Mark Sainsbury studies the February 7 1963 Northern Advocate with sound technician Andy Thomas and cameraman Scott Behrnes filming for the documentary. Photo / John Stone
Mark Sainsbury studies the February 7 1963 Northern Advocate with sound technician Andy Thomas and cameraman Scott Behrnes filming for the documentary. Photo / John Stone
The bus crash in which 15 people died in the Brynderwyn area on February 7, 1963, has been in the news lately as the tragic event nears its 50th anniversary.
Another 20 people were injured in what is still New Zealand's worst, highest-toll road accident.
Northern Advocate reader Pamela Woodgate,from Kamo, contacted this paper after reading a story Northern Advocate and Whangarei Report about a documentary being made to commemorate the event. The story stated the victims were mainly people returning to Port Waikato after going to the Waitangi Day celebrations which were also attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Mrs Woodgate said the Port Waikato reference was incorrect as most who died were from Rewiti, a small Maori community just south of Helensville. Mrs Woodgate's distant relative Colleen Sheffield was one of the dead.
Ms Sheffield was the author of Men Came Voyaging, a book about early Maori-European history in the Helensville district. She never saw her book in print as it was being printed at the time of her death.
