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Hamilton Pit (Glebe Mine) Disaster 1889

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Date: 22 Jun 1889
Location: Merewether, New South Wales, Australiamap
Surnames/tags: DISASTERS MINING_DISASTERS AUSTRALIA
Profile manager: Ray Sarlin private message [send private message]
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Disasters Project | Mining | Australia | Hamilton Pit (Glebe Mine) Disaster 1889

Hamilton Pit (Glebe Mine) Disaster, 1889


Map Co-ordinates: 32° 55' 23.2968 S 151° 44' 49.3980 E
GPS Coordinates: Lat: -32.923138, Long: 151.747055


Summary

A hundred men were working in the Hamilton Pit at the Glebe Mine, Merewether, on the morning of 22nd June 1889 when the roof began 'working' and collapsed in several places. Many of the men fled for their lives but their lamps went out and they were plunged into darkness. Rocks and coal continued to fall and blocked their escape. Eleven men lost their lives in the disaster, some were caught under fallen coal unable to be moved by workmates and four died of starvation while trapped in a small section of the mine.

Table 1: The Victims - Age, Marital Status, Occupation, and Residence
(Underscored names have profiles; boldfaced names are connected to the Big Tree. )

Name Age Marital Status Occupation Residence
Jabez Roberts 78 Single Miner
David Proctor 45 Married, (7 or more) Miner Glebe
John Peate Senior 50 Married, 5 children Miner Merewether
John Peate Junior 19 Single Wheeler
Daniel Masson 27 Married, 3 children Miner (former shiftman) Merewether
Thomas Banfield 18 Single Wheeler
Herbert Pettit 22 Single
John Meadows 30 Single Shiftman Merewether
George Beaumont 42 Married, 5 children Shiftman Merewether
Alexander Grant 30 Married, 2 (in Scotland) Shiftman Merewether
James Hodson 54 Married, 4 children Deputy Overman Adamstown

Research Notes

The 12-page paper[1] by Clive Beauchamp of Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, NSW, is a great resource for anyone wishing to learn more about this incident.

Sources

  1. Beauchamp, C. (2014). Disaster at the Australian Agricultural Company's Mine, Hamilton, NSW, 1889. Journal of Australasian Mining History, 12, 193-204.




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Comments: 2

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Thanks, Gillian. And thank you for your epic work on the Mt. Kembla disaster. Awesome!
posted by Ray Sarlin
Hi Ray, thanks so much for creating this page and the profiles for the miners. I've finished the other disaster I was working on, so I'm hoping to help out with connecting up some of these men - usually it's an activity I do over the Connect-a-Thons. Hope that's ok!!
posted by Gillian Thomas