Cave Creek: The Full Story of a National Tragedy

Television (Full Length) – 1998

On 28 April 1995, the collapse of a viewing platform at Cave Creek, in Paparoa National Park on the West Coast, caused 17 outdoor education students and a Department of Conservation Field Centre manager to plunge 40 metres into a rocky chasm. 14 died, and four were injured. This award-winning feature-length documentary explores what happened and why, with accounts by family members, survivors, and DoC staff. Made three years after the tragedy, the programme looks at the legacy of grief for bereaved families and the controversy surrounding the Commission of Inquiry's official findings.

It was such a beautiful day, when it’s sunny on the coast it’s just like…it’s awesome. You could see all the way up the coast, and the waves all coming in.
– Cave Creek survivor Leanne Wheeler describes the morning of the tragedy