What does the West Gate mean to you today? Where were you when you heard the news of the collapse? Did you watch it being built? Were you there when it opened?
These are the questions we posed to audience members in the Southbank Theatre foyer. We're grateful to everyone who paused to share their story. Browse them below.
I was 15 when my family sailed into Melbourne as migrants. It was the end of November. All I knew about Melbourne was The Seekers big concert that summer and the collapse of the West Gate Bridge. I can still vividly remember seeing the gap in the bridge span as we sailed in.
- Stella C.
I was undertaking an Art&Design Appreciation Course in 1970 and a week before the bridge came down, our class was taken to view the bridge under construction. I recall being told about the innovative design which would withstand weather and traffic well into the 21st century.
The next week when we entered our lecture room I recall how stunned we all were, including the lecturer who had spoken so enthusiastically the week before about the futuristic design. I clearly recall looking at the gap that was to be closed, thinking it would be close to an impossible feat. I was 17 and the following week swore that I would never cross over the river on that bridge if they ever managed to build it
- Denise R.
My sister was a nurse at the Royal Women's Hospital and was taking the temperature of a patient near the window and on looking up she saw the bridge just collapsing.
- Elaine H.
A few years ago I was introduced to the wonderful Westgate Park, at the foot of the West Gate Bridge, a place I wasn't aware existed, even though you can see it from the bridge, which I use regularly.
Located on Bunurong Country, it's an area of formerly industrial wasteland that has been lovingly re-vegetated with indigenous plants over decades by an incredible group of volunteers. It really is a people's park, created by people who care enough to plant it, weed it and care for it, week in and week out, year after year. And yet most Melburnians have never heard of it.
It has 2 artificial lakes, one of which is famous for turning a shade of bright pink, in the right conditions. The bushland park is now home to a huge array of native insects and birdlife. It's a special place, a nature retreat close to the city, bordered by the Birrarung river, with the bridge soaring overhead. From memory, there's a memorial there to the men who died in the bridge collapse.
- Olivia B.
The bridge was clear on the horizon from our school grounds. We watched its progress. I strongly recall coming out for lunch and seeing that the bridge was different. Didn't appreciate the gravity of that difference until watching the news that evening and reading the papers the next day.
- Anonymous
I drove across the West Gate Bridge the first day it opened. Was so nervous by the time I was at highest point I just wanted to get to the other side so quickly.
The reward! A sticker saying “First across the West Gate”.
- Liz D.
I was not alive when the bridge collapsed, but I was born at Western Hospital in Footscray and raised in the western suburbs for all of my childhood. My friends, my brother and I, who were all born and raised around the inner western suburbs, formed a rap group in the early 2000s which we called the 'West Gate Keepers', an obvious reference to the West Gate Bridge that was such a large and important part of our home's landscape. So as soon as I saw this play listed in the MTC season, I knew I had to see it.
I had heard some vague stories about the bridge collapse, but really didn't know the full story until now. The rawness of how it was performed and portrayed hit me like a tonne of concrete and steel. It is a story that will forever stay with me now.
- Robert L.
Published on 9 April 2026
