1896: Brunner Mine Disaster
December 7, 2020
By AHNZ
On 26 March, 1896, a great and deadly explosion occurred at the Brunner Mine along the Grey River in Westland.
This was the mine that first kicked off the coal industry so vital to the West Coast. At one point it was producing 1/3 of all the coal in New Zealand. Brunner was shut down in 1906 and today remains a wonderful memorial site. It almost rivals the Karangahake Gorge as a scenic walk among colossal industrial relics.
Within hours of the nationally recognised disaster (killed 65 men) the Prime Minister was on hand to be seen to be at the centre of the crisis. Seddon happened to be in Hokitika at the time anyway. Politicians, of course, don’t really do anything in these situations except take advantage of disaster and make sure they’re associated with the empathy and any remedy on offer.
Most of the victims rest in a mass grave up the road a bit in Stillwater. Here’s a picture (left) of the open grave from ’96 (the efforts to recover the bodies were immediate and without any interest in political permission¹) along with some picture of the grave from AHNZ Archives, 2020.
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1 Great contrast to the Pike River Mine disaster of 2009 which, to this day, is controlled by The State to the point where the dead have not even had their bodies recovered. Some even say men may have survived the explosion and died waiting for a rescue The State would not permit because it was ‘unsafe’
Note: The Brunner Mine story understandably focuses on this disaster and the loss of life. Most of the story is one of great industry and achievement. Punting the coal and then sending it by rail….the entire enterprise was exciting and brilliant. In a future post I would like to put more effort into that side of things.
Image ref. Christchurch City Libraries
Image ref. AHNZ Archives (2020)
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