Gordon Herbert William Goddard

Gordon Herbert William Goddard was born on 20th February 1910 in North Sydney, the son of Herbert Arthur Sydney Goddard (1877-1947) and Euphemia Swadling (1880-1970).

Gordon was a talented man with a promising actuarial career. In 1938, Gordon was asked to be part of a team representing Australian doctors through the British Medical Association (forerunner of the AMA) in a Royal Commission enquiring into the introduction of a National Health Scheme. This work took him around the country and it was on the 25th October 1938, that Gordon was aboard the Australian National Airways DC-2 Kyeema when it crashed into the fog-cloaked western face of Mount Dandenong in Victoria. All 18 passengers and crew on board were killed in what was the worst pre-war airline disaster in Australia.

Other victims of the disaster included Federal MP Charles Hawker, three leading South Australian winemakers (Hugo Gramp, Tom Hardy and Sidney Hill Smith) and several prominent barristers.

The crash led to the implementation of better safety standards within the industry including regulations requiring Flight Checking Officers to monitor flights and the implementation of a new radio range system.

On 25th October 1978, forty years after the disaster, a memorial cairn was erected at the crash site.