Back when Australians weren't scared of their shadow and catching a mild case of the sniffles didn't shut the country down for two years. Different times indeed.
I remember the plastic tub thing you threw the money in. I was a kid and that was my memory of going over it occasionally. Thinking back now, it must of been a difficult job to man the toll gates in winter and summer. I hope they had air-con.
I remember I was a young teenager at work at the Victorian Railways in Dudley St. West Melbourne when I heard this terrific crash and at first I thought a ship or something crashed into the docks or something just down off Footscray road and I duly bolted down there but could see nothing and when I got back at work iI remember listening to a news flash on the radio that said the West Gate bridge just collapsed and that was what I had heard, years later in 1985 I was a manager for a heavy equipment Hire company in Richmond and one of my customers came in and we somehow got talking about the West Gate bridge and to my utter amazement he told me he was on the top of the bridge in a hut when he heard the unmistakeable noises of metal shearing and bolts exploding and then the bridge span started to fall with him and many others with it! Yes he rode the the span down and landed in a mud flat at the bottom critically injured but alive! He then proceeded to show me and some of my office staff the scars and places where pins were in and on his body by taking his shirt off and dropping his dacks! He had the most extra ordinary outlook on life after that he said because he Was one of the few SURVIVORS! That rode the damn thing down! boy I tell you he was (a terrific Italian fella) I think a labourer on the bridges construction and he said to me life was terrific because he was alive where so many lost their lives!
The Westgate Bridge opened in the midst of a strike by petrol tanker drivers Petrol rationing didn't exist so if you had petrol in your car you had to be very careful to make it last through to the end of the strike. On the day the bridge opened - a Tuesday - the government said travel was free for the week A group of us who had petrol thinking there wouldn't be any traffic on the bridge decided we'd do the crossing, imagine our surprise and shock when we got to the bridge to discover every man and his dog was out in their cars trundling across the bridge. The view of the bay and the surrounding suburbs from atop the bridge was breathtaking. 43 years later I still have vivid memories of that day.
I was born in lat 1981, and I can still remember to toll booths. I'm surprised that the tolls were removed. I guess it is now made up for the tolls from CityLink.
the tolls were removed by the incoming Labor government. The reason being that the Westgate was the only public road tolled at the time and the incoming government believed that it was unfair that those living in the west had to pay tolls, whereas those living in the east enjoyed unfettered and free access to the myriad freeways in that area.
We paid it off… that’s why the tolls were removed. Now we just give away any profits to overseas interests. East link is easy money for the Royal Canadian mounted police superannuation fund, and if you don’t believe me look it up, it’s a fact we’re being fucked over by the government as usual, and yet people keep voting thieves like Dan Andrews back in again.
when i watch this, i think oh my god, simpler times.. man fucken social media completly ruined everything, wanna throw my phone out the worst invention in history followed by the pc. can't fucken believe i lost as sa
The bridge's span collapse in 1970 forms 50% of the reason for inventing the very online moniker I use of RUclips. The other 50% comes from the suicide of two 16-year old emo girls in Melbourne in April 2007.
That's good to hear that you drove both directions that day the bridge opened. Remembering the people that gave their lives for this awesome bridge. Good for you. I was only four.
Also known fact the lighting was supplied by a perth company called riverton engineering as well and the largest flag was also supplied by a company called Acme Mining supplies also from perth, not sure whop supplied the largest australian flag after that, but it was massive. lol :)
Between 1978 and 2011, over 900 people commited suicide by jumping off this bridge. It was rated the #3 suicide hotspot worldwide for a long time. And a great place to play songs like "Ruru's Suicide Song On A Livestream" at its base in the memorial park. I will soon be doing this. Take that, Gacha Life people! I can out do you!
I remember on the 15th of November 1978 our teacher rolling in the TV so we can celebrate this important mile stone in Melbourne's history.I still the remember the theme song,which brought a smile to me upon hearing it here again.My parents took a ride the same week up & over & back again.I still get a buzz driving over the West Gate Bridge to this day.Thanks for memory...
whatever happened to all that perfection and friendly service??? Now that bridge is absolutely hopeless.traffic day and night and always roadworks.............. I miss those days...................
@@youquagmire the corrupt Indian student visa program was put in place in the late 90s. It was nothing more than a migration program making the federal and state governments billions a year on visa applications alone.
Is it just me, or do the Aussie accents back than, sound a lot more British, than the Aussie accents you hear today? Is that how people spoke back than?
MrMacedoniaOfGreece1 Aussies all sounded like crows back then,masses of migration have changed our accent and I think for the better.we were racist ignorant people back then,I lived it and witnessed it every day,judgemental and racist it was disappointing to see,small minded too.I was born in St Georges Hospital in Kew so I'm not a bitter import,my Dads father was Italian and he copped it.
Yes, particularly politicians and media people sounded British. You couldnt get a job in Australian TV unless you had a posh British accent in the 50's and 60's. Migration had nothing to do with the accent changing. Its just that Australian accents became more acceptable. Its kind of ironic that Australians were racist against themselves. Its true that there was a lot of casual racism around particularly within the working class, but it didnt stop the Italians and Greeks working, opening businesses and buying a house and living a much better life than they had back home. Now Australia is one of the most multi-cultural and tolerant countries in the world. Compare to Greece today, which is 98% Greek and the biggest political party is a right-wing religious conservative party.
@@tubester4567 What"s "conservative" about it, and especially what's "religious" about the New Democracy party? And what does that even have to do with anything? Not to mention, I wasnt claiming Australia is racist, or more racist than Greece? :S
@@AlexHellene I was mainly replying to the other guy who said Australia was racist, I was just making the point that we are much more diverse and tolerant than most countries. "new Democracy" party is classified as a centre-right to right wing conservative party and Christian conservative.
@@tubester4567 Fair enough. In regards to New Democracy being conservative and Christian, they're not really conservative, and definitely not religious.
Crikey 41 years old... how quaint we were in 1978... I was 18 ! I am not sure why we needed the M113 APCs... were they concerned that the Missourians had taken over Williamstown and they had to flush them off the bridge just in case.... 3XY!! Crikey.... The guy at 08:24 is not wearing a selt belt, and perhaps not much else... Book em Danno...
I’m 17 and I’m in love with the old 3XY top countdown charts and jingles for the station, it’s so nostalgic 😍 And yes, I wonder where that guy at 08:24 is today...😂
@@anne-mariedangelo9454 Don't worry you will get over it... as for that guy as 08:24... I would imagine pushing a zimmer frame... being about 42 years ago, which was when I was your age... and I can assure you the next 42 years is going to fly by... best to buckle up... I am sure in 42 years from now, some 17 year old will be reminiscing of the good all days of 2020...!
LOL Now look at it, you have to leave for work around 5 or 6am for a 8.30 / 9am start and thats if you live is say geelong or even sunshine or footscray even, just using dynon road which everyone started to use, when the tolls fees went up ?
Again another blind vision of Vic Gov and not looking to the future and the growth that was happening back even back then. It still wasn't big enough. It's a traffic nightmare.
You can say that about any major road infrastructure. you only have to look at the old South Eastern (Monash) and much more recently the Western Ring Road
See in the old days kids the West Gate bridge had a dual role, it connected the western Suburbs to Metropolitan Melbourne and also served as a fantastic way to end one's life.
Absolute rubbish. Structural strengthening of the bridge was undertaken a few years back. In any case the "suicide fencing" did not add a great deal of extra weight to the structure. The fences were installed to prevent people jumping off the bridge, they are not intended to stop a car from driving over the side if someone was determined to do so. The fencing in fact is simply a vertical extension of the bridges existing side rails - the latter which were designed from day one to prevent cars from going over the side
@@tubester4567 Ohhhhh wowwwww ok .....I guess last time I drove over West Gate Bridge would of been about 10 or so years ago ....They were still thr then 🙂
It's a bridge time between two cultures. The old English formal presentations with the posh accent, and the casual Aussie vibe starting to come through via commercial radio.
That baby just crawling around the front seat of the car... different times!
Back when Australians weren't scared of their shadow and catching a mild case of the sniffles didn't shut the country down for two years. Different times indeed.
Love the old Holden and Ford classics in this video, the pace of the traffic was a lot more sedate than it is now, how times have changed......
I remember the plastic tub thing you threw the money in. I was a kid and that was my memory of going over it occasionally. Thinking back now, it must of been a difficult job to man the toll gates in winter and summer. I hope they had air-con.
I remember I was a young teenager at work at the Victorian Railways in Dudley St. West Melbourne when I heard this terrific crash and at first I thought a ship or something crashed into the docks or something just down off Footscray road and I duly bolted down there but could see nothing and when I got back at work iI remember listening to a news flash on the radio that said the West Gate bridge just collapsed and that was what I had heard, years later in 1985 I was a manager for a heavy equipment Hire company in Richmond and one of my customers came in and we somehow got talking about the West Gate bridge and to my utter amazement he told me he was on the top of the bridge in a hut when he heard the unmistakeable noises of metal shearing and bolts exploding and then the bridge span started to fall with him and many others with it! Yes he rode the the span down and landed in a mud flat at the bottom critically injured but alive! He then proceeded to show me and some of my office staff the scars and places where pins were in and on his body by taking his shirt off and dropping his dacks! He had the most extra ordinary outlook on life after that he said because he Was one of the few SURVIVORS! That rode the damn thing down! boy I tell you he was (a terrific Italian fella) I think a labourer on the bridges construction and he said to me life was terrific because he was alive where so many lost their lives!
A friend of mines dad who was working on the bridge, faked his death that day, only to come back 25 years later. Pretty crazy.
Enjoy the beer as you go - what a classic that you could have a beer when driving lol
The Westgate Bridge opened in the midst of a strike by petrol tanker drivers Petrol rationing didn't exist so if you had petrol in your car you had to be very careful to make it last through to the end of the strike. On the day the bridge opened - a Tuesday - the government said travel was free for the week A group of us who had petrol thinking there wouldn't be any traffic on the bridge decided we'd do the crossing, imagine our surprise and shock when we got to the bridge to discover every man and his dog was out in their cars trundling across the bridge. The view of the bay and the surrounding suburbs from atop the bridge was breathtaking. 43 years later I still have vivid memories of that day.
I was born in lat 1981, and I can still remember to toll booths. I'm surprised that the tolls were removed. I guess it is now made up for the tolls from CityLink.
the tolls were removed by the incoming Labor government. The reason being that the Westgate was the only public road tolled at the time and the incoming government believed that it was unfair that those living in the west had to pay tolls, whereas those living in the east enjoyed unfettered and free access to the myriad freeways in that area.
@@EVISEH Now Westgate Tunnel with Toll. xD
@@EVISEH and now it’s the complete opposite. The eastern suburbs have all the tolls
We paid it off… that’s why the tolls were removed.
Now we just give away any profits to overseas interests. East link is easy money for the Royal Canadian mounted police superannuation fund, and if you don’t believe me look it up, it’s a fact we’re being fucked over by the government as usual, and yet people keep voting thieves like Dan Andrews back in again.
brand spanking Holden VB SL/E at 5:30
Yeah that was awesome .....Followed by a Statesman Deville ❤
@@LeaCollingwoodMagpiesyes l locked on to that statesmen 🇦🇺👍
when i watch this, i think oh my god, simpler times.. man fucken social media completly ruined everything, wanna throw my phone out the worst invention in history followed by the pc. can't fucken believe i lost as sa
Must have been a bitter-sweet moment for the workers who lost their mates, and the families of the deceased.
My dad went under that bridge everyday to work with his bike.even on the day it fell.
10:04 Try and get away with that nowadays 😆
Wow 7:19 you wouldn't see that anymore.
I know and not a tattoo in sight.
interesting doco
I remember when it re/opened again after more structural work was completed around 1984/5 and it cost $1.00 coin to get past the toll gates. lol :)
Lol 8:35 mins. Sorry to hold up those 4 cars control. I have just apologized to the drivers for delaying there day for 3 seconds
"No hold up in the tollbooths, traffic flowing smoothly" lol . We have no toll booths but traffic still comes to a stand still at the bottom ....:/
This is a great upload. 35 workers gave their lives for this magnificent bridge. Many take this bridge for granted and hang shit on it. I don't......
The bridge's span collapse in 1970 forms 50% of the reason for inventing the very online moniker I use of RUclips. The other 50% comes from the suicide of two 16-year old emo girls in Melbourne in April 2007.
Oh, if it was only that empty now...
Yeah I'll say. She's chocker block now.
great upload rare find !
you channel has some great doco, great work
I remember the bridge opening
I recall the day when the span collapsed. A tragic day.
Went over it in both directions that day it was opened.
That's good to hear that you drove both directions that day the bridge opened. Remembering the people that gave their lives for this awesome bridge. Good for you. I was only four.
Professor Pat Pending the day before I was born
Awesome! Lots of neat ephemera here...there's even two brand new MFP Ford Falcon Interceptors at 6.51 - heheh!
2 x T.O.G. Ford XC 351.
yep beautiful things.
@@sanctuaryismabsolutely--timeless 👍
On my walks around the bay,it is an impressive sight in the distance
Also known fact the lighting was supplied by a perth company called riverton engineering as well and the largest flag was also supplied by a company called Acme Mining supplies also from perth, not sure whop supplied the largest australian flag after that, but it was massive. lol :)
Damn I miss the light poles as flying sources...
Something we probably won’t ever see again - where a toll USED to be but is now a free public road…🙄😑
It's known as a car park these days
Look at that traffic flow.. These days it gets backed up for kilometers....
Mark DP melbourne has begun on the Westgate tunnel they should've have done it ages ago
@@someonerandominthecomments6848 true
Awesome footage. I remember going over it with my brother when I was younger it was a little scary but an amazing bridge.
Between 1978 and 2011, over 900 people commited suicide by jumping off this bridge. It was rated the #3 suicide hotspot worldwide for a long time. And a great place to play songs like "Ruru's Suicide Song On A Livestream" at its base in the memorial park. I will soon be doing this. Take that, Gacha Life people! I can out do you!
I remember on the 15th of November 1978 our teacher rolling in the TV so we can celebrate this important mile stone in Melbourne's history.I still the remember the theme song,which brought a smile to me upon hearing it here again.My parents took a ride the same week up & over & back again.I still get a buzz driving over the West Gate Bridge to this day.Thanks for memory...
Holden broke down ahhahahahhahahha
whatever happened to all that perfection and friendly service??? Now that bridge is absolutely hopeless.traffic day and night and always roadworks.............. I miss those days...................
wow, not an Idian or Sudanese looking person in sight.
It’s the 70’s.
@@joyousbloom731 I mean times have certainly changed.
@@youquagmire the corrupt Indian student visa program was put in place in the late 90s. It was nothing more than a migration program making the federal and state governments billions a year on visa applications alone.
7:18. No seat belt on the kid but the parent has one one. WTAF?!?
Seat belt laws was non existent in those times
Is it just me, or do the Aussie accents back than, sound a lot more British, than the Aussie accents you hear today? Is that how people spoke back than?
MrMacedoniaOfGreece1 Aussies all sounded like crows back then,masses of migration have changed our accent and I think for the better.we were racist ignorant people back then,I lived it and witnessed it every day,judgemental and racist it was disappointing to see,small minded too.I was born in St Georges Hospital in Kew so I'm not a bitter import,my Dads father was Italian and he copped it.
Yes, particularly politicians and media people sounded British. You couldnt get a job in Australian TV unless you had a posh British accent in the 50's and 60's. Migration had nothing to do with the accent changing. Its just that Australian accents became more acceptable. Its kind of ironic that Australians were racist against themselves. Its true that there was a lot of casual racism around particularly within the working class, but it didnt stop the Italians and Greeks working, opening businesses and buying a house and living a much better life than they had back home. Now Australia is one of the most multi-cultural and tolerant countries in the world.
Compare to Greece today, which is 98% Greek and the biggest political party is a right-wing religious conservative party.
@@tubester4567 What"s "conservative" about it, and especially what's "religious" about the New Democracy party?
And what does that even have to do with anything?
Not to mention, I wasnt claiming Australia is racist, or more racist than Greece? :S
@@AlexHellene I was mainly replying to the other guy who said Australia was racist, I was just making the point that we are much more diverse and tolerant than most countries. "new Democracy" party is classified as a centre-right to right wing conservative party and Christian conservative.
@@tubester4567 Fair enough.
In regards to New Democracy being conservative and Christian, they're not really conservative, and definitely not religious.
Crikey 41 years old... how quaint we were in 1978... I was 18 ! I am not sure why we needed the M113 APCs... were they concerned that the Missourians had taken over Williamstown and they had to flush them off the bridge just in case....
3XY!! Crikey....
The guy at 08:24 is not wearing a selt belt, and perhaps not much else... Book em Danno...
I’m 17 and I’m in love with the old 3XY top countdown charts and jingles for the station, it’s so nostalgic 😍
And yes, I wonder where that guy at 08:24 is today...😂
@@anne-mariedangelo9454 Don't worry you will get over it... as for that guy as 08:24... I would imagine pushing a zimmer frame... being about 42 years ago, which was when I was your age... and I can assure you the next 42 years is going to fly by... best to buckle up... I am sure in 42 years from now, some 17 year old will be reminiscing of the good all days of 2020...!
Those were the days. 8:17 Enjoy the beer as you go over...lol
View
Someone busted rollin' a booger at 7:07
jonathanrabbitt good spotting
Yep he was going all out
LOL Now look at it, you have to leave for work around 5 or 6am for a 8.30 / 9am start and thats if you live is say geelong or even sunshine or footscray even, just using dynon road which everyone started to use, when the tolls fees went up ?
Also the CCC control and command center is still there, which look's after all the CCTV cameras and tolls as well. :)
Again another blind vision of Vic Gov and not looking to the future and the growth that was happening back even back then. It still wasn't big enough. It's a traffic nightmare.
Charlie Goldie well ther didn't appear to be much traffic on it from the film so id say it was ok back then
You can say that about any major road infrastructure. you only have to look at the old South Eastern (Monash) and much more recently the Western Ring Road
Wow the place is empty!
good show.
Toll booths in Melbourne wow! Brisbane had them up until 2009
See in the old days kids the West Gate bridge had a dual role, it connected the western Suburbs to Metropolitan Melbourne and also served as a fantastic way to end one's life.
6:07 Johnny Farnham
OMG it is too! Well spotted!
pride of our melbourn
Maybe your pride but I don't pride myself on 30+ people dying horrifically
I can't believe how quiet it was back then,just heaven to travel on.Melbourne was awesome back in the 70s
This is gold!
I hate that bridge 😖 I will never go on it when my mum says Come on just go on it! I’m like NO! Can we go the other way?
Good. One less car on the bridge doesn't bother me.
lovely!
Amoured personnel carriers doing a demolition derby on the bridge.
07:18 baby on the lap in front seat.
Wasn't even on her lap, she was just crawling around the front passenger seat.
I hate the bloody thing ! Anxiety attacks every time I go over it !
Go around then......
Don't use it then. No one's forcing you! Clown.
It's only a matter of time before the West Gate bridge collapses due to the huge unplanned weight of the steel suicide fencing along the whole length.
Absolute rubbish. Structural strengthening of the bridge was undertaken a few years back. In any case the "suicide fencing" did not add a great deal of extra weight to the structure. The fences were installed to prevent people jumping off the bridge, they are not intended to stop a car from driving over the side if someone was determined to do so. The fencing in fact is simply a vertical extension of the bridges existing side rails - the latter which were designed from day one to prevent cars from going over the side
@@EVISEH It's not a vertical extension. It is a complete addition.
The old toll booths r still thr I think 🤷♀️
Nope completely gone, no trace of them. I drive over it all the time.
@@tubester4567
Ohhhhh wowwwww ok .....I guess last time I drove over West Gate Bridge would of been about 10 or so years ago ....They were still thr then 🙂
@Amplass 333
Yeah I dont drive into the city that much 🙂
@Amplass 333
Ok 🙂😊
All smoking stinking cigarettes!
Sorry Dad...
" MAGNIFICENT "
Bob Marshall weren't you around in those days? it's just how it was then
Im chugging one down for you now haha
Typically dreary 70's nonsense, a narrator more suited to the fifties, forgettable tripe.
It's a bridge time between two cultures. The old English formal presentations with the posh accent, and the casual Aussie vibe starting to come through via commercial radio.