TY - JOUR
T1 - The Mount Kembla Mine Explosion of 1902
T2 - Towards the study of the impact of a disaster on a community
AU - Mitchell, Glenn
AU - Piggin, Stuart
PY - 1977/6/1
Y1 - 1977/6/1
N2 - The Mount Kembla coal mine, seven miles by road south-west of Wollongong, owned by the Mt. Kembla Coal and Oil Company Ltd., first produced coal in 1883. At about 2 p.m. on Thursday, 31 July 1902, when 261 men in two shifts were in the mine, an explosion, heard nine miles away, blocked the mine's no. 1 Main Haulage Road and the Main Tunnel. A minority of the ninety-six victims, some shockingly mutilated, were killed by the explosion. Most of the victims were asphyxiated. A Royal Commission reported almost twelve months later. The Commissioners concluded that a fall in a thirty-five acre waste drove an inflammable mixture of fire-damp and air into contact with a wheeler's naked light—the resulting explosion starting a succession of explosions of coal-dust.2 Seven weeks after the disaster the mine was re-opened, and it was finally closed in 1970 by Australian Iron and Steel, who had assumed ownership of the mine in 1946. Something of the impact on the Mt. Kembla community of the disaster, which took more lives than any other peace-time land disaster in our history to date, may be inferred from the fact that one-third of the village's male population over fourteen was removed. Thirty-three women were widowed and 120 children lost their fathers. It is believed that almost every home suffered a bereavement.
AB - The Mount Kembla coal mine, seven miles by road south-west of Wollongong, owned by the Mt. Kembla Coal and Oil Company Ltd., first produced coal in 1883. At about 2 p.m. on Thursday, 31 July 1902, when 261 men in two shifts were in the mine, an explosion, heard nine miles away, blocked the mine's no. 1 Main Haulage Road and the Main Tunnel. A minority of the ninety-six victims, some shockingly mutilated, were killed by the explosion. Most of the victims were asphyxiated. A Royal Commission reported almost twelve months later. The Commissioners concluded that a fall in a thirty-five acre waste drove an inflammable mixture of fire-damp and air into contact with a wheeler's naked light—the resulting explosion starting a succession of explosions of coal-dust.2 Seven weeks after the disaster the mine was re-opened, and it was finally closed in 1970 by Australian Iron and Steel, who had assumed ownership of the mine in 1946. Something of the impact on the Mt. Kembla community of the disaster, which took more lives than any other peace-time land disaster in our history to date, may be inferred from the fact that one-third of the village's male population over fourteen was removed. Thirty-three women were widowed and 120 children lost their fathers. It is believed that almost every home suffered a bereavement.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963165832&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14443057709386764
DO - 10.1080/14443057709386764
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84963165832
SN - 0314-769X
VL - 1
SP - 52
EP - 69
JO - Journal of Australian Studies
JF - Journal of Australian Studies
IS - 1
ER -