The 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster (also known as the Mount Lyell Disaster and North Mount Lyell Fire) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations on the West Coast of Tasmania. The mine had been taken over from the North Mount Lyell Company in 1903.[1]
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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. 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 romote 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.[2]
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. [3]
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.[4]
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.
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.[5]
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.
This following list of victims is sourced from various sources. The names were sourced from the Archives Office of Tasmania Tasmanian inquest number 13222. The ages and places of origin were sourced from the Queenstown Cemetery's records, these details completed by families of the deceased. Albert Gadd's information was sourced from the Archives Office of Tasmania Tasmanian inquest number 13169.
Name | Age | Address/Place of Origin | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Valentine Bianchini | 48 | Austria | Identified by his earing |
John Bolton | 38 | Gormanston, Tasmania | Resident of Gormanston, Tasmania |
Samson Rodda Bray | 33 | Bendigo, Victoria | Wife and one child living at Bendigo, Victoria |
John Bourke | 24 | Victoria | Mother lived at Daylesford, Victoria. His body was the last recovered. |
William Henry Bowker | Ballarat, Victoria | died 1 September 1919 | |
Louis Burke | 43 | Sweden | Wife residing in Hobart, Tasmania |
John Bawden | 25 | England | Resided at Linda Valley, Tasmania. Had relatives living in Trura, Cornwall, England |
John Creeden | 46 | Westbury, Tasmania | Identified by his gold crowned front tooth |
James Davey | 37 | Victoria | Wife and four children living at Linda Valley, Tasmania |
Albert Mansfield Gadd | died 20 February 1913 | ||
George Gard | 21 | Queenstown, Tasmania | His married sister lived in Queenstown, Tasmania, and his mother lived in Victoria. |
Thomas Gays | 22 | Victoria | Gave up his place in the last rescue cage to a married man. |
Charles Green | 22 | Launceston, Tasmania | Native of Launceston, Tasmania |
Francis Henry Guy | 27 | Victoria | Wife and three children residing in Queenstown, Tasmania |
James Thomas Hall | 32 | Mount Lyell, Tasmania | Brother rescued from the 1,000 ft level. Native of Campbell Town, Tasmania. Wife and two children living at North Lyell township. |
Eden Aloysius Hills | 21 | Hobart, Tasmania | Native of Hamilton, Tasmania. His sister lived in the area, whilst other relative residing in Hobart, Tasmania. |
William Horne | 45 | Black Lead or Buninyong, Victoria | Married with six children |
John Jenkins | 28 | Hobart, Tasmania | Wife of twelve months residing in Hobart, Tasmania |
Henry Jones | 22 | Hobart, Tasmania | Sister living in Queenstown, Tasmania. Neither parent living. |
John Martin Leeman | 27 | Victoria | Body identified by his brother Charles |
Zephaniah Lewis | 41 | Victoria | Wife and seven or eight children living at Gormanston, Tasmania. Body identified by oldest son William. |
Thomas Maher | 31 | Victoria | Wife in Linda Valley, Tasmania |
Joseph McCarthy | 40 | New South Wales | Wife and child residing at Linda Valley, Tasmania. To them a letter pinned to the wall by a "spider", was addressed. |
Eugene Felix McCasland | 27 | New South Wales | Engaged to a girl from Linda Valley, Tasmania |
Edmund Michael McCullagh | 49 | Richmond, Tasmania | Lived with his sister and brother, Thomas, at Queenstown, Tasmania. |
James Bede McGowan | 23 | Queenstown, Tasmania | Identified by his brother Martin |
Bernard. McLoughlin | 35 | Ballarat, Victoria | Never saw his youngest child as it was born after he left for North Lyell |
Arthur McMaster | 27 | Victoria | Identified by brother-in-law, Thomas McHenry |
Herbert John Mitchell | 23 | Linda Valley, Tasmania | Mother living in Black Lead, Victoria |
Peter Moore | 48 | Ireland | Left a note for the landlady at the Boarding House, letting her know where to send warning if anything should befall him. |
Cornelius O’Keefe | 26 | Tasmania | Identified by his father, John |
James Robert Park | 37 | Victoria | No children, but wife, Annie Eleanor living in Linda Valley, Tasmania. |
Christopher Quake | 50 | Victoria | Formerly known as W.J. Smith, but better known by the nickname of "Speewa". |
Patrick Reiley | 46 | Tasmania | Identified by his brother John. Native of Westbury, Tasmania. Resided in Linda Valley, Tasmania. Had three children, two daughters and a son, residing in Hobart. |
Francis John Rolfe | 31 | Victoria | Shift boss. Two children residing at Linda Valley, Tasmania. |
James Roland Rolfe | 22 | Victoria | Parents living at Malmsbury, Victoria. Rumours stated that he was the brother of Francis John Rolfe |
Thomas Saunderson | 37 | North Lyell, Tasmania | Had a wife named Wilhemina and a daughter named May. |
Leonard Sydney Scott | 22 | Victoria | Identified by his father-in-law, Charles Morley. He had a wife named Louisa and a six week old daughter named Violet. Native of Melbourne, Victoria. |
James William Smith | 19 | Tasmania | His mother was residing with Mrs O'Connor, Princess St, Port Melbourne. |
John Studwell | 20 | Tasmania | Father residing at Manly, N.S.W.. Formerly from Beaconsfield. Identified by the initials "J.S." tatooed on his left forearm. |
James Tregonning | 17 | England | Possibly identified as David Smithies Tregonning. Recently arrived from either America or England with their father and younger sister. |
William Tregonning | 19 | England | Possibly identified as William Hope Tregonning. Recently arrived from either America or England with their father and younger sister. |
Richard John Treverton | 34 | Queenstown, Tasmania | Wife and two children residing at Queenstown, Tasmania. Better known as "Snowy". |
Henry Wright | 54 | North Lyell, Tasmania | Resided at Linda Valley, Tasmania. Two daughters; one aged 17, the other aged 23 |
John Olive Lees | 51 | Queenstown, Tasmania |
(in some parts Bradshaw has direct transcription from the Zeehan and Dundas Herald for similar dates)