Torbanlea Colliery Disaster
Coordinates: 25°21′15″S 152°35′41″E / 25.3543°S 152.5948°E
The Torbanlea Colliery Disaster was a 1900 mining accident near the town of Torbanlea in the colony of Queensland that claimed the lives of five workers. The accident prompted a Royal Commission into mining practices within Queensland.
Coal had been mined in Queensland almost continuously since the settlement of the Moreton Bay District, with the city of Ipswich in particular being the site of several early collieries, and referred to as the heart of coal mining in Queensland for over a century. The Burrum and Wide Bay districts also became active centres for coal mining, with many migrants from Wales settling in the area and working in the industry.
It was known that coal existed at Torbanlea, a site north-west of Maryborough, since at least the late 1860s, with exploratory shafts being sunk and then abandoned intermittently until James Robertson, a mine engineer from Scotland, identified a potentially profitable deposit and floated a company, the Torbanlea Colliery Company, to mine it. The company subdivided land and built cottages for miners, and by 1883 there was a small but growing town on the site, complete with a railway station, hotels, and a school.
The mine itself was excavated in a pillar and stall method, whereby cavities ("rooms") approximately 7 yards (6.4 m) in width were excavated first, separated by "pillars" that were 14 yards (13 m) in width. Once the rooms were all excavated, the pillars were then removed, in a specific order so as to avoid a mine collapse. The removal of the pillars had almost been completed by 1900 when the accident occurred.
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