FOLLOWING the remarkable survival of a young man who’s car plunged 150 metres into the Blue Lake last week, a local man has told The Border Watch how he witnessed a fatal accident occur at the exact same spot almost 62 years ago.
Kevin Lock was driving past the Chinese monument with friends just before 6pm on Saturday, November 4, 1956, when he saw a two-door Morris Minor carrying three people crash through a fence, before tumbling down the cliff into the Blue Lake.
“We just happened to come around the bend as this car came around and hit the fence and went over the side,” Mr Lock said.
“We got out of the car very quickly to see if it had gone all the way down to the water and we heard the thud when it hit the lake.
“It was very chilling to see something like that happen.”
Desmond Tonkin, 16, was driving his sister Rozelene to her 18th birthday party along with her boyfriend Kevin Cherryman and lost control after negotiating the pumping station corner.
“It was a much narrower road in those days and there was no guard rail, so I think he just got into the gravel, over-corrected, which swung it around and then he hit the fence,” Mr Lock said.
“I saw the car afterwards and it was just flat, there was no roof-space, so it must have landed on its top and that was it.”
Yesterday afternoon, Mr Lock went back to the scene of the crash, which he said was in the identical location to Friday’s crash.
“Where that utility went over, it was nearly identical to where the Tonkins’ car went through,” he said.
“So that young man was lucky to get out of it – extremely lucky.”
The November 6, 1956, edition of The Border Watch stated Desmond and Rozelene “went down with the car”, however Mr Cherryman was thrown out before the cliff drops away.
“We could hear somebody calling out and we tried to get across to it, but there was fairly thick undergrowth,” Mr Lock said.
“A few other people pulled up and they had ropes so they went down and got to him.”
Mr Cherryman survived the crash and was discharged the day after being treated at the hospital for shock.
His survival is eerily similar to that of the 22-year-old man last week who police say was also ejected from his vehicle before it hit the water.
Mr Lock said he knew who the victims were, despite not having any interactions with them.
“I did not know them personally, but I knew who they were and they lived down on Commercial Street,” he said.
“Mount Gambier was a small place back then and for something to happen like that, it was really tragic.”
Recounting the events, which occurred nearly 62 years ago, Mr Lock said it was something you could never really forget.
“I still think about it when I drive around it today and I remember at the time if I wanted to go down to Port MacDonnell, I would not drive around the Blue Lake after that for awhile,” he said.
“People used to think I was a bit silly for not driving around it, but you’re young and when you see something like that it knocks you around.”
