David Campbell arrived at the engine-house of the East India Cement Gold Mining Company, one of many mining ventures in the boom city of Ballarat, a little after midnight Tuesday 1st of October to begin his shift as engine driver. He had been in the employ of the company for the past nine days. George Scott the man he was relieving handed over to Campbell at 12.10 and left for home.

Campbell, a thirty-two year old native of Scotland was a stonemason by trade and was married with six children. Yet for the previous two years he had worked as an engine driver at the Old Gravel Pits Company in Ballarat. Many of the East India Company’s employees were stunned to learn that Campbell had replaced John Germaine, as engine driver, believing Germaine was a remarkably steady man and competent engine driver. The company’s engineer, George Davidson, however did not share this view, and he employed Campbell on the recommendation of his friend, Alexander Dewar, manager of the Eureka Cement Company. During his first week a number of complaints had been raised regarding Campbell’s ability as an engine driver. Valygrove P. Stammers, a long time employee of the company, thought that Campbell was over cautious when working the engine and his nineteen year old son, Arthur Henry Stammers had complained to his father that Campbell took too long to add water to the boiler. James Gaisford, a shareholder in the company was also worried about Campbell’s habit of wasting steam, so much so that he raised his concerns at a committee meeting on 23rd September.

At 6.50 a.m. on that Tuesday morning Thomas Porter, an employee of the company, entered the engine-house and noticed that it was empty apart from Campbell, who was up on the platt attending to the engine. A few minutes later two more men, Thomas Costello and William Hanrahan arrived to begin their shift. Costello glanced around and said to Campbell that there was only a small share of ‘ stuff ’ on the platt. “ Yes.” replied Campbell and went off to put on more firewood. After doing this he turned one of the cocks on the boiler, which caused water and steam to be released, then he stopped the engine. Hanrahan bade Campbell good morning then he and Costello collected their tools from under the boiler and went down to the cutting where they usually worked. On leaving the engine-house they noticed William Calhoun and another man (most likely William Thomas) splicing rope. As he made his way to the cutting, Hanrahan looked back and saw John Collins, a forty-five year old employee who was married with children, entering the engine-house; it was 7.20 a.m.

After stopping the engine Campbell explained to Porter that he had stopped it because there was not enough stuff to crush. Porter decided that it would be an opportune time to go to the smith shop, 300 meters away. As he passed Campbell he heard him complain about the two men splicing rope outside the engine-house. Porter left and made his way to the ‘smithy.’

At about the same time that Porter left James Gaisford brought up a full truck of cement. He entered the engine-house to empty the truck onto the platt with Alexander Campbell and young Arthur Stammers, seconds later the boiler in the engine-house exploded.

The force of the explosion completely demolished the engine-house; the boiler was catapulted into the air and crashed to earth sixty metres away.

Hanrahan, who had been working in his cutting about seventy metres away, looked up and saw the boiler turning end over end as it hurtled through the air, a huge mushroom of dust rose above the wreckage of the engine-house and debris was flying in all directions. Instinct compelled Hanrahan to leap under the bank of earth, which undoubtedly saved him from injury for an instant later debris slammed into the very ground on which he had been standing. Picking himself up he and Costello ran towards the remains of the engine-house and found Arthur Stammers lying dead with a wound to the side of his head. Someone called out to get Dr.Hobson so Hanrahan ran to find him.

A further 20 metres away Costello saw the motionless form of Alexander Campbell, and rushed to his side. He was scarcely able to recognize him because of the severe scalding that he had sustained in the explosion yet he noticed that he was still breathing so he quickly loosened his necktie while others lifted him and carried him off.

Suddenly Costello’s attention was attracted by the frantic yelling of some Chinese who were pointing excitedly towards the dam. He rushed to where they were indicating and found the body of David Campbell lying face down with his feet in the water, the back of his skull had been ripped apart in the blast which had hurtled him nearly ninety metres from the engine-house. A miner named William Coates, who joined Costello, removed his shirt and wrapped it around Campbell’s head and with the help of others removed the body and placed it in a nearby dray.

A miner named Henry Lynch was on his way to work when he heard the explosion. He ran to where the boiler had landed and discovered John Collins lying on his back covered in debris. He was quickly joined by another man named Taylor and others and dragged Collins free of the rubble, but he died a few minutes later.

The men who were searching the ruins of the engine-house came across William Thomas, he was alive but severely injured. Both he and Alexander Campbell were rushed to the Ballarat Hospital.

Charles Jones, a local shoemaker was woken from his sleep by the explosion and rushed to the scene of devastation. He began searching through the rubble and spotted James Gaisford lying on his side near some upturned trucks. He moaned pitifully that his head hurt. Jones tried to comfort him and after a few minutes Gaisford asked him to help him to his feet as he believed he could stand, but on standing he realised that his leg was badly broken. George Davidson, the engineer, who was due to relieve Campbell at 8 o’clock, heard the explosion and rushed to assist. He heard Gaisford cry out and instructed Jones and some other men to place him onto a few planks and together they lifted him and placed him in the back of a nearby dray. Jones climbed in with him and heard Gaisford, who was quite coherent, say “ I thought that fellow (meaning David Campbell) would do it.” He was driven to the Eureka Hotel.

The bodies of Campbell and Collins were also conveyed to the Eureka Hotel and laid in an adjoining shed. The body of Arthur Stammers was taken to the home of his father.

Amazingly, William Calhoun, one of the men who had been splicing rope outside of the engine-house, escaped injury.

Henry Johnson, the mine manager was at his home at the time of the explosion and was informed by a wood carter employed by the company that five men had been killed in an explosion. Johnson rushed to the scene but by then all the dead and injured had been removed.

Another victim of the explosion was a horse working a puddling machine 300 metres away, it lost one of it’s eyes when struck by a flying stone.

Witnesses to the terrible explosion were led to the Eureka Hotel where, at 12.15 a.m. an inquest was held into the deaths of David Campbell, John Collins and Arthur Stammers before the coroner Dr. George Clenndinning. A portion of the shattered boiler was produced and presented to George Davidson who remarked that the piece was only 4/16” thick, which in his opinion was unusually thin. The usual thickness of a boiler plate was 7/16”. When he was asked by the coroner what he attributed the explosion to, he said that in his opinion it was caused through a ‘want of water’ in the boiler.

Dr. Richard J. Hobson’s report on the injuries sustained by the men was then presented to the court: John Collins had suffered severe scalding to his face and chest and a fracture to the base of the skull. David Campbell, who had received the full force of the blast had compound fractures to all the bones of his skull. Arthur Stammers had suffered compound fractures to his frontal and right side temporal bones, parts of which had depressed onto the brain causing his death.

An open verdict was returned as there was insufficient evidence to prove a cause for the explosion. The jurors did however find that it was either the incompetence of the engine driver (Campbell), or the thinness of the boiler plate, or both, that contributed to the explosion.

At the Ballarat Hospital, Dr. W.P.Whitcombe and his staff held grave fears for the critically injured men. That night doctors decided not to amputate James Gaisford’s broken left leg, fearing the operation would hasten his death. Alexander Campbell, who had broken ribs as well as terrible scalds, deteriorated through the night and died at 10 o’clock on Wednesday morning. He was approximately 30 years old and a native of Ireland.

Later that day the funeral for the three men killed in the explosion was held. Two hearses followed by a cortege of over two hundred people slowly made it’s way to the cemetery. Collins was buried in the Catholic section while Campbell and Stammers were intered in the Presbyterian and Independent sections respectively.

In the evening an inquest was held at the White Hart Hotel on the body of Alexander Campbell, where another open finding was returned. A deposition made by James Gaisford from his hospital bed was read to the court. He was so weakened by his injuries that he was not expected to live. Fears were also held for William Thomas who was still in a serious condition. Tragically the doctors were correct in the fears for at 2.30 a.m. on Thursday, two days after the tragic explosion, James Gaisford died. As well as a broken leg, he had also sustained fractures to his pelvis and severe scalds.

At a third inquest the jury believed that ‘want of water’ in the boiler, due to the neglect of the engine driver, as well as the boiler being of insufficient construction had contributed to the disaster.

William Thomas appears to have recovered from his injuries.