'Their loved ones were not alone': Daylesford pub crash anniversary

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A tourist town in Victoria’s central highlands is spending the public holiday reflecting, one year since five people died in a horror crash at its main intersection.

Transcript

00:00One year ago, at this beer garden in Dalesford, a car crashed into people just enjoying their

00:08long weekend, and sadly five lives were lost and several others were injured.

00:13At 9 o'clock this morning, the town of Dalesford, the first responders, the council and others

00:18who live here came together, as well as the family of the five who died, the families

00:23I should say, to remember not only those who died, but also the incredibly brave efforts

00:29of the first people on scene here. Among those speaking at the event before wreaths were

00:33laid was the local captain of the CFA, Glen Webster, and he spoke to us a short time ago.

00:40I don't want them to wonder what it was like for their loved ones. I want them to know

00:46that they were with another human being who was caring for them, looking after them as

00:52best we could.

00:53We've been really mindful through the whole 12 months to be really respectful of the families

00:59and the cultures involved as well, so at different stages we've reached out to them

01:03and hopefully they've been supportive of the events that we've undertaken. Our thoughts

01:08are absolutely with them. What they've had to go through, you don't wish upon anyone,

01:13and we just hope today is that 1% or that little bit that just helps them a little bit,

01:17but it was lovely for them to make the journey here and be supported as well.

01:22While today was about healing in Dalesford, it's been a difficult week and the legal process

01:27has arguably added to the trauma that people here in town feel. Mount Macedon man William

01:33Herbert Swale was accused of driving into the Dalesford Beer Garden and he was initially

01:40charged with five counts of culpable driving causing death, two of negligently causing

01:45serious injury and seven counts of reckless conduct endangering life. But in September

01:50this year a magistrate dismissed all the charges relating to Mr Swale after his lawyers successfully

01:55argued that his hypoglycemic attack was so bad that he was not in control of his actions.

02:01So yes, just to recap, Mr Swale in his car was driving down Albert Street which has a

02:07steep decline and suffered this hypoglycemic attack behind the wheel and this is what caused

02:13him to plough into the people in the beer garden here. We've also heard from the local

02:18council here that while they had this commemoration today, there are no plans for a permanent

02:24monument to the crash here in Dalesford. Everyone is quite keen to move on from this

02:29if they can. But it's also been a difficult week in Dalesford because last Friday we heard

02:35that the Office of Public Prosecutions will not seek to press charges against Mr Swale

02:40again. So the legal process has really had an effect on the people's trauma here in town.

02:47But as I mentioned there's also a great desire for people to move on. In the past year since

02:53this crash, Dalesford has also won the Tiny Town Tourism Award for being the best one

02:58in Victoria and its local football and netball grand finals took out drought-breaking premierships

03:02in September. So there is a desire for Dalesford to be defined by much more than this tragedy.

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