East Parade, Buxton is a quiet, semi-rural street southwest of Sydney.
Homes line one side of the road and bush, separating the road from nearby train tracks, lines the other.
But last year, on the evening of September 6, it became the scene of carnage.
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Lily Van De Putte and Gabby McLennan, both 14, Summer Williams and Tyrese Bechard, both 15, and Antonio Desisto, 16, all died when the Nissan Navara in which they were travelling smashed into two trees.
The stretch of road where the crash occurred is unmarked, there aren’t many street lights, and the speed limit is 60km/h.
The driver — Tyrell Edwards, 19 — was travelling at up to 147km/h along the darkened road before he lost control of the vehicle.
The P-plater was the sole survivor of the crash.
One year on, the only reminder of the tragedy on East Pde is the makeshift memorial set up at the crash site.
Three trees are now adorned with flowers, crosses and the names of the five teenagers.
It’s a confronting reminder of the consequences of dangerous driving.
But this week, the memories of the crash were at the forefront of locals’ minds as the town was decorated with coloured balloons as part of a new campaign launched by Lily’s father John Van De Putte.
He remembers that night as if it was yesterday.
“That whole day will be ingrained in my brain for the rest of my life,” Van De Putte said.
The campaign — “Think of the five, arrive alive” — promotes safe driving and pushes parents to have conversations with their children, friends and loved ones to call out dangerous driving.
‘Full of life’
The five teenagers who died all attended Picton High School.
Lily was in Year 9 and loved sports, her dad said.
She was a “typical teenager”.
“(She was) full of life,” Van De Putte said.
“She was very gifted in whatever she did, very empathetic, very caring. A lot of people liked her.”
Growing up, Lily and her dad would go park hopping, visit the city or head to the beach.
“I had a ball. (It was an) absolutely great time,” Van De Putte said.
Now, black-and-white photos of Lily with her siblings sit on a shelf in her dad’s living room, alongside candles and plants.
The thing he misses the most is the sound of her laughter when she was with her best friend Gabby McLennan, who also died in the crash.
“The way they giggle, the way they carry on, like teenagers do, is one of the things I’ll miss most,” he said.
Crash tragedy
The last time Van De Putte saw his daughter was on the morning of September 6, 2022 — the day of the crash.
He had said “goodbye, I love you” to her before leaving the house to head to Campbelltown, where he was undergoing a medical procedure.
“Then I rolled out the front and then she, suddenly for some reason, came up, gave me a hug and said, ‘I love you dad’,” he said.
“So I rolled down to the station with a big smile on me face.”
Following his operation, Van De Putte checked his phone and saw a message from Lily asking if she could go get ice cream with some friends.
By the time he’d read it, he’d figured she had already gone and come home.
About two hours later, his son arrived at the hospital.
“I looked at him and there was a gut feeling … I said, ‘don’t tell me it’s got to do with Lily’, and he’d burst out in tears,” he said.
Van De Putte then had to make a call to inform Lily’s mum of her death.
“I can still hear the screams of her mother when I told her that her daughter died in the car accident,” he said.
Two days later, Van De Putte travelled to Sydney to identify his daughter’s body.
“I was just thinking … I hope it’s not my daughter. But I knew it was,” he said.
“She looked like she was asleep. There was only a little cut on her face. She had a brand-new jumper on.
“Those few days were terrible. That’ll always be on my mind. It’s a horrific experience. It’s a thing a parent should never have to do.”
Losing a child is indescribable, Van De Putte said.
He now holds on to the happy memories he has of Lily. He hasn’t visited the crash site, nor seen many photos of the crash.
“I want to remember my daughter the way she was,” he said.
“It’s painful every day. I feel numb every day.
“With the one-year anniversary, it really doesn’t make much difference to me because every day’s the same. I wake up, think about her, go to sleep, think about her.”
Think of the five
After a conversation with a friend over coffee, Van De Putte wanted to turn his pain into action, launching a safe driving campaign that he hopes will go national.
The “Think of the five, arrive alive” campaign encouraged locals this year to display five coloured balloons on their fences as a reminder of the consequences of unsafe driving.
The five blue, pink, orange, purple and grey balloons each represented a victim of the crash in their favourite colour.
The town of Buxton and surrounding areas in the Wollondilly shire, including Thirlmere, Picton and Tahmoor, have been covered in the balloons this week.
Down the road from the crash site, at Telopea Park, the balloons hang from the fence.
Picton High School had at least 50 balloons at the entrance to the school campus.
Local businesses, including fast food outlets, liquor stores and supermarkets, were also involved.
The balloons hung on fences, mailboxes, streets posts and signs in the area.
“The community’s been fantastic,” Van De Putte said of the campaign’s reception.
“I think it brings back home the truth and the reality of how dangerous a car is.”
Last year, more than 1100 people died in car crashes across the country, according to statistics from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
That’s a statistic Van De Putte hopes can change.
“That’s just horrific,” he said.
“We’ve got to start informing people that driving is a privilege, not a right.
“We don’t talk to our kids about being safe in a car.
“I would rather my daughter come home and say, ‘Dad, I’m pregnant’ because I can live with another child in my life, but now I’ve got to live with my child’s memory in a morgue.”
The main message Van De Putte wants to get across is: “Don’t drive like a d***”.
“It’s more about educating everyone about when you’re driving, be cautious of what you’re doing when you’re driving,” he added.
“You’ve got a lethal weapon in your hand every time you turn that ignition on.
“One little distraction … everything’s going to change.”
Van De Putte also wants parents to talk to their children about getting into people’s cars and making sure they have the confidence to get out of the car if they feel uncomfortable.
He also wants friends, family members and loved ones to call out drivers’ unsafe behaviour and hold them accountable.
“Basically, we want people to think and make sure they arrive alive at home or wherever they’re going,” he said.
No hate
The driver Tyrell Edwards is in custody after pleading guilty to five counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death.
He is due to be sentenced later this year.
Van De Putte has been attending all of Edwards’s court appearances but says he has no hate in his heart.
“When I say I don’t hate him, it doesn’t mean I don’t think he should be punished,” he said.
“I just think it’s a waste of energy myself to fester that hate in my heart.
“If I do, I will lose the memory of Lily and I’ll be more concentrated on him.”
He said he has empathy for his family.
“There were six families that have been affected by this,” he said.
“Five families have lost their children, but a sixth is going to go to prison … they’ve lost a child in a way too.”