March 1902
"The Cardigan Mine Disaster"
By Jeffrey Atkinson
Published by Jim Crow Press, Daylesford.
58 pages.
Cost: $18.50 plus $2.00 postage and handling.
Available from the author, Jeff Atkinson, 31 Parkside Street, Elsternwick, VIC 3185.
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SUMMARY
In March 1902 the people of Victoria were shocked to read in their newspapers that there had been a major disaster at a deep-lead gold mine at Haddon a few kilometers to the west of Ballarat. A sudden and cataclysmic in-burst of water and mud into the underground workings had left several miners dead and others trapped underground in the flooded mine. Accidents were not uncommon in the mining industry in those days, but this was a particularly dramatic one that attracted considerable public attention and sympathy throughout the State. Through the newspaper reports, the public followed the rescue attempts with considerable interest. People from Ballarat flocked out to the mine day after day in such numbers that a policeman had to be sent out to control them. Even the State Premier was involved. He happened to be the Legal Manager of the company that operated the mine. When bodies were eventually recovered, the funerals of the men killed drew some of the largest crowds that Ballarat had ever seen It is now a hundred years since the disaster, and the tragic and dramatic events of those few weeks have largely faded from memory. However a book was recently produced to mark the centenary, which brings the story and the people involved back to life. As well as telling the story of the tragedy this book also gives the background to how gold was mined from deep leads in those days. Enlivened by contemporary newspaper photos and sketches, it also has a glossary of mining terms and an index of the names of those involved. |