Mr Lovelock, then 21, was working night shift at the Albury telephone exchange in October 1934 when residents became aware the Dutch airliner was in trouble in the skies above them.

"We had 800 subscribers, and looking at the switchboard, the whole lot were on the phone," Mr Lovelock told The Morning Bulletin in 2009.

"They all wanted to know what was going on."

Normally the overnight shift received only three or four calls, but things were very different as the word spread for people to take their cars to the racecourse and create a makeshift airfield.

Mr Lovelock's job became more difficult as the town lights were used to message the stricken plane in Morse code.

"It meant the lights were going on and off and I couldn't see what I was doing," he said.

The rescue of the Uiver became a key moment in Albury's history, with the Dutch people showing their appreciation to the town through numerous gifts.

"It was a pretty miraculous thing, really," Mr Lovelock said.

Born in Junee, Mr Lovelock moved to Albury with his family and lived in Macauley Street.

He and his wife Lillian, who died in 2011, then lived in Sydney where he built a career as a telegraphist and union leader with the Amalgamated Postal Workers Union and Telegraphists and Postal Clerks Union.

Born May 27, 1913, Mr Lovelock died in Yeppoon on July 23, survived by his daughter Wendy Wetzler, three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

His daughter said he loved classical music, was a great book reader and stayed in good health and spirits until the end of his long life.