At 8:18pm on November 7, 1968, a coal train and a passenger-goods train collided at Duaringa, killing the coal train's driver and his fireman.
The bodies of Royce Stickens, his wife, their 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were found by a local police sergeant who had called around the morning before the trial to remind Stickens that he was due to give evidence at the trial the following day.