Mining Disasters

 

This week we are talking about mine disasters in my area, that being Newcastle in New South Wales.

My paternal grandfather was a coal miner as was his father both worked at the Standford Merthyr collier, I believe my great-grandfather was killed while working he was crushed between two mine train cars also known as minecarts or mine wagons, are specialized rail vehicles used to transport ore, rock, or other materials within mines.

There is a miner’s memorial in the town of Kurri Kurri which has a plaque with all the names of miners who passed while working in the local mines and his name is on it.

I know my grandfather was working at the mine at the age of 14.

One of the first disaster was on Monday 21st March 1898 at the Dudley pit around 9.20 am a huge explosion was heard as far away as Belmont and a rumbling underground as far away as Newcastle.

Coal dust filled the air for more than 15 minutes, when it had cleared it was realised the pithead roof had been partially blown off, the shaft cage had been propelled from the bottom of the shaft 30 feet into the air, lots of other destruction and trapped men inside. The local town folk ran to the pithead hoping for survivors, but the loss of life was inevitable given the extensive underground damage, smoke and poisonous gases.

There was little hope of survivors, but the rescue team worked late into the night. Over the next 2 weeks the rescue team managed to recover 10 out of the 15 bodies.            

The mine was flooded and there were still fires burning underground. The decision to close the pit was made and it was not re-opened until 17th June. Newspapers at the time reported on the dangers of the mining industry and this explosion was one of many world-wide.

The official inquiries and inquests found there to be an accumulation of a huge volume of gas in the pit to be the major cause of the disaster. The only comfort for the townsfolk at this time was that there were not more men killed as only the shift men and some officials were underground.

Normally there could be up to 200 working on-site.

Moving on in April 1946 rain caused subsidence at Cessnock No 2 colliery, this led to heat build up and the fires that followed made national news. Some thought the fire should be blasted with artillery or bombed from the air to get the fires under control. Of course, local residents thought those were stupid and dangerous ideas, thus the idea was scrapped.

Some thought that the 10m coal seam should have been mined using open cut mining, but during WW11 it seems the government pushed for underground mining.

At Easter 1946 previous predictions of a possible collapse, heating and fires if the rich seams were worked underground were proved right.

The fire underground was so fierce that at times flames burst to the surface shooting up to 10m into the air. Great sinkholes also appeared in the ground around the area and there were awful smelling fumes around causing distress to local residents.

Explosives were used to blow in the sides of the craters and soil was dumped in.

Miners from all over the district joined in to help control the huge blaze.

There have been many other disasters it isn’t the safest of industries to work in.