Mt Lyell 1912
The 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster (also known at the time as the Mount Lyell Disaster) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, Tasmania.
The fire started on a Saturday morning, between 11:15 and 11:30 am, when the pump house on the 700 ft level of the mine was reported as being on fire. Only 73 men initially made their way to safety on the first day. Initially the status of the fire, numbers casualties and survivors were confused in the first day or so. Considerable problems occurred removing men from the mine who were still alive. Many became trapped as they were working in remote stopes and didn't know of the fire until it was far too late, as there was no emergency warning system operating in the mine. Instead, men had to run along the levels and drives calling to the men, warning them of the serious danger that faced them. 170 men entered the mine that day. 42 were never to be seen alive again.
This accident claimed the lives of 42 people, these were: Albert Mansfield Gadd, Arthur McMaster, Bernard McLoughlin, Charles Green, Christopher Quake, Cornelius O’Keefe, Eden Aloysius Hills, Edmund Michael McCullagh, Eugene Felix McCasland, Francis Henry Guy, Francis John Rolfe, George Gard, Henry Jones, Henry Wright, Herbert John Mitchell, James Bede McGowan, James Davey, James Robert Park, James Roland Rolfe, James Thomas Hall, James Tregonning, James William Smith, John (Jack) Bolton, John Bawden, John Bourke, John Creeden, John Jenkins, John Martin Leeman, John Olive Lees, John Studwell, Joseph McCarthy, Leonard Sydney Scott, Louis Burke, Patrick Reiley, Peter Moore, Richard John Treverton, Samson Rodda Bray, Thomas Gays, Thomas Maher, Thomas Saunderson, Valentine Bianchini, William Henry Bowker, William Horne, William Tregonning, Zephaniah Lewis