The day the bridge fell by Coral Vass

The Day the Bridge Fell, from the Rhiza Shorts series, is an historical novella centred on the worst construction accident in Australian history. The Westgate Bridge collapse of Oct 15, 1970 is still very close to home for many Melburnians.

In each epistolary chapter we follow Ray, a local 15yr old boy through the days before and weeks after the event. The family dynamics rapidly situates events in time with typical sibling rivalry as Ray’s seniority and bedtime privileges are challenged by his younger brother, Michael.  Doug Johnston is lead rigger of his section of the bridge, and his neighbour, George Demetriou, works as an ironworker. As the tension builds towards the climax we understand the rhythm of a bridge worker’s family. Ray, like his mate Tom and all the working class families on their side of town, are fascinated with everything about the man-made wonder in their own back yard.

A high school student with a paper route, Ray is never too busy to visit the construction site daily whether he is on an errand for his mother or not. Overhearing a conversation between engineers about potential structural faults he worries before confiding in his father. Doug's reluctance to listen to rumours reinforces that anyone with neither information nor authority are virtually powerless – most of all children. Dad is not totally dismissive and has his own doubts but is wary of causing panic and asks his son not to spread rumours. 

Ray’s maturity, resilience and integrity is established by his nagging premonition for his father and other bridge families they know (many of them migrant workers). These qualities are supercharged on the day of the accident. Bolting from school after the sound of collapse and sirens what he finds and how he resolves the scene of the disaster, comprises the second half of the novel. 

Will Ray find his father and is his father’s mate George alive? Author, Coral Vass, uses Ray's community engagement to grasp that there wasn’t a family in the community who did not know someone who lost their life that day.

The novel format with uneven ratio of interest to reading age, along with cream paper and widely spaced lines,  places the Rhiza Shorts as a teenage book series for reluctant readers.  Teacher notes prepared by the publisher are available on the website for this title.  128p.

Themes: Family, Disaster, Bildungsroman, Australian, Neighbours, Grief, Guilt, Maturity, Justice, Self-forgiveness, Independence.

Deborah Robins