Memorial Funds Established to Honor Victims
of Sydney Harbor Ferry Disaster

April 10, 2007
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

Special memorial funds have been established to honor the memory of three members of Australia's skating family that perished when a Sydney Harbor ferry collided with a cabin cruiser on the evening of March 28. Four people were killed in the crash and several others were seriously injured. Among those still in the hospital are Belgian judge Rita Zonnekeyn, whose pelvis was crushed, and former Olympian and well-known coach Liz Cain, whose left leg was cut off above the ankle when the ferry hit. Both are now out of intensive care although Cain had an additional portion of her leg amputated in the hospital and is still suffering lung problems from the aftereffects of near drowning. She was pulled unconscious from the water by her son, Sean Carlow, the Australian senior men's champion who was not injured in the crash.

Two of Australia's six international judges were killed in the wreck, Simone Moore, and New South Wales Ice Skating Association (NSWISA) President Alan Blinn. Both of the judges had just finished judging at the Worlds in Tokyo and had been instrumental in assisting in the development of figure skating in other Asian countries such as Singapore and Chinese Taipei. NSWISA has established the Alan Blinn and Simone Moore Memorial Fund in their memories. The fund will award a scholarship each year to one male and one female competitive ice skater from New South Wales. Donations may be sent to New South Wales Ice Skating Association, Inc., P. O. Box 3266, North Strathfield, NSW 2137, Australia with details available at www.nswisa.com.

Fourteen-year-old Morgan Innes, a two-time Queensland ladies champion and veteran Australian Nationals competitor was the youngest of those killed. Innes, whose funeral on April 10 was attended by over a thousand people in Brisbane, was a promising skater who also excelled in academics and played on her school's tennis team. She had just completed her first clean triple salchow at the skating seminar in Sydney on the day she died and was scheduled to test to compete in juniors in April. Innes was coached by Cain when she lived in Sydney and had been a frequent guest on the boat owned by Cain and her husband, Peter Lynch. The Innes family is in the process of establishing the Morgan Innes Foundation to assist young ice skaters from Queensland and a website will be set up for the Foundation. For now, the famly has asked that those wishing to honor Morgan contribute to The Advancement of Australian Ice Skating, c/o Harding Martin Trust Account, P. O. Box 763, Ipswich, QLD, Australia.