Gold mining including at the Homebush mines was never without danger. Cave-ins, flooding, and unstable ground were constant hazards, and every descent into a shaft carried an element of risk. In January 1884 at the Working Miners United Claim at Homebush, thirteen miners were trapped underground after a sudden rush of sand and water buried the drive leading to the shaft. Their dramatic rescue, widely reported in Victorian newspapers, is a vivid reminder of both the perils of nineteenth-century mining and the courage and determination shown by miners and rescuers alike.
Mount Alexander Mail (Vic.), Tuesday 22 January 1884, page 2
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF THIRTEEN MINERS AT HOMEBUSH
On Saturday evening, at about half-past five o'clock, a messenger in hot haste arrived in the township of Homebush, and breathlessly announced the disastrous news that the drift sand at the Working Miners United claim had burst into a drive and buried thirteen miners alive. Crowds of people soon rushed to the mine, all showing the greatest excitement to know the extent of the calamity. After the first shock of fright the real character of what had taken place was discovered; and the names of the men entombed were given as follows:-S. Hartley, C. Frith. J. Kennedy, A. M'Dougal, W. Binks, M. M'Lean, J. Blanch, J. Young, H. M'Donald, W. M'Donald, C, Summers and — Cummins. A tremendously heavy flow of sand and water had swept from the drive into the shaft, which not only cut off all communication with them, but the greatest anxiety was felt on account of the probability of the pumps becoming choked, which would, of course, lead to the flooding of the works and the drowning of the. men. Fortunately, however, the force of water was not maintained, the pumps drew well, and the air pipes remaining unbroken gave the imprisoned ones opportunity to breathe. When this condition of affairs was perceived the men from other parts of the mine and the surface set to work with desperate energy to rescue their comrades. Like tigers they shovelled out the thickest of the debris, but it took an hour and a half before the drive was sufficiently well opened up to allow of an effort being made to explore it. Greatly to their credit Mr A. Robertson, the manager, Mr J. Trounsen, captain of the shift, with Mr Joseph Walters, made a courageous attempt to penetrate the silent darkness. Wading with the utmost difficulty through sludge and water, breast high, they struggled for many yards, until at last they heard faint cries and saw a waving light in the far distance. They shouted and signalled to the thirteen to , come forward, and this the captives did, but it was only by the greatest exertion by creeping through small orifices in some places, and plodding through heavy drift in others, always beset with the fear that at any moment another burst might come which would finally overwhelm them, they all got into safe ground. The intense joy with which they gained the surface after so awful experience may be well understood, especially after the toil of their escape, in which many had boots and even trousers torn from their bodies. No one was in the slightest degree injured. It appears that Michael M’Lean and Angus M'Dougal, the latter quite a youth, were the first who noticed the commencement of the burst, and might easily have escaped, but they pluckily decided to run back and warn their mates, and were in consequence buried with the rest. What the sensations of the poor miners must have been when closed in the bowels of the earth, one could not easily conceive. They are all very grateful to M'Lean and M'Dougal, and intend to recognise their bravery.
The following is the manager's official report of the affair :- A fall of blocked-out ground took place in the south end of No. 6 working, causing a sudden inburst of sand and sludge. Thirteen men were cut off from the shaft for about an hour and a half, when they were all got out without injury. The company will not sustain any loss beyond about three days' delay in cleaning up.
Although no lives were lost, the incident was a reminder of the ever-present dangers of gold mining. The official report dismissed the consequences as little more than a three-day interruption to operations, but for the thirteen miners and their families the events of that Saturday evening must have seemed far more significant. Their survival owed much to the quick thinking of Michael M’Lean and Angus M’Dougal, who sacrificed their own chance of escape to warn their companions, and to the determination of the rescuers who dug them free.
