Royal Canberra Hospital 'implosion' Anniversary

LSWCHP said :

I heard all the advertising hoopla at the time, and I thought that I didn’t want to be anywhere near it. The very idea of making a public spectacle out of a large explosion seemed like like absolute insanity to me at the time, and I thought it would end in tears.

I had just been posted to Canberra the week before and having heard the advertising, decided to scout the new city for a reasonable vantage point. In my explorations, I found what I thought might be a convenient spot.
Then I had second thoughts and figured that I would actually prefer to watch it on TV instead.
Being unfamiliar with Canberra, I had no idea where the fatality was located when it was reported.
Some years later, while walking around the lake, I came to the general area where I’d planned to watch and saw the memorial to young Katy.
When mentioning this to a friend later that day, he revealed that he’d been very close to that same point and a guy just in front of them had his tripod mounted camera taken out by a chunk of shrapnel.

I think that it was incredible that more people weren’t killed, given the amount of near-misses that were obvious from the footage.

I’m still amazed that it’s still referred to as an “implosion”.

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?

You’re not bright,

Indeed, and yet I am not so dim as to confuse a noun with an adjective.

c_c said :

obviously the application didn’t auto-correct peninsula to peninsular, it auto-corrected a mispell of peninsula and without knowing the context, corrected to the adjective.

That’s a pretty vague excuse.
Try as I may, I am failing to get any auto-correct to come up with “peninsular” unless I actually put the “r” in there, which is what somebody confused about the difference between an adjective and a noun might do, I suppose.

As you have so much time to investigate this in great detail, I’d suggest getting a life. It’s really kind of sad.

But then, we public school students did always notice the private schoolers in college were a bit detached from reality and insular.

Shouldn’t that be insula?

I remember thinking what drama queens some people I knew were, when they complained about how near shrapnel had come to them during the demolition. (They were on kayaks on the lake.) And how the news of the little girl’s death gradually came out. Just awful to think that a child died in such a needless display.

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?

You’re not bright,

Indeed, and yet I am not so dim as to confuse a noun with an adjective.

c_c said :

obviously the application didn’t auto-correct peninsula to peninsular, it auto-corrected a mispell of peninsula and without knowing the context, corrected to the adjective.

That’s a pretty vague excuse.
Try as I may, I am failing to get any auto-correct to come up with “peninsular” unless I actually put the “r” in there, which is what somebody confused about the difference between an adjective and a noun might do, I suppose.

As you have so much time to investigate this in great detail, I’d suggest getting a life. It’s really kind of sad.

But then, we public school students did always notice the private schoolers in college were a bit detached from reality and insular.

Thumper said :

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

Mate,

I used to be a soldier.

I used to shoot things and blow things up for a living.

I was going no-where near the hospital when it was imploded.

You see, I understand how explosions work and they are nothing like what you see on television or at the movies.

A young girl was killed by the stupidity of the government at time.

Your comments were callous and completely uncalled for.

Take a good hard f*cking look in the mirror my friend.

I used to be in the same line of work as Thumper, and I’ve also done my fair share of shooting and exploding things. I heard all the advertising hoopla at the time, and I thought that I didn’t want to be anywhere near it. The very idea of making a public spectacle out of a large explosion seemed like like absolute insanity to me at the time, and I thought it would end in tears.

Sadly, it did, and I feel very sorry for the Bender family.

I also wonder why no heads rolled as a result of such a colossal stuffup. The footage I’ve seen of the explosives being laid indicated to me that the contractor had no idea about how to bring a structure down. They charges actually looked to my slightly educated eye like they were laid to blow the place upwards.

And Mr G, what you wrote originally is not OK.

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?

You’re not bright,

Indeed, and yet I am not so dim as to confuse a noun with an adjective.

c_c said :

obviously the application didn’t auto-correct peninsula to peninsular, it auto-corrected a mispell of peninsula and without knowing the context, corrected to the adjective.

That’s a pretty vague excuse.
Try as I may, I am failing to get any auto-correct to come up with “peninsular” unless I actually put the “r” in there, which is what somebody confused about the difference between an adjective and a noun might do, I suppose.

HenryBG said :

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?

You’re not bright, obviously the application didn’t auto-correct peninsula to peninsular, it auto-corrected a mispell of peninsula and without knowing the context, corrected to the adjective. Just as it use to correct “Youre” to “Your” before I programmed it to correct to “You’re”

Still a weakness of auto-correct or predictive typing tools, though one being addressed in the next version of Android apparently with contextual corrections made after a sentence is complete.

Frustrated said :

Thumper said :

c_c said :

Say what you will about Labor and the Greens, at least they didn’t manage to turn a flawed project into a fatal one. Between this, the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the failed Kamberra winery, the failed “Power of Canberra” campaign, the failed V8 Supercars race, the failed defence contractor Hq, the… need I go on.

Still annoys me every time I drive past the peninsular that for all the expense and trouble, what we got was a second rate, ill suited, architectural wank of a building.

Yawn..

GDE, AMC, schools closures, Rhodium, caravan park debacle, hospital fraud.

V8 supercars were canned by Stanhope.

Oh, is the GDE finished yet?

Do I need to continue?

Only the GDE was a farkup, the rest of it is insignifant compared to the Libs farkups!

Carnell should have been jailed for Katie Bender’s death, very poor time in Canberra when Carnell was CM.

So the timesheet frackup (accounting and accountability) then the hosptial frackup what others things have they gotten wrong that we dont yet know?

How much have we wasted on bike lanes that go nowhere and changing speed limits for the hell of it.
Not to mention that Canberra is one of the most expensive places to live with no real tourism market.

The lack of a highspeed rail network to sydney is really holding back the ‘capital’. Not to mention the Snow town fiasco. (Why is the airport the only one who wants to competite with the busiest air route in the country?)

DFO/Brand depo, massive duplication and over build, failed on so many levels.

2003 Bush fires why wasn’t more done to reduce the risks. The warning system put in place after that which was testing during the Chemical plant explosion seems practically useless!

Building site safety a big issue, Several building site collapses. (Airport Belconnen car getting crushed) GDE bridge, + others)

At least their isnt many problems at hume hilton.

One would think that the elected candidates would have suitable project management skills.

Perhaps a far better lego challenge would be if we give them a few young kids to do the challenge for them. Their job would be to manage their workers instead even do a timesheet!

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

Care to explain that HenryBG

‘Peninsula’ – Noun
‘Peninsular’ – Adjective.

This lesson brought to you by NOTpublicSchools, ACT

c_c said :

No not the difference between the noun and the adjective that I sloppily let auto-correct.

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?
I’ve just tested a few and not one of them has threatened to do so. You wouldn’t be making excuses would you?

The silly comment about public schools.

Or did you miss the story on RA (now deleted) about Canberra Grammar stuffing up the spelling of their own ad?

They had probably employed somebody with deficient education. Or maybe “the auto-correct” did it”.

Now now, we both know Grammar only employs people who are vetted to join the club.

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

Care to explain that HenryBG

‘Peninsula’ – Noun
‘Peninsular’ – Adjective.

This lesson brought to you by NOTpublicSchools, ACT

c_c said :

No not the difference between the noun and the adjective that I sloppily let auto-correct.

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?
I’ve just tested a few and not one of them has threatened to do so. You wouldn’t be making excuses would you?

The silly comment about public schools.

Or did you miss the story on RA (now deleted) about Canberra Grammar stuffing up the spelling of their own ad?

They had probably employed somebody with deficient education. Or maybe “the auto-correct” did it”.

Or maybe Canwerra Gwammar’s proof-reader was doing jury duty on the day the advert needed checking…

c_c said :

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

Care to explain that HenryBG

‘Peninsula’ – Noun
‘Peninsular’ – Adjective.

This lesson brought to you by NOTpublicSchools, ACT

c_c said :

No not the difference between the noun and the adjective that I sloppily let auto-correct.

Which application auto-corrects “peninsula” to “peninsular”?
I’ve just tested a few and not one of them has threatened to do so. You wouldn’t be making excuses would you?

The silly comment about public schools.

Or did you miss the story on RA (now deleted) about Canberra Grammar stuffing up the spelling of their own ad?

They had probably employed somebody with deficient education. Or maybe “the auto-correct” did it”.

Thumper said :

c_c said :

Say what you will about Labor and the Greens, at least they didn’t manage to turn a flawed project into a fatal one. Between this, the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the failed Kamberra winery, the failed “Power of Canberra” campaign, the failed V8 Supercars race, the failed defence contractor Hq, the… need I go on.

Still annoys me every time I drive past the peninsular that for all the expense and trouble, what we got was a second rate, ill suited, architectural wank of a building.

Yawn..

GDE, AMC, schools closures, Rhodium, caravan park debacle, hospital fraud.

V8 supercars were canned by Stanhope.

Oh, is the GDE finished yet?

Do I need to continue?

Only the GDE was a farkup, the rest of it is insignifant compared to the Libs farkups!

Carnell should have been jailed for Katie Bender’s death, very poor time in Canberra when Carnell was CM.

HenryBG said :

Proboscus said :

I seem to remember a story where Carnell showed up drunk at the Bender Family home later that night to give her condolences.

I also seem to remember the Legislative Assembly rushing through legislation putting a cap of $50,000 where victims of any government f**k up could only claim up to that amount.

Can someone tell me if my memory is correct or if alzeimers has finally kicked in?

They sent people around there a few times trying to manipulate the Benders and “manage” the issue. Shameless and grotesque.

They were making a bit of headway with their spin in the local media until 60 Minutes got hold of the story and put Canberra’s shame on display before a national audience.

HenryBG said :

c_c said :

Care to explain that HenryBG

‘Peninsula’ – Noun
‘Peninsular’ – Adjective.

This lesson brought to you by NOTpublicSchools, ACT

No not the difference between the noun and the adjective that I sloppily let auto-correct.

The silly comment about public schools.

Or did you miss the story on RA (now deleted) about Canberra Grammar stuffing up the spelling of their own ad?

Proboscus said :

I seem to remember a story where Carnell showed up drunk at the Bender Family home later that night to give her condolences.

I also seem to remember the Legislative Assembly rushing through legislation putting a cap of $50,000 where victims of any government f**k up could only claim up to that amount.

Can someone tell me if my memory is correct or if alzeimers has finally kicked in?

They sent people around there a few times trying to manipulate the Benders and “manage” the issue. Shameless and grotesque.

I seem to remember a story where Carnell showed up drunk at the Bender Family home later that night to give her condolences.

I also seem to remember the Legislative Assembly rushing through legislation putting a cap of $50,000 where victims of any government f**k up could only claim up to that amount.

Can someone tell me if my memory is correct or if alzeimers has finally kicked in?

Thumper said :

HenryBG said :

RadioVK said :

Any bomb technician would tell you that it’s stupid and ridiculous to watch any explosion of this magnitude directly, from anywhere within the possible range of a stray shrapnel fragment.

Heh.

Remind us of the casualty radius of a hand grenade, versus the average distance that one might be thrown in combat…..

From memory, a good toss would be 30 metres, maybe a bit more, with a casualty radius of roughly 15 metres, although shrapnel is know to be blasted some 200 metres away.

Of course, been a while, so I might be wrong.

As for the hospital debacle, we were really lucky the casualties weren’t into double figures given the amount of shrapnel flying around.

Agreed – there were thousands of spectators and hundreds of lethal fragments which landed as far away as the Treasury carpark.
That only 1 person died is a miracle.
That nobody was prosecuted is unforgivable example of political corruption in our law enforcement agencies.

My brother had his young family down by the lake to watch the implosion, he said he had an overwhelming feeling they should leave, he didnt know why, they did leave and heard of the terrible accident later that evening on the news.

PBO said :

I am still surprised how many people do not remember the MIG jet crash on Hindmarsh dr in the 90’s , the 16yr old who was shot by police last year or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

I remember the MIG crash too well. I was a witness in the enquiry and still have a few issues to deal with around the crash.

On Topic, my wife and I were at the implosion and recall the sirens as emergency vehicles fought their way through traffic to get to where you Katie was. My brother is buried not far from where Katie is, and I recall that day with great sadness whenever I walk past her.

Of note, when was studying Project Management at Uni this was used as a case study on how not to run a Project. With so many things being done so wrong, it’s hard to think of anything that actually went right.

RIP Katie

bigfeet said :

I-filed said :

Let’s not forget that the architects snuck Nazi genocide referencing in to the National Museum of Australia building. It isn’t just a horrible building, it is a deliberately ugly, uncomfortable and vile one..

I’ve heard lots of rumours and stories about the Nat Museum’s design, but I’ve not heard this one. It’s got me intrigued.

Can you give some details?

Sure – Here’s a couple of good leads on the National Museum of Australia architectural “genocide quotation” disgrace from Wikipedia (even the words on the outside of the building are sneaky politics):
The plan of the National Museum of Australia incorporates an exact copy of the lightning-flash zigzag that Libeskind created for the Berlin Museum by breaking a star of David. The Bulletin magazine first publicly raised allegations of plagiarism in June 2000. Libeskind was reported to be angry with the copying. Raggatt’s defence against plagiarism was that the design was a quotation rather than a copy.[10] The director of the museum, Dawn Casey, claimed in the press that she and her council were not aware of this symbolism when they approved the plan.[11]

The exterior of the building is covered in anodised aluminium panels. Many of the panels include words written in braille and other decorative devices. Among the messages are “mate” and “she’ll be right”. Also included were such controversial words and phrases as “sorry” and “forgive us our genocide”. These more controversial messages have been obscured with silver discs being attached to the surface making the braille illegible.[12]

bigfeet said :

I-filed said :

Let’s not forget that the architects snuck Nazi genocide referencing in to the National Museum of Australia building. It isn’t just a horrible building, it is a deliberately ugly, uncomfortable and vile one..

I’ve heard lots of rumours and stories about the Nat Museum’s design, but I’ve not heard this one. It’s got me intrigued.

Can you give some details?

I’m guessing it relates to the giant braille letters that appear on the outside and apparently say (amongst other things) things like “Forgive us our genocide” and “sorry”

See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/miranda-devine/the-embedded-messages-that-adorn-museum/2006/04/01/1143441377890.html?page=fullpage

and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Australia

There is some debate as to what the braille actually says. See: http://www.butterpaper.com/cms/news/?c=buildings&country=Australia&region=Australian%20Capital%20Territory&town=Canberra

HenryBG said :

RadioVK said :

Any bomb technician would tell you that it’s stupid and ridiculous to watch any explosion of this magnitude directly, from anywhere within the possible range of a stray shrapnel fragment.

Heh.

Remind us of the casualty radius of a hand grenade, versus the average distance that one might be thrown in combat…..

From memory, a good toss would be 30 metres, maybe a bit more, with a casualty radius of roughly 15 metres, although shrapnel is know to be blasted some 200 metres away.

Of course, been a while, so I might be wrong.

As for the hospital debacle, we were really lucky the casualties weren’t into double figures given the amount of shrapnel flying around.

I-filed said :

Let’s not forget that the architects snuck Nazi genocide referencing in to the National Museum of Australia building. It isn’t just a horrible building, it is a deliberately ugly, uncomfortable and vile one..

I’ve heard lots of rumours and stories about the Nat Museum’s design, but I’ve not heard this one. It’s got me intrigued.

Can you give some details?

c_c said :

Care to explain that HenryBG

‘Peninsula’ – Noun
‘Peninsular’ – Adjective.

This lesson brought to you by NOTpublicSchools, ACT

HenryBG said :

steveu said :

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle.

Yeah, but it was his choice to buy cheap-arse out-of-date charges and to set them wrong.

Agreed, and he went through the courts andreceived some degree of punishment, and wore all the blame. Kate Carnell should have taken some responsibility given the circumstances, and the bare minimum would have been to step down IMHO. I feel very sorry for the family, and this woman quote frankly has had a string of incidents behind her that any decent politician would have stepped down for.

I wonder whether Mr G would be so callous if it was a young boy that lost his life.

RadioVK said :

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Any bomb technician would tell you that it’s stupid and ridiculous to watch any explosion of this magnitude directly, from anywhere within the possible range of a stray shrapnel fragment. They’ll tell you that there is always the possibility of a fragment escaping the containment measures, and that the escaping fragment could travel a long way. It only takes one.

Absolutely, and that’s not only civilian bomb techs but military ones too. There was a report that before the implosion, one public servant warned that military regulations would have required 1 km exclusion zone which was more than the civilian code required.

What a lot of people are forgetting is the hospital was no ordinary building. It was designed with internal armour, the structure was reenforced with steel core columns among other things to withstand aerial bombing. This wasn’t just rebar, this was actual steel columns wrapped in thick concrete, made to withstand explosions.

That is why the contractor used double, and then at the last minute quadruple the amount of explosives he originally intended to. And he used that amount because he didn’t use direction cutting charges, and the explosive he used was too weak for that purpose anyway.

Then there was the fuel and fireworks added purely for show which were always intended to explode not implode. And the fact he cheaped out on the special netting to catch ‘fly’ from the explosion.

Mr Gillespie said :

why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed

This is the most disgusting, abhorrent, heinous, vile comment I have ever read on RiotACT.

99.99% of Canberran’s didn’t know she existed huh?
99.99% of Canberrans didn’t HAVE A CHANCE to know she existed.

Who knows what she could have gone on to achieve? Even if what she chose to do in life didn’t make her well known and 99.99% of people continued not to know she existed, who knows what she could have contributed to our society. Some of those who work hardest and make the biggest difference are the least known.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

Yeah you’re right, I think some congratulations are in order! good job ACT government for limiting the loss of human life during this family event

Care to explain that HenryBG

RadioVK said :

Any bomb technician would tell you that it’s stupid and ridiculous to watch any explosion of this magnitude directly, from anywhere within the possible range of a stray shrapnel fragment.

Heh.

Remind us of the casualty radius of a hand grenade, versus the average distance that one might be thrown in combat…..

c_c said :

Still annoys me every time I drive past the peninsular….

What annoys me is when I see somebody using an adjective in place of a noun.

Another victim of public schooling.

PBO said :

HenryBG said :

steveu said :

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle.

Yeah, but it was his choice to buy cheap-arse out-of-date charges and to set them wrong.

But are we all forgetting that this was a bomb-proof building built to withstand explosives?

And apparently the Carnell government chose the only tender for the demolition that proposed to implode the building? I wasn’t really up on current events at the time, only being in primary school, but another demolition contractor who tendered to do the job by machine chewed my ear off on the subject a couple of years back. Sounds like there were bucketloads of negligence being handed around.

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

Any bomb technician would tell you that it’s stupid and ridiculous to watch any explosion of this magnitude directly, from anywhere within the possible range of a stray shrapnel fragment. They’ll tell you that there is always the possibility of a fragment escaping the containment measures, and that the escaping fragment could travel a long way. It only takes one.

Granted that the crowds probably should have been outside the danger area if the implosion had been done correctly, but as the hospital implosion showed so tragicaly, things can go wrong, and there’s no second chances.

p1 said :

I really wanted to go see the blowing up of the hospital, but made the choice to spend the weekend caving out at Bungonia SRA instead.

PBO said :

….or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

I remember the other things, but that one slip through. Got a link? I am a little reluctant to google for it from a work computer…

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Pissed myself… whose cock was it anyway?

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

Mate,

I used to be a soldier.

I used to shoot things and blow things up for a living.

I was going no-where near the hospital when it was imploded.

You see, I understand how explosions work and they are nothing like what you see on television or at the movies.

A young girl was killed by the stupidity of the government at time.

Your comments were callous and completely uncalled for.

Take a good hard f*cking look in the mirror my friend.

c_c said :

Say what you will about Labor and the Greens, at least they didn’t manage to turn a flawed project into a fatal one. Between this, the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the failed Kamberra winery, the failed “Power of Canberra” campaign, the failed V8 Supercars race, the failed defence contractor Hq, the… need I go on.

Still annoys me every time I drive past the peninsular that for all the expense and trouble, what we got was a second rate, ill suited, architectural wank of a building.

Yawn..

GDE, AMC, schools closures, Rhodium, caravan park debacle, hospital fraud.

V8 supercars were canned by Stanhope.

Oh, is the GDE finished yet?

Do I need to continue?

c_c said :

Say what you will about Labor and the Greens, at least they didn’t manage to turn a flawed project into a fatal one. Between this, the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the failed Kamberra winery, the failed “Power of Canberra” campaign, the failed V8 Supercars race, the failed defence contractor Hq, the……………….

Yeah and what about the GDE, have you forgotten that? That was Labor and the Greens. And the plastic bag ban (trivial? you say? well guess what…..I don’t give a damn whether you think that’s trivial or not,) Same idiotic bureaucracy from this left-wing coalition.

Want to bash the Liberals or Mrs C#rnell? Don’t forget Labor and the Greens are JUST AS BAD.

ACT Self Government is a DEAD-SET FAILURE.

As for the poor bugger who pushed the plunger, well, I just hope she is getting good counselling and not be allowed to believe for a single second that she has done anything wrong. The only reason why she has to grieve is the stigma kept alive by the unbelievably hysterical and stupid attitudes of a large number of people in Canberra (including some of the posters here on this site, like those who think I am the stupid and ridiculous one) have to the RCH demolition.

Don’t let the bastards get you down, Susan if you happen to read this thread on this site on the Internet……

Say what you will about Labor and the Greens, at least they didn’t manage to turn a flawed project into a fatal one. Between this, the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the failed Kamberra winery, the failed “Power of Canberra” campaign, the failed V8 Supercars race, the failed defence contractor Hq, the… need I go on.

Still annoys me every time I drive past the peninsular that for all the expense and trouble, what we got was a second rate, ill suited, architectural wank of a building.

DissolutionedHack said :

I also remember local radio had a comp to “push the button” to bring the whole thing down… I always felt very sad for the lady (I think it was) who won that comp…
And yeah, Carnell, far out… how did she get in again next term. She was (was?!) a media strumpet and I cant believe she didnt get totally roasted by the public over this…

Yes, the competition “winner” who pushed the plunger, and was no doubt set up for a lifetime of regret, was a mother of three named Susan George.

Worth recalling the role of the horrid Annabelle Pegrum – who called Canberrans’ attachment to their birthplace “emotional baggage”. Imagine if she had told an Indigenous person that such an attachment is bunkum.

The Canberra Hospital building was a great building, much loved by the community.

Let’s not forget that the architects snuck Nazi genocide referencing in to the National Museum of Australia building. It isn’t just a horrible building, it is a deliberately ugly, uncomfortable and vile one.

A sorry business altogether.

ThisIsAName said :

If that’s too long, at the end it states McCracken declined to give sworn evidence, and Fenwick declined on medical grounds.

Yep, and despite having killed somebody, they weren’t made to give sworn evidence as they weren’t prosecuted.
The DPP in this town likes to take a certain angle on things…upsetting Kate wasn’t on their agenda, whereas banging up a convenient local nutter for Winchester’s assassination was very much on their agenda.

Not advertising implosion? That’s censorship, and that’s one of the hallmarks of the Soviet state I referred to as the ACT, in my earlier post.

Sensible “risk management” means exclusion zones set at SENSIBLE limits, and not denying the public the right to watch the implosion from a safe but reasonable distance (ie. not too far, and not too close).

If you are implying that my comment that a father “violently pulled away” his son even after the danger was over was misguided, you better think again…..

I recall the footage from another angle was taken from around near the yacht club – directly opposite the hospital… you could see huge chunks rainng down on boats and I *think* I remember a canoe capsizing to avoid being hit…

As for the delay – I remember that too. I think it was due to some pyrotechinics on the roof going off and severing some of the actual det cords or some such… was certainly looked into in the investigation…

ThisIsAName said :

s-s-a said :

I was near one of the poplars across the lake probably less than 100m from the Bender family and vividly remember the eruptions of water from the lake as projectiles landed around the many spectators in water craft, as well as many branches falling around us from the trees as they were chopped off by shrapnel.

Looking through the NLA pics linked above, projectiles landing in the lake are obvious in several including this one.

I distinctly recall seeing similar footage shown on the news. It was taken from a different vantage point to the YT vid, and it showed what looked to be quite a lot of shrapnel falling around some boats. Based on this vid, it looks like the footage on the news would have been shot further to the left. Around 1:18 you can see large pieces being launched leftwards out of the shot.

Does anyone else recall a problem with the first attempt at detonation? At the time I was up on Dairy Flat hill, but nothing happened at the scheduled time. Someone else got a call along the lines of “the buttons were pressed and nothing happened”. IIRC it was another 10 minutes before the explosives were triggered.

There’s a reasonably detailed discussion of the preparation in the book preview here:
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bixH_F8JODAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

If that’s too long, at the end it states McCracken declined to give sworn evidence, and Fenwick declined on medical grounds.

Google also turned up this story from the Age:
http://www.sieves.com.au/sieves-articles/1999/3/21/a-death-that-should-not-have-been-told-part-two/

The article from The Age is pretty damning .. and to read the Bender’s had to initially rely on legal aid only to see the father lose his job during the inquest ..

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

So your outrage is because now the Govt won’t let you stand, with your fidgeting hands in your trouser pockets, near an implosion/demolition site while you excitedly see something go ‘boom’? If that’s the outrage:
1) Really, how many other implosions/demolitions have you missed out on in this time? I can think of one bridge at glenloch… And even without the Canberra hospital f*$kup, why would they have let people anywhere near that one??
2) There are probably plenty of implosion vids on YT that you can view in the privacy of your home, wher you can get as excited as you like?

?

Jim Jones said :

Mysteryman said :

Yours is douchey and repugnant.

Irony of Morissettian proportions!

So not ironic at all, then? Gotcha.

How convenient for you to have posts like Mr G’s making you look slightly less unintelligent by comparison.

Mr Gillespie said :

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

My opinion: You’re a cock.

Mr Gillespie said :

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day

Seems to me that your fury at missing out on explosions has blinded you to the simple fact that precautions like not advertising a demolition, performing it at quiet hours, etcetc are all best practice for risk management – and were not new procedures on 13th July 1997.

The death in this case being harsh demonstration of the risk. Shame has nothing to do with it.

Are you CanberraUser on Youtube (who expresses a similarly misguided sentiment)?

Mysteryman said :

Yours is douchey and repugnant.

Irony of Morissettian proportions!

Thumper said :

……That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

And the culture of shame that prevents us from watching implosions which came into existence that day has got to be one of the most stupid, ridiculous cases of overkill, oh and while I think of it, why the hell must we ALL mourn Katie Bender’s death, or be shunned (like I am) if we didn’t. 99.99% of Canberra’s population didn’t even know the girl existed, before this huge supercell of fury erupted 15 years ago today.

Those who wish to insult me for having my opinions, well thank you so very for your compliments. I shall bear them in mind for you, for next time you say something that *I* think is stupid and ridiculous.

Have a nice day!

HenryBG said :

steveu said :

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle.

Yeah, but it was his choice to buy cheap-arse out-of-date charges and to set them wrong.

But are we all forgetting that this was a bomb-proof building built to withstand explosives?

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

It must be a sad reality to wake up every morning and know that you’re Mr Gillespie. Clearly no-one is safe from your offensive, senseless ranting, not even a child caught in the wrong place in the wrong time ..

s-s-a said :

I was near one of the poplars across the lake probably less than 100m from the Bender family and vividly remember the eruptions of water from the lake as projectiles landed around the many spectators in water craft, as well as many branches falling around us from the trees as they were chopped off by shrapnel.

Looking through the NLA pics linked above, projectiles landing in the lake are obvious in several including this one.

I distinctly recall seeing similar footage shown on the news. It was taken from a different vantage point to the YT vid, and it showed what looked to be quite a lot of shrapnel falling around some boats. Based on this vid, it looks like the footage on the news would have been shot further to the left. Around 1:18 you can see large pieces being launched leftwards out of the shot.

Does anyone else recall a problem with the first attempt at detonation? At the time I was up on Dairy Flat hill, but nothing happened at the scheduled time. Someone else got a call along the lines of “the buttons were pressed and nothing happened”. IIRC it was another 10 minutes before the explosives were triggered.

There’s a reasonably detailed discussion of the preparation in the book preview here:
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bixH_F8JODAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

If that’s too long, at the end it states McCracken declined to give sworn evidence, and Fenwick declined on medical grounds.

Google also turned up this story from the Age:
http://www.sieves.com.au/sieves-articles/1999/3/21/a-death-that-should-not-have-been-told-part-two/

steveu said :

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle.

Yeah, but it was his choice to buy cheap-arse out-of-date charges and to set them wrong.

Mysteryman said :

DissolutionedHack said :

I also remember local radio had a comp to “push the button” to bring the whole thing down… I always felt very sad for the lady (I think it was) who won that comp…
And yeah, Carnell, far out… how did she get in again next term. She was (was?!) a media strumpet and I cant believe she didnt get totally roasted by the public over this…

You shouldn’t be surprised. This is the same town kept Stanhope in government for 11 years.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

I don’t normally wish specific harm on people I have never met, but I will make an exception for you. I wish it was you that had been decapitated by the flying shrapnel from the hospital rather than that poor little girl, you unbelievable insensitve waste of sperm.

His comment was insulting and insensitive.

Yours is douchey and repugnant.

At least nobody expects anything more from Mr G.

I was quite restrained.

PBO said :

?!? WTF are you on? And please whatever you are on get off it now.

Or up the dosage. A lot.

I am sure many people will not go to the National Museum because of the debacle of the decommissioning the Royal Canberra Hospital and the fatal implosion. I think of the Bender family often.

DissolutionedHack said :

I also remember local radio had a comp to “push the button” to bring the whole thing down… I always felt very sad for the lady (I think it was) who won that comp…
And yeah, Carnell, far out… how did she get in again next term. She was (was?!) a media strumpet and I cant believe she didnt get totally roasted by the public over this…

You shouldn’t be surprised. This is the same town kept Stanhope in government for 11 years.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

I don’t normally wish specific harm on people I have never met, but I will make an exception for you. I wish it was you that had been decapitated by the flying shrapnel from the hospital rather than that poor little girl, you unbelievable insensitve waste of sperm.

His comment was insulting and insensitive.

Yours is douchey and repugnant.

At least nobody expects anything more from Mr G.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

That has got to be one of the most ridiculously stupid comments I have ever heard.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

I don’t normally wish specific harm on people I have never met, but I will make an exception for you. I wish it was you that had been decapitated by the flying shrapnel from the hospital rather than that poor little girl, you unbelievable insensitve waste of sperm.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

?!? WTF are you on? And please whatever you are on get off it now.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

Oh dear, someone is off their meds again, aren’t they?

Eppo said :

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

You’ve outdone yourself.

Have you considered professional help? I genuinely think you need some.

+1

Prior to this post, I assumed that Mr G was a garden variety crank (albeit highly entertaining). After this outburst, I think it’s safe to state that he’s a fully fledged nutsack.

Mr Gillespie said :

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

You’ve outdone yourself.

Have you considered professional help? I genuinely think you need some.

I was standing quite close to Katie Bender when it happened. It was extremely sad, and I remember leaving the area as quickly as I could because I didn’t really want to be there any more.

I also remember local radio had a comp to “push the button” to bring the whole thing down… I always felt very sad for the lady (I think it was) who won that comp…
And yeah, Carnell, far out… how did she get in again next term. She was (was?!) a media strumpet and I cant believe she didnt get totally roasted by the public over this…

Ah yes, so that is why we have to live in the Soviet Union of Australia where we are not allowed to know in advance when a bridge demolition is going to take place, and why all this overkill about exclusion zones and timing and traffic. The Government is SCARED, SCARED, SCARED of losing another precious Katie Bender, and earning world notoriety all because it takes just ONE death of a human being to declare a BIG FAILURE for the rest of the human race.

I remember the massive traffic jam on Adelaide Ave of people trying to get to Lennox Gardens and other vantage points. It was promoted relentlessly for weeks as a fun family day out and Mix106.3 were given the nod by the government to run a contest with the prize being the person to press the button for the implosion.

Because of the traffic jam, I turned off Adelaide Ave and went up Black Mountain where there were also many people watching the implosion. Word spread quickly about what happened because later in the afternoon someone told me that “three people were killed”.

The story was all over the front pages of every newspaper in the country the next morning except The West Australian which relegated it to page five.

steveu said :

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle. .

same.

I was born in the hospital and had my children there too. We all went down to watch the ‘implosion’ but it was sad to see it go. It was such a long wait which made it worse.

Then to see all the fire engines and ambulances go over to Lennox Gardens after the building collapsed – it was horrible and then word spread that someone had been killed.

Double sadness that day……..our thoughts go out to the Bender family. The papers mentioned that they hadn’t even planned to attend that day – they were just driving past after church and Katie wanted to see what was happening.

If I recall correctly, Kate Carnell put alot of pressure on the contractor to do it during the day, against his advice, and turned it into a public spectacle. My personal opinion is that she should have resigned and taken at least some responsibility for her involvement in the event.

I also think it may be the only implosion where a fatality has been recorded, at least in recent times.

A tragic piece in Canberra’s history that most residents will be able to “remember what they were doing that day”.

At the end of the day, it wont bring Katie back, nor heal the wounds to her family which can never be healed. My deepest condolences to her family.

It absolutely destroyed her parents. they were broken people after what hapenned to poor Katie.

That 15 years later, it is still used internationally as both a Project Management What-Not-To-Do Case Study and an example of why qualification & certification checking should be an integral part of public tender processes, should give newcomers some indication of how colossal a f***up the Implosion was.

Sadly, it was only one of the failures we put up with before getting rid of Carnell, and we’re still in much the same groove now.

(If you weren’t there, the debris you see skimming across the pleasurecraft-filled Lake is what most people saw on the day…)

p1 said :

I really wanted to go see the blowing up of the hospital, but made the choice to spend the weekend caving out at Bungonia SRA instead.

PBO said :

….or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

I remember the other things, but that one slip through. Got a link? I am a little reluctant to google for it from a work computer…

I dont have a link but it was a joke by the students at the medical school from what I heard, someone noticed something on the bottom that was not a coin and thats how it was discovered apparently. Whilst it is off topic from the implosion or the “Carnell event” as i like to call it, it just highlights the short term memory that communities can suffer from.

Was a terrible day. Weird how it was so sunny and calm. I took a bunch of kids down to watch and remember standing around listlessly as we waited for it to go off – I remember some pyrotechnics then a long delay… Then a crump and the eerie sound of shrapnel humming and fizzing over our heads at Lennox gardens… Then sirens and crying and me hurredly moving the kids away from the area… poor little girl and family.

The mig crash I definately remember, people were told that if they’d witnessed it to keep in mind they might need councelling as apparently seeing something like that can disassociate you from reality – you know… a Mig fighter crashing into the pines off Hindmarsh drive (where the pitch and put is now) in a trail of smoke and fire…

I was near one of the poplars across the lake probably less than 100m from the Bender family and vividly remember the eruptions of water from the lake as projectiles landed around the many spectators in water craft, as well as many branches falling around us from the trees as they were chopped off by shrapnel.

Looking through the NLA pics linked above, projectiles landing in the lake are obvious in several including this one.

I had my bike and went for a long ride on the way home to the north side. Arrived to a somewhat concerned house mate as she’d heard the news on the radio and knew I’d gone down for a look.

My thoughts are with the Bender family.

The MIG crash was 13/3/93. I was driving on Canberra Ave and saw the plane heading towards the airport, noted because it was an unusual looking aircraft. There was a puff of smoke then it ditched rapidly out of my line of sight and within seconds there was a column of black smoke. OMG I can’t believe it was nearly 20y ago.

I really wanted to go see the blowing up of the hospital, but made the choice to spend the weekend caving out at Bungonia SRA instead.

PBO said :

….or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

I remember the other things, but that one slip through. Got a link? I am a little reluctant to google for it from a work computer…

PBO said :

I am still surprised how many people do not remember the MIG jet crash on Hindmarsh dr in the 90’s , the 16yr old who was shot by police last year or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

what? One would assume you are being factious about something, what that is I have no clue.

It was certainly a day I will never forget. We were there to farewell the hospital my husband was born in. The the stuff raining down from the sky was a little scarey but we had no idea someone was killed until we got home much later in the afternoon. We had left the lake and had a leisurely drive out to Tidbinbilla which took longer than we planned. We arrived home to frantic calls from friends worried because they knew we had been at the hospital site and were worried because we were late for an evening BBQ.
Katie Bender is still in our memories.

I am still surprised how many people do not remember the MIG jet crash on Hindmarsh dr in the 90’s , the 16yr old who was shot by police last year or even the human penis found at the bottom of civic pool in the 80’s.

I wasn’t there that day and watching the TV footage it’s a miracle more lives weren’t lost.

If it wasn’t so damn tragic the whole debacle would make a great comedy.

Respects to the Bender family.