Some of what I have read in the contemporary papers is quite graphic and I don't see the need to reproduce all of that. However, the very least that should be available online is the names of the deceased.
There is a lot to this story, but I'll try to keep it brief.
It was built in 1893 for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who established a convent. They took in women who would have been described at the time as delinquent, immoral, fallen etc. These women were required to work in the laundry, which did commercial work. The order ran nine other convent laundries (known as Magdelene Laundries) around Australia. These ran on a similar basis to those in Ireland, the home of the order. It was quite harsh.
In 2013 Good Shepherd Australia's Province Leader, Sister Anne Manning wrote:
Background
Mount St Canice now is a retirement home complex in Sandy Bay, an affluent part of Hobart. The main building is palatial, with fluted columns and a green clock tower which can be seen from far away. Seeing this tower in the distance from the beach first piqued my interest in this mysterious complex on the hill.
Mount St Canice now is a retirement home complex in Sandy Bay, an affluent part of Hobart. The main building is palatial, with fluted columns and a green clock tower which can be seen from far away. Seeing this tower in the distance from the beach first piqued my interest in this mysterious complex on the hill.
It was built in 1893 for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who established a convent. They took in women who would have been described at the time as delinquent, immoral, fallen etc. These women were required to work in the laundry, which did commercial work. The order ran nine other convent laundries (known as Magdelene Laundries) around Australia. These ran on a similar basis to those in Ireland, the home of the order. It was quite harsh.
In 2013 Good Shepherd Australia's Province Leader, Sister Anne Manning wrote:
"We acknowledge, that for numbers of women, memories of their time with Good Shepherd are painful. We are deeply sorry for acts of verbal or physical cruelty that occurred: such things should never have taken place in a Good Shepherd facility. The understanding that we have been the cause of suffering is our deep regret as we look back over our history."
Thursday, September 5, 1974
By 1974 the laundry, located behind the convent, was trading as Bayview Laundry.
Dorothy Cadman was an excellent worker. She had tendered her resignation, as she wanted to spend time with her daughter in Melbourne. Her boss refused to accept it, and told her she could take as much time off as she needed. Her cousin said “She was always laughing and so happy go lucky".
Maria Douda and her husband Josef had migrated from Czechoslovakia after the Soviet invasion of 1968. They had recently bought a block of land after saving hard since their arrival.
David Ditcham worked for his family firm, R. L. Ditcham Pty Ltd. He had an impeccable background in installing and testing large industrial boilers. His family home was nearby; I imagine he walked to the convent each morning that he worked there. The street leading down to the convent is Dresden Street – just an uncanny trivial fact given that this street would have been showered in debris and filled with people in shock, like a bombsite.
Robert Eaves had worked as boiler attendant at the laundry for a year. He worked closely with David Ditcham during the installation, as he was studying for an engineering qualification and wanted to learn as much as he could.
There are a few reasons that might explain why the explosion has slipped from collective memory. Only four months later, the Tasman Bridge disaster occurred, when a freighter hit one of the bridge pylons in the dark; and one section of the bridge fell into the water. Five motorists and seven sailors died. Hobart was split in half until the bridge re-opened two and half years later.
I suspect the nature of the convent, as a home for 200 "delinquent" girls, was a cause of embarrassment for many. Families may have been anxious to shut down any revelations that their girls had been there. The residence closed after the disaster. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd have never opened their books to show how many girls went through their laundries, or their names.
“The convent normally houses as many as 200 delinquent girls, but today all of them were on school holidays and only the convent sisters and a few staff were in the main building.” - The Canberra Times Fri 6 Sept 1974A new boiler was being commissioned, and had undergone testing the previous day. At 10.51am on September 5 while being test fired, the boiler exploded.
Tasmania's Police Commissioner, Mr E. V. Knowles, said tonight the three workmen were installing a new boiler at the laundry when the blast demolished 90 per cent of the 50-metre-long building. "I don't think a 1,000 pound bomb could have done any more damage", Mr Knowles said. "It is the worst thing I've seen in 34 years in the police force". - The Canberra Times Fri 6 Sept 1974Five people were killed instantly by the massive blast; two died before they could be transported; and 18 were seriously injured, suffering mainly from head and chest wounds, broken limbs and severe lacerations. Josie Godee died four days later in hospital from her injuries. I think the eight workers who died practicing their trades all deserve to be remembered by name.
Mrs Dorothy Cadman, 46, laundry worker
Mrs Maria Douda, 41, laundry presswoman
Mr David S. Ditcham, 25, engineer
Mr Robert Eaves, 45, boiler attendant
Josefa (Josie) Godec, 29, laundry worker
Mr Leon Thornton Jones, 40, van driver for the laundry
Miss Fiona Mary Mclntyre 19, laundry worker
Terence Ratcliffe, 15, engineering apprentice
Dorothy Cadman was an excellent worker. She had tendered her resignation, as she wanted to spend time with her daughter in Melbourne. Her boss refused to accept it, and told her she could take as much time off as she needed. Her cousin said “She was always laughing and so happy go lucky".
Maria Douda and her husband Josef had migrated from Czechoslovakia after the Soviet invasion of 1968. They had recently bought a block of land after saving hard since their arrival.
David Ditcham worked for his family firm, R. L. Ditcham Pty Ltd. He had an impeccable background in installing and testing large industrial boilers. His family home was nearby; I imagine he walked to the convent each morning that he worked there. The street leading down to the convent is Dresden Street – just an uncanny trivial fact given that this street would have been showered in debris and filled with people in shock, like a bombsite.
Robert Eaves had worked as boiler attendant at the laundry for a year. He worked closely with David Ditcham during the installation, as he was studying for an engineering qualification and wanted to learn as much as he could.
Leon Jones had lived with his mother at Windsor Court (a high-density apartment block in the city, demolished in early 200o's). In the previous four months she and her two sisters had all died of natural causes.
Fiona McIntyre was professional laundrywoman, born in Launceston.
Fiona McIntyre was professional laundrywoman, born in Launceston.
Terry Ratcliffe was nearly sixteen. His father said "Terry had been really wrapped up in his work and enjoyed every second of it. He used to be a good hockey player at school and he would also come sailing with me of a Saturday afternoon”.
Josie Godee was a migrant from Yugoslavia, a laundry worker.
Aftermath
SEVEN DIEThe coronial inquest found the likely cause of the explosion was that safety valves, which had been 'gagged' the previous day for one part of the testing, remained gagged when the boiler was fired on the 5th. This contributed to a malfunction, which caused the boiler to rapidly go from 25 psi to 800 psi pressure; about 5.3 times its working pressure. The boiler then failed, releasing 5.8 gigajoules of energy.
Blast as boiler tested
[…] It was a scene familiar to those who experienced the blitz in England. […]
Last night the HEC rigged power lines for the Civil Defence floodlights, which enable digging to continue. The police department’s switchboard was jammed with calls from people offering to help. University students were on the scene early, and disregarded torn hands to work through the day.
Convent sisters were reluctant to leave the scene of devastation, even after the injured had been taken away. Spattered with human blood, they watched anxiously and hopefully as the missing were hauled from under bricks, girders and timbers. One sister said that the only consolation was that many of the girls at the convent were away on holiday. “There could have been scores killed otherwise” she said.
The blast took out windows in all sections of the convent, and in houses some distance away. One housewife, who lives nearly a mile away said the explosion rattled the roof of her house. “It sounded like a plane had come down on the roof” she said. And there were many similar reports.
The new boiler was installed by the Hobart engineering firm of R.L. Ditcham Pty Ltd, in the past two weeks. It was an Economic 256 hp oil-fired boiler.
Inquests will be opened before the Coroner in Hobart this morning for identification.
- The Canberra Times Fri 6 Sept 1974
The coroner, Mrs Kim Boyer, made recommendations about the construction of boilers and siting of safety valves, so their readings or otherwise can be clearly seen from most vantage points. She also wrote
It is not any part of my function as a coroner to determine civil responsibility and I make no comment as to whether or not criminal proceedings against the installation engineer [David Ditcham] might have been taken had he survived the explosion. It is however desirable in the hope that the risk that boiler explosions in the future may be minimised, to examine the Inspection of Machinery Act 1960, the Regulations made thereunder, and the Australia Standards Association Boiler Code.
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There are a few reasons that might explain why the explosion has slipped from collective memory. Only four months later, the Tasman Bridge disaster occurred, when a freighter hit one of the bridge pylons in the dark; and one section of the bridge fell into the water. Five motorists and seven sailors died. Hobart was split in half until the bridge re-opened two and half years later.
I suspect the nature of the convent, as a home for 200 "delinquent" girls, was a cause of embarrassment for many. Families may have been anxious to shut down any revelations that their girls had been there. The residence closed after the disaster. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd have never opened their books to show how many girls went through their laundries, or their names.
The death in the explosion of the senior engineer responsible for testing the boiler, a young and respected professional from a well-known family, would also have been a factor. He had unexpectedly (at the age of 23) succeeded his father as head of the company in 1972 when Stanley Ditcham accidentally drowned in the Derwent.
David Ditcham does not appear in the evidence as reckless or headstrong or as taking cheap dangerous shortcuts. The story cannot be reduced to a simple narrative with David as the villain.
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Until I just updated it, the Wikipedia page for Mount Saint Canice said that "eight novices" were killed. It is not hard to find online the names of those who died in the Blythe Star (1973) and Tasman Bridge disasters; and it shouldn't take an afternoon in the archives to find the eight names of the dead in the laundry explosion of 1974.
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| Location of the convent in Sandy Bay (map from about 1990) |
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| A contemporary newspaper diagram (below) laid over the satellite picture above confirms that this was the location of the laundry (white outline). This area is now covered in neat retirement units.  |
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| Photos by Barry Winburn, The Mercury |
