Tuesday January 18, 1977 was a day the Bullivant family cannot forget.
The day started off early for the Bullivant family of Greystanes, they were on holidays to have a rest from the heat and the 66 hour working week. They had closed their dry cleaning business in Granville until the following Monday.
Barry waiting to get his breakfast said to his wife June, “don’t waste any time this morning” you know we need to get to Granville to put acid in the boiler tubes and Dennis Roberts, the boiler inspector is very fussy. June was reading a magazine and told Barry, we did not have to be there until 8.30am, we had plenty of time.
They finally got moving, leaving the three children at home asleep, son Geoffrey in charge, it was Debbie their daughter’s birthday that day, she had married and as they drove down through “Hilltop” they discussed plans to hold a birthday dinner for her that night.
The trip took about 20 minutes, no traffic due to the school holidays and the hour of the morning. We drove along William Street past the TAFE College, and turned left into Lumley Street, for the drive over the bridge. Carlton Street was blocked by a yellow and black barricade. We were unable to proceed. June cursed the time she had spent finishing the story in the magazine. It was decided the only way to the factory was to go back to William Street and down Woodville Road and drive in the back way.
We were not allowed to proceed down Parramatta Road past Bold Street, the police on point duty told us to turn at Arthur Street, he told us that we were to park on that side and if we needed to go to Bridge Street we would have to walk in. By this time the radio had announced that the bridge had come down on a train.
Upon arrival, we opened up the door, leaving it slightly ajar, with the thought of ringing the boiler inspector to tell him he would not be able to access the business, as he needed his tools, he decided to postpone the inspection. Soon people from the train started to look for a phone. They knocked on the window, asked if they could ring their boss to tell them they would be delayed.
We lost count of the people who we assisted to wash the blood from their skin, use the phone, and have a cup of tea, it was organised chaos until about 1.00pm, and we did not get time to see what had happened. Exhausted we returned home about 3.00pm, we were glued to the television; it was like a magnet, could not eat, just sat and watched the work of the rescuers. Birthday dinner was forgotten.
We were in the Rotary Club of Granville when in 1997 the 20th anniversary of the disaster was due. A dinner to remember was organised by them at the Rotary meeting. It was decided to give Paul Harris Fellowships to Paul Touzell and Debbie Woodgate nee Skow they were survivors from the disaster who had spent twenty years raising money for charity. June also phoned 2WS and found the butcher who had pulled Paul from the wreckage Paul had not been back to Granville since the accident. Gary Raymond the rescuer of Debbie Skow was also there at the dinner.
The Rotary Club of Granville organised the luncheon in the Granville Town Hall for the people who attended the 20th Anniversary Memorial.
One of the survivors came up to us about five years ago, she showed us the ribbon she wore on the day and thanked us for looking after her on that day, and she described the sink that she washed in.
Barry and June closed their business in 2000 after 38 years, the started the Granville Historical Society in 1988, the society has a very large collection of resources and photos, some of which they will display in the Granville Town Hall on January 18 to commemorate the 40th anniversary.
