Modesto Varischetti was a gold miner in Western Australia who was trapped in a gold mine for nine days after a thunderstorm flooded the mine in March 1907. Varischetti survived in an air pocket until he was rescued. The gold mine was located at Bonnievale, near Coolgardie, Western Australia.[1]
A diver using a long air hose and deep-sea diving equipment first reached Varischetti five days after the flooding and provided the trapped miner with food, candles and letters of encouragement.[1]
In 1907 Herbert Hoover, later President of the United States of America, was a mining engineer at nearby Kanowna and was involved in the rescue.[1]
After his rescue Varischetti recovered and returned to work underground. He died 23 years later, at the age of 57, from fibrosis.[1]
Modesto Varischetti's story has been used as the basis of a song by the folk group Cloudstreet[2]. The song is by an unknown writer and was found in a booklet of songs entitled, "Moondyne Joe and other Sandgroper Ballads". It is based on an English folk song, "Down in the Coalmine".