14 minute read
Fit the bill
fit the bill NT inquest must address systemic problems
Slava Ukraini! - and the free world continues to marvel at the heroic resistance by the brave Ukrainian people to Putin’s barbarous invasion. Well done, Poland, for pledging its entire Mig 29 fleet of 28 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and shame on Biden for trying to stop it. I do not see much difference between supplying a surface to air missile that will be operated by a Ukrainian soldier and a Mig 29 operated by a Ukrainian pilot. One suggestion on ‘no fly’ zones - why not impose a couple of no fly corridors to get essential supplies into Ukraine from the West and refugees out? There is a precedent: the Berlin airlift in 1948/49. The West must remain resolute. As Margaret Thatcher once said to another American president: “This is no time to go wobbly, George”.
Closer to home, the trial of former Canberra man and NT police officer Zachary Rolfe finished with a predictable not guilty verdict. Constable Rolfe served in Afghanistan and had been decorated for bravery whilst in the NT police force. His parents are well known and greatly respected Canberra identities. No one was the winner in this unseemly saga and Constable Rolfe, his family and the family of the deceased conducted themselves with dignity and restraint throughout, unlike some people such as Greens justice spokeswoman Lidia Thorpe who commented after the verdict “No justice, no peace”.
Canberra Judge John Burns presided in his usual competent manner over a difficult trial and summed up for the jury in a methodical, clear, and fair way. Any verdict other than not guilty in the circumstances would have been perverse as all the evidence pointed to Constable Rolfe just doing his job in very difficult, life-threatening circumstances.
With the propensity these days of some groups to be quite intolerant of other views, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty (a bulwark of our system) is under threat.
However, juries are known to usually get it right and the onus is on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The decision by the big wigs in the NT police to charge Constable Rolfe was purely political.
WITH BILL STEFANIAK AM RFD FORMER ACT OPPOSITION LEADER
There was little or no evidence to support the charges. In my view, it never should have been made and has only served to cause unnecessary angst to the Rolfe family, Mr Walker’s family and his community.
There should have been a coronial inquest first and, as a result of the evidence given at the inquest, a decision should then have been made as to whether there was sufficient evidence to charge Constable Rolfe. Inquests also serve the purpose of correcting systemic problems and there were many problems in Mr Walker’s remote community that needed correcting as it seems there are in what appears to be a politicised NT police force. Let’s hope the coming inquest does just that. Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Weekly.
news news Narrabundah intersection a ‘death-trap’
Narrabundah residents are calling on the ACT Government urgently to act after another prang at the “dangerous” intersection of La Perouse Street and Carnegie Crescent.
Last Wednesday afternoon, 9 March, a car ran into a safety island outside Red Hill Primary School at school pick-up time.
“A mum and her kids could have been on that traffic island,” said concerned resident Timothy DeWan.
Such accidents are common at the intersection – and Mr DeWan fears it is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
“It’s an absolute death-trap, and something will happen,” he said. “We’re going to have a death; we’re definitely going to have a death.”
Five schools and several aged care facilities are near the intersection, which witnesses two accidents a week on average – and many nearmisses every day, locals estimate.
Last year, Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, said the ACT Government would release a pedestrian safety study. Announced in March, it was delayed by the pandemic and lockdown.
The government has received the final draft and is finalising the report, Mr Steel said. The findings will be shared with the Narrabundah community once they are available.
But Mr DeWan believes this is inadequate. “A report won’t save a child. It is direct action that will save a child here.”
Mr DeWan wants government engineers to visit Narrabundah, listen to the community’s concerns, then fix the intersection – “not come up with book-based solutions without consultation”. He worries the government’s response will be to visit the intersection at a quiet time, install another traffic island, and tick the problem off their list – a sorry result for more than a year of campaigning. Locals have suggested 40 (or even 30) km/h speed limits, a roundabout, and road markers reminding drivers to slow down.
Conversely, the government needs to hurry, Mr DeWan believes; in his view, the government is taking too long. He met Mr Steel and representatives from Roads ACT (Transport and City Services) in March 2021 – a year ago.
Mr DeWan has written to every local MLA; school and community associations have also appealed.
“When something happens, no-one within the bureaucracy or government will be able to say we weren’t aware,” he said. “And our politicians will be held to account for this by public opinion.”
Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee, a local MLA, has started a petition calling on the ACT Government to upgrade the intersection to make it safer for children and all road users.
“Many local residents have raised their serious concerns about safety at this intersection, and despite me raising these issues with the Minister for years, nothing has been done,” she said.
“The ACT Labor-Greens government must take these concerns seriously and take urgent action to fix this dangerous intersection.” - Nick Fuller
Car crash at the intersection of Carnegie Crescent and La Perouse Street in Narrabundah last week. Photo provided.
Pat Messina and Wayne Berry restoring the Thornycroft Mark III. Photo: Fire Brigade Historical Society of the ACT.
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Thornycroft Mark III. Photo: Fire Brigade Historical Society of the ACT.
Painting the truck red: Fire Brigade Museum restores historic engine
The Thornycroft fire tender stands under a tarpaulin in the yard of the Canberra Fire Brigade Museum, Forrest, awaiting restoration.
Built in the 1960s, it operated at the Canberra airport until the mid-1990s. It is the only preserved historic vehicle known to have served at the airport from that time intended for public display, and the only 1960s aviation firefighting appliance in the museum’s collection.
Now, it will be repainted in its original red – “resprayed and restored to its original colour,” says volunteer guide Ian McCleary – thanks to an ACT Heritage Grant last year. (The 2022 round has just opened.)
“We’re in the business of trying to restore history, and keep the history of the fire services going,” Mr McCleary said.
“It’s very nice that the Heritage Council recognised that it’s something of value to Canberra history… It would be a terrible thing to lose that history.”
This is the second 1963 Mark III Thornycroft Nubian 6 x 6 large fire tender to have served at the airport. The Commonwealth Government bought the first for the airport in 1963; it crashed and rolled in the 1970s.
The replacement vehicle – one of a fleet of Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation appliances that served NSW and the ACT from the 1960s – was permanently stationed at the airport from the mid-1970s until 1996. When it was retired, it was given to the Fire Brigade Historical Society of the ACT.
The Thornycroft was “very, very noisy – but a very capable vehicle at the time,” Mr McCleary said.
It is a 14-ton six-wheel drive, with a 6.6 litre Rolls Royce B81 petrol engine. Manned by a crew of five, it could pump 3,600 litres of water, and 18,000 litres of foam a minute.
“It could throw foam quite a distance, for three or four minutes,” Mr McCleary remembered, before it had to be backed up with a water truck. “Hopefully, in that time, you had any fire out.”
Those pumps came in handy in 1977, when a Boeing 747B Alitalia jet was forced to land in Canberra after it hit some birds. The engine caught fire, and the gearbox casing was burnt through. “Molten metal dripped from the engine as the fire was brought under control,” the Canberra Times reported. Fortunately, nobody was harmed.
Firemen used carbon-dioxide extinguishers to put out the blaze. (continued page 18)
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(from page 16) “It was too high for us to get to any of the engines or the doors,” Mr McCleary remembered. “Nothing of that size had ever landed in Canberra before.
“But thankfully, there weren’t too many exciting incidents. And that’s what you dream of: that you go to work, and you come home, and there’s been nobody hurt.”
Operating the fire tender’s pumps was a complicated eight-step process. “It required quite a lot of skills maintenance just to keep your hand in, knowing which levers [to pull], and getting your sequences right,” he said.
One senior firefighter would spend 15 minutes every day running the truck out of the fire station and positioning it as though they were attacking a plane fire. If Mr McCleary was rostered on as a driver, he would sit in the truck and go through the motions of what levers to push in what sequence.
The Thornycroft Mark III and its “little brother”, the Mark I, were “seriously thirsty”, Mr McCleary reminisced. In 1978, “the days when petrol was cheap”, he drove the Mark I to Sydney; he filled up before he left, then had to stop for petrol again at Goulburn and Camden before he reached Sydney airport.
Restoration work began two years ago. “We’ve had a battle in finding parts for it,” Mr McCleary said. They had to go to England to find butterfly valves for the carburettor, and the braking system required some innovative searching. The inside has been repainted; now, he said: “It’s nice to have it to a point where we can get it painted.”
Normally, the FBHS repaints fire trucks at the museum, but the Thornycroft is too big to paint in the yard without impacting the local community, Mr McCleary said. It will go to a specialist in Fyshwick who can “handle painting something this size” in an enclosed environment.
Once the truck has been repainted, it will go on display. “It’d be very nice to see it back in its glory, and able to be shown somewhere,” he said.
But where it will be stored has yet to be resolved. It could be parked at a fire station, or someone might have a big shed the engine could be parked in.
“When you put the effort and energy into restoring them, you don’t like to see them fall apart again simply because you can’t get it under storage,” Mr McCleary said.
The Thornycroft is one of many treasures of the Canberra Fire Brigade Museum’s collection, housed in the former Forrest Fire Station, built in 1939. There are historic fire engines, some from the 1920s and 1930s; the call centre’s elaborate networks of fire alarms; and relics from the 2003 fires, including melted metal from the Phillip fire truck caught in the firestorm.
The Museum, in Empire Circuit, Forrest, is open every Saturday from 10am to 2pm.
The restoration of the Thornycroft has been made possible by the ACT Heritage Grants, which identify, conserve, and celebrate Canberra’s history and heritage, said Rebecca Vassarotti, ACT Minister for Heritage.
This year’s round will provide $350,850 for local community projects. Ms Vassarotti hopes to see applications that document and record the histories of Canberra’s women, First Nation, multicultural, disability, and LGBTQIA+ communities. pplications close on 29 April. - Nick Fuller
Appeal raises $550,000
Canberrans should be giving themselves a round of applause because this year’s annual Canberra Day Appeal raised over $550,000, according to CEO of Hands Across Canberra, Peter Gordon.
Mr Gordon says he’s proud that so many Canberrans got behind the campaign once again and donated to their local community during these uncertain times.
Because there are many worthy causes in need of support right now elsewhere in Australia and globally, he says it’s heartening to see Canberrans helping vulnerable members of the local community.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the result; $550,000 will go a long way to support the many local organisations that work with the most vulnerable people in our community.
“The result shows that even during uncertain times when there are a great number of extremely worthy causes, such as floods and war, Canberrans also want to help those in our own backyard.
“We may have fallen short of our target, but knowing that our generous community is supporting vulnerable people elsewhere in the country, and the world, whilst also giving where they live, is the best outcome we could hope for.”
Mr Gordon says he thanks everyone in the Canberra community – individuals, businesses, and government – who supported this year’s appeal.
“Our local charities and community organisations will get immediate benefit from this appeal. The difference these funds will make is huge and will allow our local charities to continue servicing the community.” - Abbey Halter
