Suicide prevented Fremantle Traffic bridge

It was mid week and my friend Brian and I decided to go for a drive out to Fremantle and take some photographs. As we were driving there I decided to take some pictures of my favorite fishing spot in Perth. The old Fremantle Traffic bridge built in 1939. There was a older bridge built many years before in early 1900’s but that’s long gone.
This location is very dangerous. The current rips though here very fast and it doesn’t make a difference how good a swimmer you are , if you fall in you will die. I know of 4 people that died here. I take great care while fishing here.
There are 2 was to get to the platform. 1st is climb from the top of the jetty down. You lower all your rods and gear down beforehand then make the climb down. You need to make sure you can climb back up or you will be stuck there.
The other way is park your car on the eastern side and walk down the steps and there is a rickety old walkway that will take you out to the platforms. You then need to climb down and walk the beams out to the concrete platforms. It takes the balance of a circus performer as there is rubbish, bolts and bottles you need to be aware of. Trip and you will meet thy maker.
Here is some pictures of the Traffic bridge….
From up top looking down to the platform…

Photograph from the bottom of the steps..

The walkway underneath that leads out to the platform…

Spent many weekends fishing on these platforms..

So me and Brian pulled up to the traffic bridge. It was around 8.00pm and dark. Plan was to take a few long exposures. I unpacked the car and made my way down the steps and set my camera up to take the photo. As i was setting the camera up i noticed a girl all by herself standing on the platform just staring at me with a blank look on her face. You can see below the blur of her moving as i was doing a long exposure below..

First thing i thought is ” why is a girl here by herself in the dark” . She had a little teddy backpack and a note and pen in her hand . Not a place i even like to be so i asked if she was ok. She didnt reply so i asked again. This time she mumbled ” Im going to end it”. I made a move to grab her but she got free and bolted up the steps and she must of jumped or ran infront of cars because i heard the screech of tires just about hitting her. I went to look for her and see if she was ok and asked Brian to call 000 (Police)

Police traffic car rolled up really quick and as i was talking to them telling them the direction she came back and as she ran past us and down the steps she said “its over” so the police and us following gave chase. One police officer got on the radio to water police to get them to attend urgently. I followed one officer out on the walkway in the dark, only his torch shining the way and hoping she was still alive and didnt jump in.
This how dark it was…

We spotted her sitting out on the deep section with the current rushing 3 meters underneath and then the water police arrived and sat just down current with spot light on us all. The officer took his gun belt off and handed it to the other officer ready to jump in if needs be. I told him NOT to do it as he would die especially as the current was flowing so hard you could here it against the pylons. He then asked us all to go back to the shore and let him talk to her. We went back waiting and hoping she wouldnt do it. 15 min later we see the officer walking back down the walkway with her. We all went up to the the car park as seen here in the pictures

She was really distressed and not wanting to go with police. Just as we were all talking a police van arrived. The officer said please come in our car as its warm and comfy otherwise you will have to go in the back of the uncomfortable and cold van. After some arguing she decided to go with the officers in the comfy car.
Before the police left the 2 officers came over to me and Brian and thanked us for doing everything we could as many other people just walk away. He said we saved her life that night and was so very thankful.
Brian and i didnt see it as doing anything special but just doing what any human should and thats help a person in need. To this day i dont know what happend of her. She was so determand to kill herself so i really hope depression and suididal throughts didnt get the better of her. I really hope she is still alive today as i think about this story often

Meeting Sir Tony Robinson and Mark Donaldson VC during shooting of ” Tour of duty” History Channel

***All photographs are copyright to Marc Russo. Contact me via marcrussophotography@gmail.com to purchase***

As many of you who know me personally you will know of my love for the TV show ” Time team” and i had the best once in a lifetime experiences when i acually found and got to name a ancient Aboriginal site, older than stone henge. It was a dream come true for me and now the site in the Pilbara is safe and secure and recorded for the rest of history. Here is images and my story……..

I discovered an ancient Aboriginal site over 15,000yrs old

So all that was left was to meet the great man…. Sir Tony Robinson! I thought chances of that would be one in a million until a couple weeks ago when i found out he will be in Fremantle shooting for the history channel.

My girlfriend Lisa and myself jumped at the chance and this was my chance to get a picture of my Rock art discovery and the image of the rock with the fish etched into it will be the image i want the most signed. I went and got it enlarged and bought a nice gold pen. We made our way down to the Army Barrracks Fremantle and here was my chance.

We made our way in and watched Tony do his thing and the filming. Talk about professional!

He then snuck off for lunch so i attacked! I appologised for interrupting his lunch and i unrolled the image of my 15,000 yr rock art find. He was blown away and wrote ” Amazing” and autographed it. Beautiful! This will be going up on my wall.

Lisa also met him and got a photo with him.

What a top bloke and now was time to look around at some of the ww1 & ww2 and current stuff on display.

Now was the interview with Mark Donaldson VC

After the interview i went up and shook his hand. A great moment for me. Not often you get to shake hands with a sas soldier thats been awarded a Victoria cross.

Over all a great day!!! Cant wait for the episode to air!!!!