A Premonition in Passing: the Newcastle Earthquake 1989 As It Happened

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Earthquake - Rubble & workmen - Hamilton, Newcastle, NSW
Earthquake – Rubble & workmen – Hamilton, Newcastle, NSW

The Unedited Video of the Newcastle Earthquake

There is some extraordinary video footage recording the Newcastle Earthquake as it occurred on Thursday 28 December 1989 at 10:27am.

“Tape 36” contains the raw NBN news shot on the morning of the Earthquake.

The NBN reporter, Ross Hampton, is interviewing a Union representative, Mr Don Williams. They are out the front of the Hamilton Bus Depot. The NBN Camera operator is Stuart Osland.

NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with Union representative, Don Williams, Hamilton Bus Depot (With Stuart Osland behind the camera) 28 December 1989, just prior to the Newcastle Earthquake.
NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with Union representative, Don Williams, Hamilton Bus Depot (With Stuart Osland behind the camera) 28 December 1989, just prior to the Newcastle Earthquake.


CONTENT ADVISORY

Please be advised: Due to the nature of this raw unedited footage there may be scenes that contain graphic content that may distress some viewers.

 

 

A Premonition in Passing Conversation

Most news broadcasts have only edited the very moment the Earthquake occurred.

But the full tape reveals what appear to be a premonition in conversation between interviewer and interviewee, of what was about to unfold.

Union representative, Don Williams, Hamilton Bus Depot (With NBN Television Stuart Osland behind the camera) 28 December 1989, just prior to the Newcastle Earthquake.
Union representative, Don Williams, Hamilton Bus Depot (With NBN Television Stuart Osland behind the camera) 28 December 1989, just prior to the Newcastle Earthquake.

At around the 10:40 mark the NBN Reporter, Ross Hampton, says:

10:37-10:40 Ross Hampton: “Your drivers doing the best job they can, but you think that one day something’s going to crack.”

10:41-10:42 Interviewee Don Williams: “Something’s going to happen here very shortly.”

Then, one minute later, the NBN reporter is asking about what the relationship between management and the unions and..

11:39-11:40 NBN Ross Hampton: Union/management relations though, how would you describe them?

11:43 Interviewee Don Williams: ..Terrible… (Earthquake occurs)

NBN Television Stuart Osland's Camera Tripod just moments after Newcastle Earthquake 28 December 1989.
NBN Television Stuart Osland’s Camera Tripod just moments after Newcastle Earthquake 28 December 1989.

The Moments After: Surveying the Damage in Hamilton (N.S.W.)

NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with with Stuart Osland behind the camera in Beaumont Street, Hamiton 28 December 1989, just after the Newcastle Earthquake.
NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with with Stuart Osland behind the camera in Beaumont Street, Hamiton 28 December 1989, just after the Newcastle Earthquake.

What then follows is a real time record of the moments after the Earthquake.

The NBN News crew Ross Hampton and Stuart Osland record the destruction of buildings within the vicinity of the Hamilton bus depot.

It’s very much like the faux live footage you see in Hollywood films such as Cloverfield or War of the Worlds.

The footage contains raw footage of the aftermath and injured and distressed people, so please be advised.

NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with with Stuart Osland behind the camera in Beaumont Street, Hamiton 28 December 1989, just after the Newcastle Earthquake.
NBN Reporter Ross Hampton with with Stuart Osland behind the camera in Beaumont Street, Hamiton 28 December 1989, just after the Newcastle Earthquake.

Acknowledgments

GLAMx Audio Visual Digitisation Volunteers, known as the "NBNers"
GLAMx Audio Visual Digitisation Volunteers, known as the “NBNers”

We are blessed to have retired ex-NBN Television production volunteers team led by Conjoint Lecturer Phillip Lloyd  and assisted by GLAMx Co-ordinator Digitisation and Engagement Dr Ann Hardy working with the NBN Archives in the Auchmuty Library’s GLAMx Lab.

This work ensures that such an important historical archive is saved and made accessible.  The University of Newcastle needs to be commended for being a national leader in such work.

 

Further Information

More on the NBN Television Archive can be seen here:

https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/79228

Our Digitised UONCC Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@UoNCCnewcastle/videos

Background on the NBN Television Archive Project:

Rewind: A Hunter Region NBN Television Retrospective Exhibition

Thanks to Michelle Watson and Allison Hillier for their help in identifying the NBN Film Crew. And thanks to Kimmy Allen who identified her uncle, Mr Don Williams, as the “Earthquake Man” in the Newcastle Herald story here: https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6556954/where-were-you-when-the-earth-moved-novocastrians-share-their-stories/

Gionni Di Gravio OAM
University Archivist & Chair, Hunter Living Histories

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