During early February, 1963 Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh paid a 12-day visit to New Zealand. This incorporated a visit to Dunedin and the Otago Education Board made plans for country schools to visit the city so older children could catch a glimpse of the visitors. Memory tells me that the day was declared a holiday but teachers could volunteer for escort duty if they wished. I, along with some others, volunteered.
At that time I was teaching at Oamaru South School and it was arranged that senior classes would travel to Dunedin and return by NZR Road Services buses and those operated by Kane’s Motors, an Oamaru contractor. The morning dawned fine in Oamaru and the trip south was uneventful. Ted Howell and I, as teachers, had about 40 children aboard our bus including three or four from the school’s special class. That this bus-load was under-staffed by adults, with not even an extra parent, may not have been obvious when we set out, but became blindingly so as events unfolded.
Approaching Dunedin the skies began to cloud-over though temperatures were mild. The plan was for our load to disembark at the NZR bus station, have some food then stroll up to Princes St near the Chief Post Office where we would encounter the royal entourage heading south. Then we would retrace our steps to the bus station and have a relaxing journey home.
But as we all know there are times in life when Plan A doesn’t go according to "plan". We had no sooner arrived in Dunedin when we learned that one of the buses conveying Oamaru South children had had a mechanical failure descending the motorway above Woodhaugh Gardens. The bus gained speed and was unable to take the curve at the foot of the hill, crashed through a set of Dunedin Botanic Garden gates, and mercifully came to a stop short of the deep Leith culvert.
There were no reports of serious injuries among the group of frightened and bruised children. Miss Dorothy Carson, senior mistress at Oamaru South, was the teacher in charge of this bus load. On learning the news Ted turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowd vowing to help Miss Carson and her charges. I guess that this was the only reasonable action to take but it left me with 40-plus children to look after on my own.
And just then it began to rain. My memory of subsequent events is rather foggy but some stand out with a remarkable clarity. I remember taking an initial head count before we set off for Princes St. Through a press of onlookers we managed to stake a spot near the post office.
At that point I must have made another head count and discovered that two special-class boys were missing. Consternation! One thing was for sure, I couldn’t leave this group alone to go on a search. I mentioned my predicament to a colleague from Casa Nova School who was nearby. A bit of an optimist, he considered that the sentence for a crime of this sort, losing children, would probably not be more than a couple of years inside!
But then our concerns were diverted by the arrival of the Royal Party. I may be opting on the generous side here but I believe our group saw the Queen and Prince Philip for all of 15 seconds. To bring hundreds, probably thousands of children, many miles to catch a fleeting glimpse of royalty could have been bluntly described as a waste of time and resources. I don’t think it was attempted again.
The emphasis now was to conduct my rather be-draggled party back to the bus station and take another head-count and then decide how to notify the police that I had "lost" two children. Thankfully, the police station was just over the road from the bus station. And then, one of the children called out to me and pointed. There, sitting in one of our buses, were our two missing lads. I must have fallen on their shoulders, and if not weeping, thanking them profusely for being so sensible.
The bus trip home was uneventful but on the way I made two resolutions: I would never again venture on a school outing without adequate parent/teacher support and I would count heads, I would count heads and I would count heads!
It was dusk in those pre-daylight saving days when we arrived back outside Oamaru South gates. Unbeknown to us news of the bus mishap had hit the headlines, even the BBC News, and there was much local concern. Our bus was met by a large group of parents and the anxiety was palpable. Me, I just vanished into the gloom vowing never to put myself in a similar situation again.
