Whyalla was a tragically sad set of holes in the Swiss cheese. The latent manufacturing defect in the crankshafts may not have caused a failure, if the leaning procedure for the climb had kept the mixture sufficiently rich of peak.
A pilot with knowledge of what the curves mean would never have adopted the leaning procedure for the high power climb as was the practice at Whyalla, irrespective of what some idiot regulatory or manufacturer's document might have allowed or mandated.
A knowledge and understanding of what the curves mean, and of what the data show, gives you a chance that you might actually comprehend that if you are going to operate rich of peak, you have to set the mixture sufficiently far rich of peak, otherwise you're giving the engine (including that potentially defective crankshaft) the hardest beating you can give it.
It used to be called "airmanship".