Royal Canberra Hospital implosion

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The Royal Canberra Hospital implosion occurred on July 13, 1997, when the city's superseded hospital buildings at Acton Peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin were demolished to make way for the National Museum of Australia.

The demolition had been planned for some time, and the ACT Government decided to turn it into a spectator event. Over 100,000 people, one of Canberra's largest ever crowds, came out to bid farewell to the birthplace of many Canberra residents.

However, the implosion went badly wrong. The main building did not fully disintegrate and had to be manually demolished. But far worse, the explosion was not contained on the site and large pieces of debris were projected towards spectators situated 500 metres away on the opposite side of the Lake, in a location that nobody considered unsafe or inappropriate. A twelve year old girl Katie Bender was killed instantly, and nine other people were injured. Large fragments of masonry and metal were found 650 metres from the demolition site.

The ACT Government led by Kate Carnell came in for sustained criticism, and a number of official enquiries were held. Many people complained the event should never have been made a public spectacle, as this was inviting disaster. Other people felt that this was unfair, as implosions around the world always excited international interest and had had an enviable safety record, and the huge Canberra crowd had legitimised the event by their very presence. [1]