Weston - First Mining Death

First there was the small settlement on the Hebburn Estate then came the township of Weston. Both communities owed their existence to A.A. Company's Hebburn Colliery.

The occupation of a miner is full of risks which is borne out by the names of the 46 miners who died at Hebburn No.1 colliery in the pursuit of coal.

Their names and the causus of death, whether it be by accident or otherwise, can be found, together with all of the details, on the shelves of the Coalfield Regional Library, in Kurri Kurri's Edgeworth David Museum.

At the head of that list is a 45 year old shiftman, named William Haddow, who died from injuries received in the mine on January 4, 1905.

Haddow came from Lanarkshire, Scotland, and worked at the Hebburn Colliery alongside his brother Alexander Haddow.

On the afternoon of January 4, 1905, the two brothers who lived at Weston, commenced their eight hour afternoon shift at 3 p.m.. They were working as mates together in a drive which consisted partly of stone and partly of coal.

That January was very much like that of 1994, hot and dry, after months of drought, with bushfires raging throughout the district.

By 9.30 p.m., that stifling hot night, a fall of stone fell from the roof to almost completely bury William Haddow.

Alexander Haddow described the accident, “My brother was not actually working at the time the accident happened, but I don't know for what reason. I heard a noise and ran back. There had been a fall of stone and my brother was lying buried beneath the stone. He was covered by it, all but his right boot.

“I called for assistance to rescue him from his position. The first to come were David Jack and Robert Ziemes, and together we managed to get my brother from under the stone.

“One of the deputies, Peter Finlayson, then came. We had him conveyed upon a stretcher to the surface and then took him home.

“There had been no signs of danger and I thought the roof to be perfectly safe. In my opinion what happened was purely accidental. The roof was not timbered in any way. My brother was a temperate man, an experienced miner and a careful workman.”

Dr Walter Fisher, of Weston, attended Haddow at the colliery before allowing him to be conveyed home. Haddow, who was conscious at the time, complained of internal pains of the chest and abdomen, the result of being crushed by an enormous weight.

Apart from numerous abrasions and lacerations he also suffered a compound fracture of the left leg and fractured ribs. His condition on being taken home was considered perilous.

His fight for life ended a week later when he succumbed to his injuries on January 11th.

The district coroner in Maitland, Mr E.A.L.Sharpe, was sent an urgent telegram, the result being that an inquest was arranged for the next day at the old Kurri Kurri Court House. The inquest, after a week's postponement, concluded on January 18th.

The coroner found that the death of William Haddow resulted from injuries received through the fall of stone from the roof of a drive, in which he was working, and that proper precautions had been taken for the safety of the mine with no blame being attached to any person.

Weston had lost its first life to the mine which went on to claim another 45 men before it was closed down.

[Transcribed for the Weston History and Heritage website by Mélissa Martin]

See also:  Weston to 1910