Bruner Mine Site It was explorer and surveyor Thomas Brunner who first identified coal seams on the banks of the Grey River in the late 1840s. By the 1880s Brunner Mine was the largest coal producer in New Zealand. Other industries grew alongside the extensive mine buildings and ever-expanding settlement, which included brickmaking and coke production. They were all serviced by a railway bridge across the Grey River. At the peak of production in 1901, 300 families lived here. Brunner Mine is sadly most remembered for its 1896 accident that instantly killed 65 men in one coal gas explosion. Families abruptly lost their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. This led to new hardships caused by a loss of income, with grieving families struggling to pay for food, clothes, rent or mortgage. The disaster and the plight
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