Australian Mining Disasters Pop-up Challenge

Question

Today is the Anniversary of one of Australia’s mining disasters, the Hamilton Pit (Glebe Mine) Disaster in 1889. It’s just one of 11 Mining Disasters in Australia up until 1948 with 10 or more fatalities. Can you help us over the next couple of days to create profiles to honour the miners who died? Just one or two profiles will be a great help if that’s all you have time for. Some profiles will require significant research just to work out their basic details. Others may be pretty straightforward. You may also find some of the miners on WikiTree already. Once you’ve created a profile, then add the link to that profile to the table for that specific mine disaster. I can help you with that if you’re not sure how to do it.

There are disasters in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria to choose from: The Dayston Colliery (Wonthaggi, Victoria), North Mt Lyell Mine (Tasmania), and the Bellbird Colliery, Mt Kembla Colliery, Dudley Colliery, Stockton Colliery, Hamilton Pit Glebe Mine and the Old Bulli Colliery, all in NSW.

If you’d like to contribute, let us know which disaster you’ll be working on by posting below and tell us your achievements so we can all celebrate. We can also chat about any questions you have on the Disasters or Australia Project discord channel if you are on either of those.

Answer 1

Briseis Tin Mine flood:

Nellie McWatters profile posted.  Added her parents' profiles, and connected to Nellie's maternal grandfather (Krushka-5) already in WikiTree (and added HIS wife).  Found parents of miner Stephen Daly Whiting on Ancestry, corrected minor details; FG search for parents unsuccessful.

All 14 Briseis victims now have profiles.

Hamilton Mine:

David Proctor profile posted. (Unsuccessful search for his wife's name; may have been married twice (article claims wife had 15 y.o. stepson); 3 candidates in Anglican part of Sandgate Cemetery).

John Meadows profile posted.
Alexander Grant profile posted.
George Beaumont profile posted.
Jabez Roberts profile posted.
Daniel Masson profile posted.
Thomas Banfield profile posted.

All 11 Hamilton victims now have profiles.

Comments

Thanks for that Ray. Sorting out the wife of David Proctor might be a good opportunity for someone for the connect-a-thon!

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Last two Hamilton profiles complete:
Thomas Banfield
Daniel Masson

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Great to have worked on the profiles for the Hamilton disaster, Ray, seeing as it was the anniversary for this disaster that prompted the challenge. Thanks so much.

Answer 2

I will work on the Creswick Mining Disaster December 1882 

Comments

Thanks Anne. Really appreciate your help :-)

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Added two miners who were brothers-in-law - sadly one of their wives died following childbirth only a few weeks after the disaster:

• Abraham Wyatt (1851 - 1882)
• Carl Waldemar Theodor Serrurier (1847 - 1882)
• Sarah (Quarrell) Wyatt (1852 - 1883)
• Ann Crawford (Quarrell) Wartnaby (1851 - 1921)

Six of the 22 men killed now have profiles.

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Thanks Anne! I've been pottering along with the Mount Kembla Disaster. I've got a few profiles to work on and connect up for the Connect-a-Thon. Hoping to get a few more created as well before then.

Answer 3

I'll work on the North Mt Lyell disaster in Tasmania. Some of my Dawson relatives were lucky to get out.

Comments

Hi Sue. Thanks for helping out on this one.

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Hi Sue.  Impressive work!  You probably already have this, but if not see Geni - The North Lyell Disaster Project Profiles.  Happy to turn Space:North_Mount_Lyell_Mine_Disaster_1912 over to you as the profile manager if you like.
Thanks, Ray

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Hi Ray,

I have just left a comment about joining the disasters project group and would love to take on the profile manager for this disaster. Should finish adding the last few profiles in the next couple of days then I want to learn how to add images for each profile person as they were in a local newspaper. These can be seen on many of the Find a Grave sources.

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Hi Gillian,

I have now added profiles to all on the list except for:

• Bowker, who was last survivor brought up from the mine
• Jones, need more research but could create a profile with just death date and place
• Lambert, no death record on Tasmanian Names Index where all the others are listed - he died a month earlier

Should I remove Bowker and Lambert from the list? Maybe mention them in research notes.

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Hi Sue, great that you're wanting to join the Disasters Project. Yes, I think it seems a good idea remove Bowker and Lambert from list of those who died. You can always add a separate list for survivors you come across and add Lambert to that list. You've done an amazing job getting all those profiles created.

Answer 4

I'll get started on the Bellbird colliery. It's close to home, being a 30 minute drive away, and I recognise some of the surnames.

Comments

Thanks so much Brad! That’s excellent.

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Four existing profiles updated and linked to the Bellbird Colliery freespace page:

Alfred Hines, Jeremiah McLaughlin, Charles Mills, and John Stewart.

 Three new profiles created and linked:

Gordon Locking, Harold Richards, and George Snedden

Ten of the 21 men now have profiles.

I will work on some more tomorrow.

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I just checked where the Bellbird Colliery was....

Looks like you've been hard at work as nearly all the profiles are done. They look great! Well done! Gillian

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Thanks Gillian. It has been an absolute honour creating these profiles. It has also been an education for me, reading through all the various newspaper articles. One particular article I read mentioned that if the fire had occurred just one hour earlier there would have been 450 men in the mine instead of 20! That would've been devastating for our Hunter Valley.

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Brad, my great-grandfather was a deputy at Aberdare colliery at the time, his only daughter's wedding (my grandparents) was on the 5th in Cessnock, just after the joint funeral in Cessnock. I can't imagine what a terrible time that was for such a close-knit mining community.