1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster

Start

The fire started on a Saturday morning, between 11:15 and 11:30 am, when the pump house on the 700 ft level of the mine was reported as being on fire. Only 73 men made their way to safety on the first day. Initially the status of the fire, numbers, casualties and survivors were confused in the first day or so. Considerable problems occurred removing men from the mine who were still alive. Many became trapped as they were working in remote stopes and didn't know of the fire until it was far too late, as there was no emergency warning system operating in the mine. Instead, men had to run along the levels and drives calling to the men, warning them of the serious danger that faced them. 170 men entered the mine that day. 42 were never to be seen alive again.

"Letter From A Dead Man"

During the rescue party's attempts to find any still alive in the stifling depths, they came across a group of men on the 700 ft level. One of these, Joe McCarthy, left a note pinned to a timber with a "spider" (a tool the miners used to hold their candles in). The note read: "Seven hundred level. North Lyell mine, 12-10-12. If anyone should find this note convey to my wife. Dear Agnes. - I will say good-bye. Sure I will not see you again any more. I am pleased to have made a little provision for you and poor little Lorna. Be good to our little darling. My mate, Len Burke, is done, and poor old V. and Driver too. Good-bye, with love to all. Your loving husband, Joe McCarthy."

"40 men in 40 stope"

On Monday the 14th of October, 1,100 ft of rope was lowered down the main shaft of the mine. Attached to it was a signal gong. It was originally meant for the men working on fixing the skids in the shaft, however, late in the afternoon, watchers heard the rap of the line. It sent the message: "Pull to surface". When the rope was pulled up, a handkerchief wrapped around a tobacco tin was attached to it. Inside the tin was a penciled note: "40 men in 40 stope. Send food and candles at once. No time to lose. J. Ryan"

Rescue attempt

The rescue attempt involved the transporting of breathing equipment from one of the Victorian mining towns to Queenstown, via a speedy shipping across the Bass Strait and the alleged fastest times by engines on the Emu Bay Railway, the Government Strahan-Zeehan Railway line between Zeehan and Regatta Point, and from there by the abt line to Queenstown.

Such was their rush to get the rescue gear to the mine, the S.S. Loongana, the ship which crossed Bass Strait carrying the equipment, made the crossing in 13 hours, 35 minutes - a record which stood for many years. Also the train travelling times between Burnie and Queenstown were never bettered.

Legacy

As a result of the fire, initially 42 lives were lost; the bodies were buried in unmarked graves in the Queenstown General cemetery. Initially, the first two bodies to be recovered were buried in the Linda Cemetery, however when the final victim (John Bourke) was recovered, the pair were buried at Queenstown at the same time as Bourke. Within a few months of the tragedy, one of the miners who escaped death and then re-entered the mine to assist in the rescue efforts, Albert Gadd, died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of the disaster. Gadd should be known as the 43rd victim of the mining tragedy.

Royal Commission

The royal commission that was held at the time of the retrieval of bodies after the fire, and despite various theories as to the cause of the fire, an open verdict remained.

Although Blainey covers the details of the disaster in The Peaks of Lyell, writing 40 years after the event, there were still variations upon the "official" versions of the event, amongst "old timers" in Queenstown. Some of these are aired and detailed in Bradshaw's verbatim record of the newspaper reports and the royal commission, as well as being incorporated into Crawford's recent novel.

A number of themes arise from reading Blainey, and others on the subject: the rise of trade unionism on the west coast at the time, and the lack of preparedness for such disasters by the mining companies. Also one recurring theme in some of the stories was the rumour or suggestion of the presence of a woman disguised as a man working underground.

At the Centenary of the event at the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival Peter Schulze's book An Engineer Speaks of Lyell elaborates an argument that the most likely cause of the disaster was an electrical fault

Casualties

This list of victim details is compiled from the following sources:

Centenary

The Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival of 2012 celebrated the centenary of this event. Part of the celebrations included a collection of songs entitled Fire Underground performed by The West Coast Singers, an ensemble of vocalists organized and directed by Kerrie Maguire. The West Coast Singers toured Tasmania with this concert in the following months, including performances at the Cygnet and Tamar Valley Folk Festivals in January 2013. The tour wrapped up with a performance at the Paragon Theatre, Queenstown in June 2013, on the 100th anniversary of the last funeral of the disaster's victims.