of 11 men. Bulli Colliery On 23 March 1887 an explosion at the mine in Bulli in New South Wales killed 81 people. A royal commission was set up to investigate the explosion and concluded: The gas explosion propagated a coal dust explosion and travelled towards the fresh air at the surface. The commission was of the opinion that carelessness, want of skill, and the loose and perfunctory manner in which the principal operations in the mine were performed by the majority of the men, and countenanced by at least the overman and deputies, were immediately connected with, and led up to, the occurrence of the final catastrophe, when, by the direct negligence of probably one man, eighty other men lost their lives, and that the mine deputy, the mine overman (foreman) and the mine manager were guilty of contributory negligence. Box Flat Mine At the Box Flat Mine in Swanbank, South East Queensland, 17 miners were lost after an underground gas explosion occurred on 31 July 1972. Another man died later from injuries sustained in the explosion. The mine tunnel mouths were sealed and the mine closed shortly after. Australian mining in literature, art and film Henry Lawson, His Father's Mate from While The Billy Boils, 1896 (short story) Nickel Queen, based on the Western Australian nickel boom of the late 1960s Colin Thiele, The Fire in the Stone (book which became a film) Wendy Richardson, Windy Gully 1989 Currency Press (play) Conal Fitzpatrick, Kembla- The Book of Voices 2002 Kemblawarra Press (poetry) Henry Handel Richardson, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Australia Felix Takes place in the chaos of the early Ballarat goldrush. Richard Lowenstein, Strikebound (1984 film). Tim Burstall, The Last of the Knucklemen (1979 film, based on the play by John Power, who also wrote a novelisation of the film). Kriv Stenders, Red Dog (2011 film, based on the true story) Franklin White. Miner with a Heart of Gold: biography of a mineral science and engineering educator. 2020. Friesen Press. ISBN 978-1-5255-7765-9 (Hardcover) 978-1-5255-7766-6 (Paperback) 978-1-5255-7767-3 (eBook) See also Economy of Australia Mining in the Northern Territory Mining in Western Australia NSW Minerals Council Uranium mining controversy in Kakadu National Park References External links Minerals Council of Australia WA’s mining boom: Where does it leave the environment? Australian Mining