Veteran television reporter and presenter Mark Sainsbury studies the February 7 1963 Northern Advocate front page with sound technician Andy Thomas and cameraman Scott Behrnes. Photo / John Stone
A reader from Whangarei comments on the decision to film a documentary about the bus crash at the foot of the Brynderwyn Hills, February 7, 1963.
I cannot understand why people would think it amazing to film a documentary 50 years on, come 2015, about the bus crash at the
foot of the Brynderwyn Hills, February 7, 1963, that involved tangata whenua who were returning to Port Waikato on Waitangi Day.
At the time, I was in the Kawakawa Hospital and gave birth to a daughter on February 6, 1963, Waitangi Day; my husband and sister were with me and the later left to go to Waitangi. My sister was caring for our first child, born February 10, 1961. Her father had to carry her on his shoulders so she could see the Queen. Whanau support was essential so my husband could continue to work.
Now for reporters to make a documentary and to glorify their deaths in this way, defies all odds, innocent people were killed and many injured through no fault of their own, the bus they were travelling in crashed due to brake failure.
I say it is a wake-up call with the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the year of 2015; the shoe could be on the other foot, what with every evil way becoming normal, who's to say otherwise?
