Documentary planned on history of coal mining in the Illawarra

Dec 22, 2006

As part of its ongoing tradition of contributing to local community initiatives, UOW’s School of History and Politics is supporting a proposed innovative documentary entitled "Beneath Black Skies: Illawarra Coal Mining Stories Beneath the Surface".

A local group of mining industry historians, including Ron Cairns, and other social scientists are working with a film maker to undertake a documentary on the history of coal mining in the Illawarra.

The documentary will look at the heritage in the Illawarra with respect to coal mining and aims to present a balanced view of the history from the viewpoint of the miners, their union and management.

Those behind the documentary say it will be a unique attempt to present a segmented history as a full story helping to raise community awareness of some of the struggles endured by mine workers.A UOW student researcher will aim to explore the issues of health and safety as it was in the 1930s and 1940s and investigate how it affected other aspects of life.

In 1938/39 a Royal Commission was set up to report on the "Safety and Health of Workers in Coal Mines" and the results of this Commission led to a concerted effort in dealing with dust in mines.By about 1945 a large number of miners were compensated out of the industry as "dusted miners".

Since that time the Australian coal industry has led the world in dealing with this issue. The Joint Coal Board (JCB) has been at the forefront in the management of the health and welfare of mine workers and records the measures taken and results obtained in JCB Annual Reports commencing from 1947 and in more recent times Annual Reports prepared by Coal Services P/L.

The side issues in the beginning included who was, or who was not dusted, what was the real cause of this problem and the court hearings dealing with the level of compensation to be paid and how familieies survived once the main breadwinner became unemployable and other mine worker health and safety issues.

To support this project, the School of History and Politics offered a Summer Research Scholarship for a student to research personal stories, recollections and photos which will then lead to 're-enactments' of scenes.

As documentary filmmaker, Sandra Pires, of Why Documentaries says: “It is the student researcher’s job to make this issue as real and pertinent as it was at the time for families. We will be drawing on the facts from this research for part of the script and working it into the overall story."

Why Documentaries were recently awarded a National Trust Heritage High Commendation Award for its heritage documentary on the Australian Museum.Margaret O’Riordan, who has had outstanding results in her history subjects, has been awarded the summer scholarship and is looking forward for an opportunity to actually “practise history”.

For further information about this project contact Associate Professor Di Kelly, Head, School of History and Politics via email at di@uow.edu.au or phone (02) 4221 3612.