Dundowran Whale Tragedy

The Age reports on Saturday, October 18, 1969 that the Burrum Shire Council Health Inspector Mr J Stevenson discussed plans to dispose of whales. He said "we will cut them up with chain saws, pull them up the beach behind a bulldozer and try and burn them. Failing this we will have to try and bury them"
What he was responding to was locals at Dundowran beach waking to find that ten whales had beached themselves through the night. The largest of the whales was 11.89m and the smallest was 10.36m. Their weight was estimated at 13 tonnes. According to The Age, the carcasses became a tourist attraction with traffic backed up for 3.2 km.

The Queensland Museum director Mr. A Bartholomai said the whales had probably arrived there because Hervey Bay and the inner side of Fraser Island formed a trap for whales, a sort of funnel. Whales usually hugged the coast when migrating, and if they got in shallow water it was possible they would plough on instead of turning back (The Age, 1969). Mr B. M. Campbell was going to make a film of them for scientific and educational purposes.
The Department of Harbours and Marine sent an engineer to supervise the disposal of the whales. On Sunday evening a large hole was dozed above high water and nine carcasses were dumped. One whale was buried separately and the complete skeleton was later dug up for the Queensland University. 163 kilograms of timber, four truck loads of old tyres, 1514 litres of diesel, 1324 litres of kerosene and 166 litres of petrol were used to create a pyre. Flames leapt 15 metres into the air and smoke mushroomed 350 metres into the air. By Wednesday 22nd October, the hole was able to be filled in (Hervey Bay High School, 1988).

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References:
Hervey Bay High School (1988) 1988 - A lighthearted overview of Hervey Bay's History
The Age Saturday 18th October,1969 Beach Whales Get the Chop