Eclipse Colliery Disaster, Ipswich, 1893.

Pre QMRS-History and one of the supporting incidents/disasters to the formation of QMRS in 1909.

In the Ipswich floods of 1893, water entered the Eclipse Colliery at Tivoli and seven miners were drowned, including Thomas and George Wright, sons of the owner. After the floods subsided, volunteers had to search the mine to recover the bodies as there was no trained rescue service. This memorial photograph shows a group portrait of the rescuers and another collage of portraits of the miners who died. There is a memorial plaque included, which gives the name of the miners and the date they died.

One of Queensland’s worst mining disasters occurred in 1893 at the Tivoli Eclipse Colliery. Three cyclones crossed the coast of South East Queensland during February 1893, resulting in the flooding of the Bremer River on the 3rd, 13th, and 17th of February, inundating the city of Ipswich and surrounding areas. The first flooding event resulted in water entering into the Eclipse Colliery, drowning seven miners, including Thomas and George Wright, the sons of the mine’s owner, John Wright. With no mines rescue or recovery team in place, volunteers entered the mine to recover the bodies. It took several months to pump the water out of the tunnel and to clear the debris, before the seven miners were removed, with the last body, that of Thomas Wright, being removed on the 16th of May. All, with the exception of one, of the miners were married and along with six widows, they left behind twenty-five young children, who were supported by a widows and orphans fund, established soon after the disaster. The volunteers who worked for several months in the mine – Robert Miller, A. Nimmo, John Eadie, Charles Sollitt, David Campbell, John Stafford (manager), Robert Palmer, Andrew Howie, W. Fryer (mining inspector), P. McInally, J. Ainsworth, J.D. Campbell, and A. Muir – were each presented with addresses at an event held at the School of Arts on the 18th August 1893. The addresses were the work of D.F. Edward, of the I.X.L. Company – run by photographer Benjamin Taylor.

References (offline)‘The Eclipse Colliery Disaster: The Seven Bodies Recovered, after a period of three months and twelve days’, Queensland Times, Thursday 18 May 1893, p.5‘The Eclipse Colliery Disaster: presentation to the rescue party’, Queensland Times, Saturday 19th August 1893, p. 5

QMRS acknowledges Ipswich Pictures & I.X.L. Studio for the use of the photo and information.

Thanks to Trove for other insight of information.

READ ON FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE RESCUE

The Eclipse Colliery Disaster.

DOWN AMONG THE COAL!

SCENES OF TERRIBLE HAVOC UNDERGROUND.

TWO BODIES RECOVERED. FIVE MORE STILL BELOW.

JOHN M'QUADE AND GEO. WRIGHT'S SINGLETS FOUND ON TUESDAY LAST.

A MINER'S CAP ALSO PICKED UP. FOUR MONTHS, TODAY, SINCE THE DISASTER. [BY OLD SPORT]

My initiation into the hardships of a collier's life has not been of the most pleasant kind, connected as it has principally been with the noble and persistent efforts of the rescue party towards the recovery of all the entombed bodies of the seven unfortunate miners who, without scarcely a moment's warning, lost their lives in the Eclipse Colliery. Saturday, the 4th of February 1893, will be a day of mournful recollection with many a family in our town and district and in no circle more so than in that of the coal-mining community. Never during the history of the coal industry in Queensland has there occurred a disaster like that which took place at Mr. John Wright's Eclipse Colliery. Coal-mining is only in its infancy in the West Morton district, in which, I may here state, commenced the pioneering work of the "black diamond" industry in this colony ; and it is therefore to be hoped that the lessons taught by this accident will, though the circumstances surrounding it are of the most extraordinary and saddening nature, be of benefit to those engaged in this particular branch of underground work. Had not such a phenomenal flood occurred as that which took place in the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers, on and after the Saturday above referred to, undoubtedly no such lamentable catastrophe would have had to be chronicled. In conjunction with my other flood experiences of '93, I have been enabled-particularly through the care and courtesy of the members of the rescue party-to see, at various times, some painful evidences of the disastrous effects of the water during its rush with Niagara force through the workings underground, after bursting in at the fatal cavity, which is situated about 130 yards to the left of the new tunnel. It did not matter which member of the day-shift I accompanied-whether it was John Stafford, David Campbell, Robert Miller, John Edie, John Ainsworth, Charles Sollett, or Bob Palmer-I always received the same uniform attention during my visits below, and on many occasions I have been in the company, both singly and collectively, of all those I have named.

Had I desired, the members of the night shift-Messrs. David Campbell and Andrew Nimmo - would also, no doubt, have cheerfully extended a similar privilege, and were ever ready on assist me all they could, although I have not ventured down among the coal after dark. Still, I have never lost an opportunity of witnessing the progress of the work underground since the receding of the water, through the aid of pumping operations in each of the tunnels, commenced; consequently I have been an eye-witness of most of the deplorable scenes of destruction; also of the recovery of the remains of poor Pat M'Quade, as good-hearted a miner as ever breathed, I am informed. A coal miner's life, eh! It is, to-day, just four months since the accident occurred, and on Tuesday afternoon last the rescue party had reached the exact distance-namely, 680ft., or 226 yards-where the wire-rope reached to on the morning of the fatal disaster. The workings in this vicinity are termed the "middle stage," and near to this level is the locality where the remainder of the bodies will, it is expected, be found. At any rate, during the explorations, on Tuesday last, two singlets were discovered near another wagon and, after being brought to the surface, were identified as having been worn-the one by George Wright, and the other by John M'Quade, whose father's remains were found in the second room above this stage. Attached to the wagon come upon last Tuesday is a No. 6 tally, which was poor Charley Walker's number. The singlets exhibit evidence of having been subjected to some terribly destructive forces; but, strange to say, the singlet recognised as that worn by George Wright is still pinned in the front with two pins, the neck-hole being complete and there are indications that the singlet itself has either been caught by something-probably a splinter of a prop-or stripped off the body by the force of the air or water as it hurled the unfortunate owner along. However, the sight of these recovered shirts causes one to contemplate on the awful nature of these unfortunate men's deaths. On the other hand, it is satisfactory to know that there are men-brave hearted men-in our midst willing to run great risks, as the rescue parties have, in the endeavour to recover the bodies of their fellow workers. No one, until he witnesses the perilous nature of their undertaking, can possibly realise the danger that, day after day-even up to the present moment-faced them during their four months' toilsome work amid the gloom and desolation of a wrecked mine. The members of the shift all live in the Bundamba district and are representatives of the Whitwood (Messrs. Stafford Bros) and Messrs. Lewis Thomas's and J. Gulland's collieries, being sent there, by these mine-owners, for the purpose of assisting Mr. Wright as much as possible in such a terrible emergency and under such trying circumstances. Of course, it has been a dreadful period of anxiety to all the families whose bread-winners met such violent deaths. From what I witnessed below at different times, the rescue party have actually faced dangers every day and night they have gone down, and to secure their safe advance they have had to "timber up" ahead of them in the water. It must be recollected, too, that, through the length of time the water has been in the mine, the roofs have become quite sodden and heavy, and, with the props all swept away, a fall might have occurred at any moment, without even a second's warning. The greatest credit is, therefore, due to every-one of these courageous and noble men, both day and night shifts, for the excellent work they have accomplished so far, for the careful and skillful manner in which they have gone about the work every day-Sundays not excepted-for the last four months. Another thing for which they deserve the utmost credit is the fact that they have proved beyond a doubt that the Cornish pumps are not the "white elephants" they were spoken of as having been to the Municipal Council. Here I must refer to the services of Mr. J. Johnston, manager of the Waterstown Colliery, as being myself present when the first Cornish pump was set at the "cavity," I noticed him assisting to erect it. However, I cannot say who the engineer was on the occasion, but this I do know-that through the combined exertions of Messrs. David Campbell, Johnston, John Stafford, John Eide. Robert Miller, and J. Ainsworth, these hitherto disregarded pumps have been in constant use the whole of this time and have never given any bother at all. In fact, they are down over 200ft., and are throwing the water up the tunnel the dip running water 1ft. in 5ft. The ratepayers of Ipswich should be glad to learn this. As to the disaster itself, it was the most extraordinary accident that has ever occurred in Australia. No one could possibly foresee such a catastrophe. The flood itself was a phenomenal one, and who, in the future, will wonder at it, when it is considered that the rainfall, which led to this flood, during twenty four hours alone, was 35 71 1/2 inches, thus beating the world's previous record for that period. The seven men-namely, the brothers T. and G. Wright, Pat. McQuade and his son John (a member of the local Irish regiment, and a real hearty, fine young man), Cuthbertson, Andrew Smart, and Charles Walker-who proceeded down the new tunnel, which is six chains, or 132 yards, to the right of the cavity, or subsidence-never for a moment anticipated the slightest danger from the quarter referred to, although, I believe, the rain~water trickled through from the surface above the subsidence into the mine, and as a matter of fact, there was some feet of water at the lower end of the workings. Three other men, on the same morning, went down the old tunnel, and, as your readers are aware, all of them had a most miraculous escape. Indeed, the force of air that cut off the escape of the seven men in the new tunnel aided the three men who escaped to the top of the old tunnel-in fact, ''shot" them out at the pit head. The water was over the top of the ground where the cavity is now, and its weight must have caused the underground to suddenly give way. And when the flood element reached the coal levels, its strength became greater, and it sped its course right straight across the workings, carrying everything along with it-large boulders of stone tons in weight, props, and steel rails-with a swiftness greater than the waters rush over the Niagara Falls, and from the time the trees were noticed to disappear with the subsidence until the water reached almost the pit heads in both tunnels only seven minutes elapsed. There was not the slightest chance of escape for any of the unfortunate men, as the water broke across the workings above them, and cut off every avenue of escape. Poor fellows! Who can picture their thoughts for the brief seconds they had in which to realise the awful position they were in? It is terrible to contemplate. That is exactly four months ago, since which every effort that was possible was put forward to recover their bodies. Unfortunately, as it will be remembered, the second and third floods filled the workings again through the "cavity ;" consequently, the same operations had to be conducted again, but, from the time of the third flood, the men have kept at the work of recovery most persistently. They have encountered obstacles during their progress in every shape and form. In the first instance, it was the intention of the rescue party to work towards the "middle stage" through the new tunnel, while pumping from the old, and after strongly timbering up and putting some dozen "cogs"'on either side of the road, until they had reached a distance of 132 yards, they returned the following morning to find that a great fall had occurred thus preventing their further progress down the new tunnel As to "'cogging," it is, what is termed in Canada, the "pigsty"" system of protecting the banks of harbours, &c, and is constructed with logs of timber, each about 6ft. in length, and built like a square, filled in with boulders, and then wedged to the roof, while the ordinary timbering up merely consists of single props of the length required, and then wedged into position with what are termed "cogs," pieces of split wood of all thicknesses. It will be thus understood that these "cogs"-6ft. or 8ft. square-afford a strong protection to an otherwise treacherous roof, and when it settles solidly on many of these "squares" or "cogs," the danger of falling in is thereby greatly lessened. However, after being blocked from further advance down the new tunnel, the party commenced operations from the first tunnel. I might here state that the superintendence of the whole work was entrusted to Mr. John Stafford from the commencement, and a heartier or more willing lot of workers could scarcely be wished for than his assistants, every one of whom, as well as himself, has exercised the utmost caution and care in carrying out his duties up to the pre- sent. True, the two Cornish pumps in the old tunnel have worked most admirably; but when the extent of the area-some seventy acres below that was flooded is considered, the period of anxiety has been of the most acute nature. The main object was to reach the new tunnel, a distance of some 112 yards across from the old, but, it was not until a point some 190 yards down was reached that their efforts were successful in this respect, as, previous to this, every attempt was frustrated by a continuous range of falls between the two tunnels. Of course, their advance was of a most zig-zag course (as shown by a rough tracing I have drawn, and which I send with these notes), until they reached an opening between a pillar of coal on one side and a fall on the other, in about the centre of the distance separating the two tunnels. Here they made a passage, about 6ft. in length, and just wide enough for a man to squeeze through. They had safely timbered up all along the route they had come up to this point, besides which they also placed a large cog-8ft. square-on the right of them near the fall referred to. After going through the small passage they entered a couple of more rooms, all of which they also timbered up. Nothing but falls again met their view, until, at last, a small opening presented itself, over the top of which they crawled into the room above, where, immediately after getting over, they discovered the whereabouts of the body of Pat McQuade, sixty-eight days from the date of the accident. By this means, however, they were enabled to reach the new tunnel; and, to show the great risk the men ran, I may say that they then after finding out the position of the remains, proceeded to explore a way to get the body out. Some of the party were dispatched to proceed down the new tunnel as far as the big fall at the 132 yards limit, while the remainder proceeded up the same tunnel from what is now designated "M'Quade's room." Both parties "cooeeyed" from either side, and, hearing one another, the parties on both sides set to work to cut a passage through the fall, "cogging" the walls as they progressed. The fall was 36ft. across. and over 14ft. in height, and when I went across it, previous to bringing M'Quade's body over, there was just room to crawl, and I had to drop over 11ft. to reach a small hole, the sight of which almost frightened me. This was the only possible way out and when the night shift tried to get across, a few hours afterwards, to the old tunnel, they found that the opening over the fall through which the members of the day-shift had gained access to the new tunnel had entirely closed in after them; thus, had they not cut a passage through the fall referred to, they would have been blocked -entombed. This is only one of the many instances of the imminent risks that have attended their efforts. The fear of "creeps" in the roof is constantly before them, and on two or three occasions when I have been down -especially near the vicinity where the body of Andrew Smart was discovered-the men have been forced to return to the surface, as the "nipping" indications of an unsettled roof were plainly discernible even to my inexperienced ear, and I am told that a miner is ever on the alert for such sounds, and probably the minutest indication of a creep falls upon his ears instantly, and he clears out of danger at once, as fast as his legs can carry him. Since then-last Saturday week-this portion of the workings has been heavily timbered up and a line of "cogs" put right across below " McQuades' room towards the centre of the two tunnels, and the surroundings here, especially on the "cavity" side of the middle stage, present a fearfully "wild" appearance. And what dreadful evidences there are, in all quarters, of the fierce nature of the current as it tore right across the workings! Heavy steel rails are twisted into all manner of shapes-half circular, others like fish-hooks, and the last one I saw, on Sunday last, was, for all the world, like the letters, but was completely broken at one of the bends. Boulders, tons in weight, have been carried a hundred yards or more from the cavity, and the props are scattered in all directions, but all are lying with their tops straight towards the old tunnel, thus indicating the first direction of the rush of the water, and it then seems to have expanded, in whirlpool fashion, all around the workings. Seeing is believing, and from what I have seen during the progress of the rescue party up to the "middle stage," where I was on Tuesday afternoon last, has, I can assure you, opened my eyes as to what flood waters are capable of doing, and, combined with my other flood experiences, has enabled me to witness many things the like of which I have never read of previously. During, however, a tour, through the workings, a few Sundays back in company with Mr. William Stafford, the latter gentleman (who is a thorough lover of geology) drew my attention to some very pretty sights on the "black" over the fall in the new tunnel, consisting of different varieties of fern tracings, and looking at them by the flicker of the tallow lamps on the sombre background of coal they presented a really beautiful picture. I hope in my second letter-beside other incidents-to record the recovery of the other bodies.

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The Eclipse Colliery Disaster.

Messrs. Barlow and Macfarlane, M.L.A., introduced a deputation on Tuesday to the Minister for Mines, the Hon. W. O. Hodgkinson. The deputation sought the assistance of the Government in pumping out the Eclipse mine at Tivoli so that the bodies of the seven miners who had been entombed in the mine during the late flood could be recovered. The deputation consisted of Messrs. G. H. Shillito (ironfounder, of Ipswich), W. Stafford (of Stafford Bros., coal-owners), and the Rev. Joseph Walker (Congregational minister). It was announced that Mr. Salkeld, M.L.A., would also have been present, but had been detained in connection with some important flood matter in the West Moreton district. Mr. Shill to stated that public opinion was very much averse to leaving the bodies in the mine unrecovered. Mr. Wright, the lessee of the Eclipse mine, whose two sons had been lost in the accident, had exhausted his means in pumping operations, and Messrs. Gulland, Thomas, and Stafford Bros. had also generously contributed labour to the value of at least ￡200, the total outlay in pumping operations having already amounted to about ￡500. Mr. Walker quoted a case in New South Wales as a precedent, in which the Government took in hand the work of clearing out a mine belonging to the wealthy A.A. Company in order to recover bodies. Mr. Stafford said that as a practical miner he thought that ￡500 would cover the whole cost of recovering the bodies, and that probably it might be done for much less. Mr. Hodgkinson in reply said that he need hardly say that the matter had his fullest sympathy. He was in possession of a telegram from the Under Secretary for mines in New South Wales, who stated that it was true that the Mines Department had interfered in certain cases of clearing mines, but only when there was a possibility of the lost men being recovered alive. The minister stated that nevertheless he would interview the ColoniaI Treasurer and see whether that gentleman would sanction any outlay. He (Mr. Hodgkinson) had simply to deal with the Mines Department and could not pledge the Government to any specific course, nor promise that the Treasurer would find the money for the purpose.

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