Victims, survivors and first responders have been honored at a public memorial in Singleton for the victims of the Hunter Valley bus crash.
The grief shared by the families of those whose loved ones died in the NSW Hunter Valley bus crash is a “ripple in a pond affecting everything it touches”, a memorial has said.
Saturday’s public meeting was held in Singleton, the rural town where many have died.
The couple whose wedding the murdered individuals attended, Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell, were also seen at the service, at one point being comforted by NSW Premier Chris Minns.
NSW Premier Chris Minns comforts Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell, the couple whose wedding victims of the Singleton bus crash attended, after laying flowers at a public memorial service
Victims, survivors and first responders were among hundreds of people who gathered at a public memorial in Singleton, northern NSW, on Saturday to pay their respects to those who died in a Hunter Valley forest horror three months ago.
Ten wedding guests were killed and another 25 injured when their carriage passed near Greta in the Hunter Valley in late June.
The accident, on the bend of a highway entrance, occurred late at night as guests were being driven home from reception.
It was Australia’s worst road disaster in almost thirty years.
Casey Donovan sang at the public memorial for those killed in the Hunter Valley bus crash.
Nadene McBride, who coached the Singleton Roosterettes, and her 22-year-old daughter Kyah, who played on the team, were among the dead.
Nadene’s sister Helen Arthur said the tragedy had changed the family’s lives forever.
“Our lives are unrecognizable,” she said.
‘Our hearts are broken. Our grief and emotions encompass everything.”
The grief the family felt was not just ours, Ms Arthur said.
“I see it as a ripple in a pond that affects everything it touches.”
Jackie Varasdi, the mother of 29-year-old victim Zach Bray, also addressed the other families “who are suffering the profound loss of our beautiful 10.”
“I hope that you, like my family, will find comfort in knowing that they are all together, wherever that may be,” she said.
Roosterettes captain, 29-year-old Tori Cowburn, was remembered for her zest for life, love of family and also her ‘crazy nature’.
“With every passing moment, every minute of every day, the love I have for you, my sweet girl in my heart, will last forever,” her mother Kay Welsh told a solemn crowd.
NSW Premier Chris Minns joined those at the Singleton memorial to the bus crash victims.
Crash victims (pictured) addressed the crowd at the ceremony as people mourned the dead
Prime Minister Chris Minns said the victims’ families and friends have faced challenges that “most of us cannot imagine” and noted the extraordinary outpouring of support within the community.
“Our first responders, our health care workers, treated the injured and they treated those who passed with kindness and empathy, as if they were treating a member of their own personal family,” he said.
Following the service, a free community barbecue was held on the showground in partnership with local charities, while sprigs of gum leaves were distributed.
The Hunter Valley Bus Tragedy Fund, managed by Rotary, closed last month after raising almost $1.5 million.
The NSW Government donated $100,000 with the money expected to help those affected by the crash.
Bus driver Brett Andrew Button, 59, faces 62 charges over the crash and has yet to appear in court.