JANET Glass Dickson had the unique privilege of being probably the last living survivor of Warrnambool's worst-ever tragedy and the state's worst ferry disaster.
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She was a seven-year-old when the motor launch Nestor sank below the Hopkins River with the loss of 10 lives on a sunny Sunday afternoon 90 years ago.
Mrs Dickson's memories of that fateful day on January 9, 1921, disappeared with her death last week at the age of 97.
Historians believe she was the last link, but are unsure of a younger unknown survivor who was only three months old at the Nestor's sinking.
She will be buried this afternoon at Nirranda cemetery followed by a funeral service at the Warrnambool RSL, where she will also be remembered for her efforts during World War II as a driver for senior officers.
Her links with the Nestor are recorded in several brief interviews with The Standard in the past 20 years when she returned to the south-west after spending most of her married life in Queensland.
For the past two decades she lived at Lyndoch, overlooking the river which almost cut short her life.
She recalled how she, her parents and a younger brother, Jack, boarded the Nestor for a leisurely trip to Jubilee Park carrying 80 passengers until it sprung a leak and began sinking near what is now the old pumping station only 10 minutes into the journey.
Her father, Norman Borthwick, helped man the pumps in a vain effort to keep it afloat.
The Borthwick children were thrown from the bow as it lifted into the air. Jack was caught, but Janet hit the water and was soon rescued and taken to mudflats to await retrieval.
"I saw the Nestor going down with its end up in the air," she recalled.
"And I saw mum and dad on board as it was going down, before they jumped off.
"I remember thinking I won't see my Mummy and Daddy again."
Amazingly Norman Borthwick, who could not swim, survived and was credited with saving at least three lives, including the three-month-old baby, using his first-aid skills.
"He got it crying and then knew it would be all right," Mrs Dickson recalled.
"Had the sinking happened beyond the next bend more lives would have been lost because we would have been out of sight of the fishermen."
Mr Borthwick's watch is in the Warrnambool and District Historical Society collection. It stopped at 5.20pm on the day of the tragedy.
Another hero of the day, Constable William Sharrock, drowned through exhaustion after saving three people.
He was awarded a posthumous valour medal, but his body lay in an unmarked grave in Warrnambool cemetery until 1998 when a headstone was erected and unveiled by former chief commissioner Neil Comrie.
Mrs Dickson recalled seeing the constable on board and described him as a friendly policeman.
She suggest a memorial marker to be installed by the river indicting where the sinking happened.
Hopkins River Cruises operator Nathan McBain agrees there should be some sign pointing to the spot.
"She came on our cruise a few times and used to wave to us from her unit by the Hopkins bridge. She was a lovely lady," he said.
"I distinctly remember about four or five years ago a woman, not Mrs Dickson, saying she was also on the Nestor.
"Maybe she was the baby who survived. It would be interesting to know if she's still alive."
