MINERS' HEROISM

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 56, 4 September 1923, Page 6

MINERS' HEROISM

The only bright ray from the gloom surrounding the South Maitland colliery accident—by which it is now known twenty-one men have lost their lives—is the heroism of the men who attempted their rescue. This is no new thing among coal-miners, among seamen, and many other men who follow hard callings. But it is an outstanding characteristic of the coal-miner to volunteer in numbers far more than it is practicable to employ them for some highly hazardous undertaking when the lives of their fellow workers are at stake. In the case of the South Maitland disaster in New South Wales, it is reported that the police had to take a hand in controlling the men who were eager to carry their own lives in their hands in the attempt to bring their mates out of the fiery tomb in which they were enclosed. A mine manager, Mr. Brown, fully knowing beforehand the dangers of his task, continued at his work of- rescue until he died in a last effort to bring a man out of the inferno, and there was great heroism displayed all round. Once more (as English, Scotch, Welsh, and Australian miners have shown again and again, and will continue to show) proof was given that among miners there are higher ideals than a whole skin and plenty of money to spend. All that is required is the test, and a terrible test was, provided by the South Maitland disaster. The miners, as' usual, came through it, even at the cost of their own lives, in attempts to save the lives of others.