The FJ and the footbridge - alumni pranksters "pardoned" by Lord Mayor
They've been “on the run” since 1971 after they were accomplices to the dumping of an FJ Holden into the River Torrens. But earlier this month they finally had to face the music, confessing to their “crime” to Adelaide's Lord Mayor.
On Thursday 3 April, Lumen magazine hosted its first ever event, Lumen Live! The FJ and the footbridge, which saw the commemoration of the iconic prank that left a Holden FJ hanging from the University footbridge. The night saw alum and noted media personality David Penberthy host a panel including two of the pranks’ perpetrators. Among the crowd were alumni (including some rather coy culprits), staff, students and a special surprise guest...
Wayne Groom and Hamish Robson, now retirees both aged in their seventies, were young engineering students at the University of Adelaide when they and their co-conspirators pulled off what has been called Adelaide’s greatest prank.
On the night of August 6, 1971, the group stealthily navigated an FJ Holden to the University footbridge spanning the Torrens and used their engineering skills to hang it from the middle.
A newspaper photographer snapped the iconic image of the car on the morning of August 7. Later that same day a different group of students decided to jump up and down on the footbridge above the car to see what would happen – and the chain holding the car up snapped, dumping the FJ into the river below.
The Adelaide City Council of the time was less than impressed and came looking for who was responsible, aiming to recover the costs of dragging the car out.
The perpetrators had vanished, however, and just who was involved remained a mystery until last year when University of Adelaide magazine Lumen tracked them down as part of the University’s 150th celebrations.
This story, and a story that followed in The Advertiser, brought them once more to the attention of the authorities, including the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide – herself an alumna of the University.
The Lord Mayor made a surprise appearance at Lumen Live! where she took to the stage and playfully confronted the culprits before “pardoning” them of their crimes (watch the moment unfold here).
“There’s nothing I hate more than illegal dumping, especially the dumping of an all-Australian car into our wonderful River Torrens," said Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, Adelaide's Lord Mayor.
“Despite these men outrunning the law for five decades, the statute of limitations has certainly now passed and I’m happy to forgive and forget. I’m just glad they learnt some valuable engineering lessons that night.”Adelaide Lord Mayor, Dr Jane Lomax-Smith.
Wayne Groom, who was president of the Adelaide University Engineering Society at the time of the prank, said he and his mates had "felt slightly guilty" since the FJ plunged into the river.
“We certainly didn’t mean for that to happen, but we hadn’t taken the extra strain of people jumping up and down on the bridge into account and the chain snapped,” he said. “We were long gone and in hiding by the time that happened, and we all kept quiet about it for more than 50 years."
“I’m grateful the Lord Mayor has been such a good sport about it.”Wayne Groom, one of the alumni pranksters
Media contacts:
Mark Douglas, Corporate Communications Coordinator, The University of Adelaide.
Mobile: +61 (0)499 098 744
Email: mark.douglas@adelaide.edu.au