A plane crash in swamp near Harrington in 1930 captured the attention of Roy Brown.
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Prints of the crash site and aircraft recovery were found in a desk at Mr Brown's home following his death, and daughter, Rhonda Blanch of Taree, is hoping her choice to share the photographs with the community will interest people, add to the recorded history of the area, and possibly result in more information about the incident.
Rhonda says some information is written in her father's hand on the back of a few photographs, and she smiles as she shares, "some of the comments reveal Dad's dry sense of humour."
Photo captions place the location and year of the crash as Harrington in 1930, and describe the event as the recovery of A5-24. Roy writes, 'CAF pilot went to Wellington NSW on return ran into cloud. Came out over Broken Bay instead of Botany Bay - flew until out of petrol north - put down into swamp.'
Roy describes the downed plane as a "prehistoric monster emerging from swamp", and the photos reveal that men rallied to pull the aircraft from the swamp, dismantle it, and transport its pieces to a new location with a horse and wagon. According to Roy's captions, the 'engine was completely dismantled, inspected and reassembled here'.
'Bill Symonds - Joan's father', is also mentioned in the captions but Rhonda says she has no knowledge of the people who are named.
Rhonda does not think it was her father who took the photos, and suggests it is possible that children of people who were photographed may recall stories told about the crash, and the community effort to recover the plane from the swamp, repair it, and get it airborne.
"But they will all be old," she laughs. "It would have been a big event in Harrington!"
Rhonda says her Dad was born in Moorland and was in the airforce during World War II.
"Nanna and Pa moved to Harrington, but I don't think Dad ever lived in Harrington because he was in World War II.
"Dad was supposed to go to Borneo but didn't go because Pa needed him on the farm. I'm assuming that after the war Mum and Dad married and moved to Taree, but Nanna and Pa lived in Harrington when I was a child.
"Dad passed away about four-and-a-half years ago and I didn't know what to do with the photographs.
It's something you forget about, but I was going through some of Dad's stuff again last year and found them and thought, I should do something with them.
- Rhonda Blanch
An image of one photograph is reproduced in a Manning River Times' 2004 publication titled, 'Past Days around the Manning River its Villages and Early Settlers', compiled by John Doust for Taree and Wingham Sesquicentenary Year 2004. The photo is labelled, 'Plane on nose' and says, "This 1931 air force plane crash landed in a swamp area halfway between Harrington and Crowdy Head. The pilot became lost on a flight from Wellington NSW to Sydney and mistook a flat area of reeds for a suitable landing site."
The Manning River Times contacted local aviation author, Harvey Else OAM and Margaret Love of the Cundletown and Lower Manning Historical Society, to see if they could provide information about the crash. Mr Else and Mrs Love were unaware of the crash.
Rhonda says her family has decided to donate the prints to the Cundletown and Lower Manning Historical Society. To contribute additional information about the photos please contact the historical society on 6553 9574 or 0428 522 556.
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