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By HARRY CLARKE
NEARLY seven years on and still debilitated by a severe case of post traumatic stress disorder, a bystander who tried desperately to save lives during the terrible Dreamworld theme park tragedy will this Friday be recognised by receiving a bravery medal for his selfless rescue efforts.
Steve Apthorp witnessed unimaginable horror on Dreamworld’s Thunder River Rapids Ride when it catastrophically malfunctioned about 2pm on October 25, 2016.
Four people were crushed to death when the raft they were on collided with the one in front of it, causing the raft to flip and throw passengers into the end of a conveyor belt that was submerged in chest-deep water.
Cindy Low, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Kate Goodchild lost their lives, and their families lost loved ones, in the most harrowing of circumstances.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, then Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said it was “by the providence of God” that two children who were also on board the second raft – Cindy Low’s son and Kate Goodchild’s daughter – were not also killed.
The disaster sent shockwaves around Australia and the world.
The reputations of Dreamworld and its parent company, Ardent Leisure, were damaged significantly when an inquest found “obvious” and “unfathomable” oversight of basic safety measures. They were made to pay millions in fines and damages.
For countless Australians and tourists who’ve enjoyed one of the Gold Coast’s longest standing and most popular theme park attractions, their memories of the Thunder River Rapids Ride were forever tarnished.
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For Steve Apthorp the fallout has been devastating, lasting and life-changing.
Steve and his young family, from Ulladulla on New South Wales’s south coast, had been visiting the Gold Coast for the V8 Supercars Championship in 2016 when they became caught up in the tragedy.
He, his partner, and their two children aged 1 and 4, visited Dreamworld for a final family outing on October 25 and were due to travel home to Ulladulla the following day.
It was widely misreported following the disaster that the front raft involved in the crash was not carrying any passengers at the time.
But in an exclusive interview with the Caller, Steve has described in confronting detail how he and his family were very much aboard the front raft, and how it came frighteningly close to also flipping into the mechanical depths of the Thunder River Rapids Ride.
Amid the unthinkable chaos that unfolded when the two rafts collided, Steve’s actions in immediately securing his family’s safety before climbing onto the conveyor belt and into the water, to begin performing CPR on Kate Goodchild, were described by Coroner James McDougall as “truly remarkable”.
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Years later, in February 2022, Steve received a letter from Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carrol stating that The Royal Humane Society of Australasia, of which Commissioner Carrol is an Honorary Correspondent, had considered the Dreamworld incident and decided to award Steve the Bronze Medal of the Society.
For nearly 150 years the society has given public recognition to acts of bravery by bestowing awards on those who risk their own lives in saving, or attempting to save, the lives of others.
“At first my thought was ‘I don’t really deserve this’,” Steve told the Caller.
“Then I showed my counsellor and my doctor and they said ‘Steve bloody oath – after what you’ve done and gone through, it couldn’t have gone to a better person’.”
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Steve is due to be presented with the bravery medal during a special ceremony at Brisbane City Hall on Friday.
However, as a feature article to be published by the Country Caller this weekend will reveal, Steve’s bravery during the Dreamworld tragedy has come at an immense personal and emotional cost.
Steve’s story is one of witnessing unfathomable trauma, cheating death from a suicide attempt, an exhausting legal battle, the throes of gambling addition and alcoholism, a relationship breakdown, and, perhaps, some closure.
“After the trauma that I saw … things changed hue,” he said.
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