Documentary explores mining's dark days

Christine Feary
Friday, January 18, 2008

A NEW documentary recounts the early days of mining in New South Wales' Illawarra region, when pit ponies were a miner's best friend and mateship could mean the difference between life and death

Beneath Black Skies is a documentary which not only focuses on the Illawarra, it also brings to life the history of the early years of Australia's coal mining industry.

One of the stories that had a major impact on the Australian mining community was the country's first industrial disaster, the Bulli mine explosion in 1887. The explosion, caused by a deadly combination of gas, coal dust and a naked flame, killed 81 men and boys.

Beneath Black Skies investigates the incident and uncovers the profound impact the disaster had on the mining community at Bulli and surrounding townships.

In those days, mining communities had to be tight-knit to survive. Sandra Pires of Why Documentaries said the role of women in the early years of coal mining should not be overlooked, as they provided valuable support through the women's auxiliaries in times of strike or when work was scarce.

During those times, mining communities would pull together; go hunting and fishing together and sharing vegetable supplies, just to get by.

The documentary seeks to build an image of what it was like to work as a "pick and shovel" contract miner, in the days when exposure to gas and dust was the norm and rats were kept alive as their absence could warn miners of a coming roof fall.

Exposure to coal dust meant pneumoconiosis, or black lung, a common ailment responsible for killing many miners. Miners were compensated according to how "dusted" they were. As these compensation payments were generally not enough for the miners to support their families, they often had to continue working in spite of their condition.

In 1947, 2000 men and boys carried coffins marked "dust to dusted" to Parliament House in Sydney to draw public attention to the number of miners dying of pneumoconiosis. Through the help of their union, strike action, and increased public and industry awareness, they were able to have changes made to their working conditions.

Improved conditions of work were progressively granted to the miners, including long service leave, paid annual leave, compensation for injury, an eight-hour working day, improved safety and, of course, a miner's pension. Before the pension was introduced, it was not uncommon to see men over 70 still working the mines to support their families.

Although early coal miners in the Illawarra region faced harsh conditions, Beneath Black Skies also celebrates the strong sense of mateship that grew between them. From the south coast mines, with their reputation for being some of the deepest, gassiest and dustiest mines in the country, grew a culture of trust, mateship, and humour (and a tendency to give people nicknames) that still exists in Australian society.