30 Years After Gracetown Cliff Collapse, Survivors and Community Remember

For Stephen Duggan, September 27, 1996 started out like any other Friday but when the news of a coastal cliff collapse reached his family farm, he did not hesitate to act.

Driving down to his local beach, racing across the sand, Mr Duggan and his friend John dug for hours with their bare hands, searching for survivors.

"We were just working so frantically, we were just pulling dirt out," he said.

Thirty years ago, students, teachers and parents flocked to Huzza's Beach for an inter-school surfing competition in Gracetown, 271 kilometres south of Perth.

Inclement weather saw people take shelter under the cliffs, which suddenly gave way, killing five adults and four children.

Extraordinary rescue efforts

The sole survivor of the incident was 11-year-old Sara Otto.

Mr Duggan was one of the people who discovered her under the rubble and saved her life.

"We came across a girl who had possibly been saved by a rock falling down and hitting her on the head, which had then kept a lot of sand off her face," he said.

Mr Duggan recalls the mammoth risks taken on by community members who raced to help in the search.

"[One man] drove his backhoe through the water, through metres of salt water, over rocks and over parts of the reef to get his machine to the area," he said.

"The actions of those two guys were pretty encouraging, pretty strong and, under today's circumstances, pretty dangerous."

Holding memories close

Skye Thompson's father, Lindsay, was among those who died.

She said that while her childhood memories of her father were fading, she holds close what she does remember.

"After 30 years, there are only a few memories that really stick.

"For a girl, just to be loved by your father is something really special — I always carry that memory."

Ms Thompson was just 12 and competing at the surfing competition in Gracetown, on Western Australia's south-western coast, when her world changed forever.

"A lot of us kids were witnesses to the cliff collapse," she said.

"But we're also witness to the community coming together and how fast people came to volunteer, from really young people to older people as well."

Ms Thompson said she always sought out a body of water on the tragedy's anniversary.

"We try and get in a swim and get out in the ocean or maybe have a surf and remember our friends and family."

Surfing legacy lives on

Gracetown Grommets surfing competition was created in honour of those who died.

This year it celebrated its 30th competition.

Cowaramup Bay Boardriders Association president Ian Andreson said the incident sent shock waves through the surfing community.

"To have that happen with the locals was just an absolute tragedy."

Mr Anderson said he had seen grandchildren of those who died in the collapse compete in the event.

"That continues as a family legacy, the commitment of the families and to surfing — that's phenomenal," he said.

Ms Thompson said seeing young surfers in the water at Gracetown would make her father happy.

"He'd be absolutely stoked to see all these young people and the amount of girls in the water," she said.