The memorial plaque for the workers killed in the West Gate Bridge collapse is mounted on one of the bridge’s supporting pedestals at the accident site, where Hyde Street runs under the bridge in Spotwood, Melbourne.
During construction on 15 October 1970, a 112-metre steel box-girder span gave way and fell into the mud and water of the Yarra River. 35 workers, either on the bridge at the time or on the ground below, died as a result of the accident, and their names are listed on the plaque, unveiled in 1978.
On 15 October 2004, the 34th anniversary of the collapse, the West Gate Memorial Park was opened at the accident site with the aim of increasing awareness of industrial accidents and improving workplace safety, and also recognises the six lives lost nearby in the Spotswood Yarra Sewer Tunnel collapse of 1895.
The West Gate garden on Monash University’s Clayton campus also incorporates twisted steel fragments of the collapsed bridge section as a reminder to future engineers of the potential consequences of errors.
