In a cottage on the border of the Lamington National Park, there lives a lady with a connection to one of Australia’s most remarkable survival stories.
In 1937, a Swinson aircraft went missing enroute from Brisbane to Sydney via the Northern New South Wales town of Lismore with five passengers on board.
On a day where winds were reaching up to 100 kmph, it was initially thought that the plane had gone around the eastern seaboard.
However, the true location of the craft was in the opposite direction.
The aircraft was heard by people in Lamington and Hillview areas south of approximately 2 p.m. on Friday, 19 February 1937.
It was circling at low altitude and then headed towards the mountain range. There was heavy rain in the area at the time.
Deep within the forest of the Lamington National Park, three survivors had scrambled out of the wreckage of the aircraft, disoriented, and without much food or water.
Two of their companions had perished.
One survivor, Westray, perished when falling off a cliff while trying to search for water.
A 16-year old boy called Roy was called up as part of O’Reilly’s search party after the famed explorer had located the wreckage of the aircast.
His future wife Dinah picks up the story.
Ms Buchanan says her Roy was 16-years-old when he took Bernard O’Reilly to see his father John Buchanan.
The men then travelled to Hillview and alerted the town postmistress Grace Silcox, who organised a search party for the men.
Father-in-law John, meanwhile, called the airlines, as Silcox began contacting local residents who could assist with events that were unfolding.
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