Brunner Coal Mine

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Greymouth's Brunner Coal Mine

We were on our way to Blackball from Greymouth travelling alongside the Grey River when this tall brick chumney came into view, there was a carpark beside it so we went to investigate.

I have to admit that I didn't know much at all about the Brunner Coal Mine so it was helpfull to see that the Department of Conservation had upgraded this site and it was obvious that a lot of work had gone into it.

The chimney that we first saw was in fact not part of the Brunner Mine, the mine itself was on the opposite bank of the Grey River.
Thomas Brunner an early explorer of the West Coast was the first Pakeha to discover the coal seam when he was travelling up the Grey River Gorge by canoe with a group of Maori in 1848 and named it after himself.

Brunner didn't mine the coal himself but later explorers re-discovered the coal seam. A local Greymouth man Reuben Waite was the first man to commercially extract coal from the mine . It was later noted that the local Maori were working the coal and taking it to the mouth of the Grey River by canoe. The first Pakeha mining of the Brunner field began in 1864 when the Nelson Provincial Government mined it off and on till 1874.

Various owners continued and the mine expanded during the 1880's. At it's peak the mine employed more than 300 men and boys.
The Greymouth to Brunner railway line was completed by then and the historic suspension bridge over the Grey River was completed in 1876, this meant that coal no longer had to be barged down the Grey River to the port at Greymouth.

The huge expansion of the mine meant that more land was required at the site, as a result of this, the township of Brunner that had been established in 1864 on the North bank of the river was replaced by an expanded mine and coke and brick making facilities. Coke and bricks were made here as ancilliary industries to coal extraction. The beehive coke ovens are a rare and impressive sight. The miners and their families moved to nearby settlements of Taylorville, Tyneside and Wallsend and later to Dobson.

As you cross the river from the South bank to the North bank of the Grey River nowadays it is on the restored Brunner Suspension Bridge it was re-opened in 2004, at a cost of $600,000 on the 108th anniversaery of the Brunner Mine Disaster in 1896.

THE BRUNNER MINE DISASTER 1896

With thanks to the Christchurch City Council, New Zealand Disasters Database

The worst mining disaster in New Zealand's history occurred at Brunner on the 26th of March 1896, in an explosion of gas and coal dust , 65 men and boys died, the impact of the tragic loss on the miners families lasted for years.

At about 9:30 am on the morning of 26 March, 1896, a sound like artillery fire was heard, and smoke was seen coming out of the pithead.
The area of the Brunner Mine in 1896 was over 230 acres. There was no damage to the buildings at the entrance to the mine because the explosion was so deep into the mine.
A crowd gathered while the manager and the underground engineer went down to check what had happened. When they did not return, miners from other shifts followed them, only to find the two men unconscious from black damp. The rescue party moved further into the diggings.
Groups of rescuers came from Blackball, Greymouth, Westport, and other parts of the Coast as news of the disaster spread.

From 11:00 am they began bringing out the bodies of the dead miners. But even as they worked, the rescuers were affected by the gas in the air and the lack of ventilation, and could only work in short shifts. Many were brought out unconscious, misleading the onlookers into thinking that some of the original miners were being brought out alive.

As groups moved deeper into the mine they found signs of a huge explosion. The railway line and trucks were twisted and smashed, and some of the bodies recovered were so badly mutilated that they had to be identified by their clothing.
By 2:00 pm the next day, 64 bodies had been brought out of the mine. It could be seen that those away from the point of explosion had been trying to escape and had been suffocated by the black damp. It took a further three days to locate the last body. A total of 65 miners died in the disaster, almost half of the Brunner underground work force.

Many of the victims were buried in a Mass Grave a few kilometres up the valley on SH7. at Stillwater.
Local newspaper reports estimated that around 6,000 people attended the funeral. An enquiry was held into the disaster and the cause of the explosion was blamed on an unknown miner. The memorial to the miners was erecrted in 1996, 100 years after their deaths.

As you stand at the foot of this wonderfull memorial and read the names of the men and boys killed some as young as 15 years old and look out over the dark waters of the Grey River and below you to the ruins of the eerie Coke Ovens and the abandoned Mine buildings, ruins of what was once the town of Brunner one can only start to imagine the huge loss these families suffered, the place seems to have a sadness about it


(A link to the names of those killed [url=http://http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/brunner1896.html

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Photos

Miners Memorial Brunner
The Miners Memorial to the 65 men & boys killed in the 1896 mine explosion

Brunner Coal Mine
The Grey River at Brunner

Rescue Party
With thanks to Nz Historic Plkaces Trust

Rescuers
With thanks to "NZ Historic Places Trust"

Mass Grave
With thanks to "NZ Historic Places Trust"

Brunner Coal Mine
The rennovated Brunner Suspension Bridge

Brunner Coal Mine
Blockwork on the Coke Ovens at Brunner Mine

Brunner Coal Mine
Coke Ovens at Brunner

Brunner Coal Mine
Coke Ovens at Brunner Mine

Brunner Coal Mine
A boarded up Mine Shaft