OUR
STO
R Y
to
Darkness
Through
"
THE
.
V
\ iVT
|
SECTIONAL
through the
STEEL
ALL
of
place
CULTIVATOR
.
John
(By
Sacred
the
(
It
the
Messenger
of
Concluded
into roof.
a
fragments a of There was steady propping the from the scales big coal pillars, from arches wore the thirty-six away and then the angles, foot columns, there
until.
was
a thin left.only into dissolution
sank great roof descended, thousand echoes.
apex, as the out
sending
the
want
EICHD.
driving miner his
ing
kin
its
the
on
1
write
us,
& Co.,
STliEKT,
I'l-.KTH.
&
WOOD,
TIMBER
&
STEAM Head
.
Office
CO.,
CEDAR,
MERCHANTS,
JOINERY
WORivS.
LORD
BALTIC
and
FLOORING,
GALVANISED
SHELVING, IN
ALL
etc.,
etc.
IRON
MOULDINGS,
SKIRTINGS,
ARCHITRAVES,
of
Lord,
our
COUNTRY
ORDERS
a
Telephone
ATTENDED
muddy
pipes
marshes
streams
hills.
and
their
the
shaft,
families
gather and with des of the execution pairing eyes watched a this command for they took it as silent admission the part of the upon around
ed
vation.
On "
dressed
TO.
"
.
a
1897.
I
after the third day the superintendent of the appeared among the miners the around and ad shaft,
the
squeeze"
in
them
There
these
words
bare chance, men, that mine may yet be saved. that some years ago the
is
a
Qf the remember
part
'
condition
The
of
the
previous was far from being prosperous. region of coal had over Over-production and the stocked the companies, had been miners employed only two or three days in the week.. And now, of descending into in view of the peril was as it threatened the colliery and a of its with collapse galleries the proprietors of the Avontunnels to remain dale ordered their workmen
A. 107
all miners stood day Avonon crosses the road that long down the entrance dale Hill, looking of an to the with shaft, expression from aside gloom. For, profound own their the knowledge privations, that the mine was caving caused them
of
'
—
ground.
NATIONAL
V.R.C.
NATIONAL
PRIZE
HANDICAP,
LIST: at
Henela June 28th, 1899. Vale, 10,000 at 5, run Fleinington, July 8th. at 5,000 5, run 15th. Fleniington, July COOLGARDIE CUP, 10,000 at 5, run Coolgardie, August. KALGOORLIE at run CUP, 10,000 5, Kalgoorlie, August. MENZIES CUP, 10,000 at 5, run Menzies, August. GREAT METROPOLITAN at STAKES, 25,000 5, run Randwick, September. CAULFIELD CUP, 25,000 at 5, run October. Caulfield, at November. MELBOURNE 5,000 5, run 7th CUP, Flemington, CANNING CUP, 10,000 at 5, run Canning, Boxing Day, December 26th, 1899.ANNIVERSARY HANDICAP, 25,000 at 5, run January 26th, 1900. PERTH at CUP, 50,000 at 5, run Perth, January 1st, 1900. GRAND
5,000
at
5,
rnn
HURDLES, STEEPLE,
Bank'
Reference,
of New
South
...
—
sense
a
of no
explosion blow of
a
Free
sound
chambers which save heretofore
of
powder
the a
stick
for
Sight-Testing
as
Why
fortune
come
sub the
not this should good ? Avondale We do not condition of affairs know can we of below us, nor unless some and to make you volunteer go down I will an examination. not deceive of such an the lessening perils you by to the
undertaking. to willing I however, every means
If
any
volunteer will
promise to possible
of for
you
the
are-
task,
to
employ
ensure
your
safety." were followed words by a. of silence. The miners looked and shook, at one another doubtfully was their It evident heads. they considered the danger too great to beconsidered. Suddenly the seriously a silence was broken deep, manly by
These
"
CLARKE
&
OPTICIANS
the
AND
KNAPP,
if
I
will
enough
lead men
a
party into the mine: volunteer for the-
will
service."
SPECTACLEMAKERS,
break The day before the great the squeezing in the lower occurred, was A excavations tremendous. came from those sub horrible roaring
&
DRAKE
terranean
and
Ironmongers &
BUILDERS'
Agents
for
The miners looked with one accord, toward the speaker and recognised " Black boss. Dan," the unpopular He near had been standing the shaft, some for time in silence, looking faces of his asso into the despairing onand meditating ciates, sorrowfully .the destitution threatened .which He had listened to them. every word of the superintendent with close attention, he called for and, when to take resolved volunteers, any risk in which result the might saving and afford his mine, unhappy com rades a means of earning a liveli hood.
STUBBS, 351
Importers,
Hay
GENERAL
IRONMONGERY,
BRASS
REQUISITES,
GALVANISED
TUBES
John &
ROLLED
STEEL
Danks Sons',
London,
&
GIRDERS
Son, Ltd., Fire
Perth.
Street, &
FITTINGS &
(All
PLUMBERS
FITTINGS, Sizes),
Melbourne
Brigade Appliances.
;
"Windmill. 358. Telephone
Alston's
"
.
Merryweather
Perth.
Arcade,
8 Royal
pick.
It came in fitfully depths. and there, shocks of sound, as, here a roof sank beneath the crushing weight of rock and slate and coal. descended and of water Thin streams on the coal dust. Huge pattered and blocks fell in- the lower corridors retreated,' the miners extinguishing A hollow their moaning ran lamps.
flood.
into
voice.
had the or
A
similar
a
'
had trod ;
suffocation
of the submersion of the in which underground, the pathways for long
far
galleries
of
with
period
Wales.
suffering.
perienced they thought they years heard
Perth.
Barrack-st.,
CORONATION V.R.C. GRAND
their It was great was who "the perishing them with who had furnished who had nourished themselves bread, and wives and children. They ex
peculiar mother mother
CHARLES).
J.
MONSTER
—
Crowds
(C/o
threat
was
colliery
inundation. went down gang of volunteers the the mine, closed however, and checked merged galleries, ened
TATTERSALL'S .
.
above
Nottingham
great
W.
de
the
in
stop
gathered
Perth.
280,
to
speed to pump ac was rapidly their from sending
vast
miners
The
SIZES
Specialty.
PROMPTLY
set
were
Engines
of the
Avondale
Timber
for preparation and tools carts, and sent up to
was known ap expedient Every to tried Compressed air was plied. even the this force but up water, Still scheme was given up in despair. the, water rose, gaining gradually the the until at last upon pumps, order came to working them.
—
Building
became so ordered
Avondale's that they were proprietors flood. unable to cope with the rising thrown out Six hundred miners were with of employment by the calamity to but, star to look forward nothing
KALGOORLIE.
DEALS,
MATCHBOARD,
taking
greatest that
water
pressions
—
year
the
were
telling
;
PERTH.
STREET,
ERKMANTLE
:
KAURI,
SASHES,
IRON
:
Branches
DOOR
hastily surface. work at their the
cumulating, twelve-inch formed that
LIMITED,
caress
of his spark inflammable gas, and it would trail a the luminous phanton through and driving dancing long galleries, before it. Thus the men in terror which the great "squeeze" began in the Avonthe flood precipitafed at in the dale colliery, Plymouth,
Best
WlLiJAM
COOMBE,
a
a of powder, would feel the his face, then shot would the ignite
stick
damp breath
of
Implement
PURSER
128
and air gushed forth, gathering the fire The damp before it. in his distant chamber, shoot
The
BEST
In
mules, collected
were
out.
-
which
be the
to
You
.)
the in roaring The the slopes. and and shivered, one cracked and burst the beneath sinking
timbers here and there big
Machine
hands
all
above gtound. the worst, the
PROVE
galleries, that was
of affairs
menacing
Market.
of sobbed
galleries
This
Heart.)
with
began
lower
in
Ritter,
P.
CAN
condition that
The
& SEEDER
Dawn.
WE
the upper destruction below.
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page22981451