Mineworkers

Mineworkers in the Hunter

(Northern District)

Blood on the Coal

You’ve learned to know the miner — the “black” man, the “slack” man,

But come with me below ground amid the sweat and stress,

And watch him at his hard work, his drill work, his skilled work,

See for yourself his true life before you read your press.

Come down and breathe the dank air, the foul air, the rank air,

Fill up your lungs with coal dust, disease dust, for proof;

Come down and see the slave man, the cave man, the brave man

Risk life to save his mate’s life beneath a falling roof

Jock Graham

Northern District Mine Accidents Index (1847–1938)

Between 1847 and 1938, over 1,695 mineworkers in the Northern District were seriously injured—many of them fatally—as a result of mining accidents.

This index records:

Name and age of the miner
Occupation
Date of accident
Name and location of the mine
Details of the accident
References and sources

The data has been compiled from a wide range of sources including:

Contemporary newspapers
Department of Mines reports
Records of the United Mineworkers Northern Division
Votes and Proceedings of the NSW Legislative Assembly
Personal correspondence from contributors
Selected secondary sources

To the best of my knowledge, no other online index of miners injured or killed in NSW is currently available.

Notes on the Index

If a name does not appear, it may be because I have not yet entered the data. However, it is likely that I hold the information—please contact me and I will check and add it.
Contributions are welcome. If you have details (names, collieries, accident dates, newspaper references, etc.), please email me at txcallaghan@gmail.com. I am especially interested in information about the age of miners involved, as this will help build an age-based profile of injuries and fatalities.
While the main focus is on the pre-1900 period, the database also includes some names and details up to 1938, and selected records of those killed up to 2002 (thanks to data provided by the United Mineworkers Northern Division). Entries beyond 1900 are still incomplete but will be added over time.
Work is also in progress on a companion index of Southern District accidents and fatalities.

References and Images

For a full list of references used in this work, follow [this link].
Unless otherwise noted, images are from Ralph Snowball’s photographs in the Norm Barney Collection, University of Newcastle, reproduced with permission.

Access and Support

You are welcome to download and copy the material for personal or research use.
If you find this resource valuable, a donation to help cover expenses would be greatly appreciated. Donors will also be added to an email list to receive updates about new pages and database additions.

For donation details, or to share information, please contact:
📧

Note that as research continues more details and in particular references are being added, so it is very much an ongoing project. You will need to check back from time to time to check whether new entries have been made since your last visit.If you are a registered donor you will be automatically notified.

For an example of the data see here and here

NAMES

Note! If you find a broken link in the list of names let me know and I will fix

This page was last updated on March 20, 2013

This material has been produced in good faith. No responsibility is accepted for errors or omissions which may exist in the data. In most cases the source(s) of the information is provided to enable your own research Please read copyright notes