© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Coalmining

Read more about the article Dangerous days deep underground at Paxton.
Headframe of Stanford Main colliery at Paxton in 1987. Photo by Don Ebbott

Dangerous days deep underground at Paxton.

Fred Caban started work at Stanford Main No. 2 mine at Paxton in 1947 when the mine employed 400 men and produced 1000 tonnes of coal a day. One thing he remembers is the great speed at which the steam-powered winding engine could haul a cage up the 400 foot shaft. A cage could carry two tonnes of coal or 12 men to the top of the unloading gantry in 10 seconds. “When the cage dropped away you would swear the bottom had fallen out and you were falling,” Fred recalled. “When going up you had…

Continue ReadingDangerous days deep underground at Paxton.
Read more about the article Memories of Rhondda Colliery

Memories of Rhondda Colliery

Ernie Eade started work at Rhondda Colliery, Teralba, on January 27, 1927 at the age of 14. He was paid six shillings and sixpence a day, a rate that increased each year by one shilling and ten pence until he reached the adult rate of 17 shillings and sixpence. He worked from 7am to 3pm with a half hour break from 11am. Ernie Eade in December 1930. Photo courtesy of Alan Mitchell. At that time Rhondda was owned by William Laidley and Co, along with the Co-operative mine at Wallsend. The company’s chief clerk came to…

Continue ReadingMemories of Rhondda Colliery
Read more about the article The mystery in the mine: lizard tracks deep below Catherine Hill Bay.
Lizard tracks on the ceiling of Wallarah Colliery, May 1979. Photo by Brian R. Andrews

The mystery in the mine: lizard tracks deep below Catherine Hill Bay.

MILLIONS of years ago, apparently, a large lizard or similar creature was taking a walk on some soft ground. Its feet sank into the mud, and it backed away. The ground hardened, preserving the tracks, which were later filled in with a different type of mud. The ground eventually turned into rock, and other layers formed on top, pressing those layers and the tracks of the creature deep below the surface of the earth. Deep underground at Wallarah Colliery in 1979. Photo used with permission of Brian R. Andrews. In 1979, miners working the coal seam…

Continue ReadingThe mystery in the mine: lizard tracks deep below Catherine Hill Bay.
×
×

Cart