remarked “that’s a splendid idea”.  So off we went on our search.

One day, we were walking along the ridge and surveying the river.
All of a sudden, a kookaburra (Kingfisher bird), on top of a tree started making loud squawking noises.  Well, I stopped and looked to see what was wrong.  At that moment as I stopped, the kookaburra dived down from the tree, snatched a snake off the ground, took it up to the top of the tree, and then dropped it to the ground.  The kookaburra then dived after the snake, picked it up again, took it to the tree and dropped it again.  The bird did this about three times……..  By this time, the snake was well and truly dead.  He picked it up for the last time, flew to the top of the tree, hung the dead snake over a tree branch and flew away.

When I walked up to the spot where the kookaburra has picked up the snake, I realised that I had almost walked on top of the snake!
The kookaburra saved me from being bitten.

When we came back to the dam I told an old bushie about what had happened.  I asked him “why did the kookaburra hang the dead snake over the tree branch?“.  And he said “that’s their way of feeding their offspring. They hang the dead snake over the tree branch and then bring the whole family, sometimes as many as six or more, back to the tree where the dead snake is.  Then they tear the snake apart and feed themselves.”

So we kept walking for another week but could not locate the dead body.

Subsequently, the water eventually drained out of the dam and river, and we finally found a skeleton.  The remains were wedged between two boulders near the dam.  The construction manager notified the police.  After taking photographs, the police and ambulance officers removed the skeleton.

While we were walking on top of the mountains, the Yugoslav and I found two natural springs.  They were tumbling from the halfway point on the mountain down to the river below.  Where they emerged from the mountain, they formed small pools of cool, fresh, crystal clear water.  I noticed that one of the pools even had a small goldfish in it!

The day after we found the spring water, we took waterbags with us.  On the way back to the dam we filled our waterbags with fresh spring water so the other workers could have a taste.

Once they had tasted the water, well, …….the workers wouldn’t drink any other water!  They insisted on drinking only spring water.  So every day, the construction manager arranged for a couple of workers to go “shuttle service“, to collect more spring water for the workers.

I used to go to the general store to buy a rock cake (sweet bun flavoured with dried fruit and spices) to eat for morning tea. . The rock cakes tasted good but after a while, I got sick of eating the same thing and wanted to try something else.

I saw a workmate eating a pastry filled with cream and asked him what was the name of the cake.  He said “apple turnover”.  So I was determined to get myself an apple turnover from the store.

“Armed” with this new information I headed off to the store, and so I didn’t forget the name of the pastry, I kept saying over and over to myself “apple turnover”     “apple turnover“.

When I arrived at the shop counter, there were a couple of customers in front of me.  I stood there waiting for my turn, still saying to myself “apple turnover”, “apple turnover”.

One customer was served and then the next customer said “I want a dozen exsess“.  The woman said “I only have two left”.  And he answered “NO, NO! I want A DOZEN EXSESS!“.  So the woman said “I’m sorry, but I have only got two left”.

The man broke out in Russian language, swore, and then said in Russian “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!“.  He suddenly ripped his hat off his head, crouched down, and put his hat underneath his backside, and shouted “Kok, kok, kok, kok! kok!“.

And the woman said “OH………EGGGGS. You want a dozen EGGS?”.  With a look of great relief, the Russian said “YESSSSS!”

Apparently, the woman thought he wanted a dozen AXES!

I stood there laughing to myself and by the time it was my turn to be served, I had completely forgotten the name of the pastry I wanted.

So guess what?        I bought a rock cake!



Part VII: The Characters Downunder

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