The New Australasian No.2 Deep Lead Gold Mine, was a goldmine located in

Creswick Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the 2016 census, Creswick had a populati ...

, Victoria, Australia, that is now infamous for being Australia's worst below-ground gold mining disaster. At 4:45am, Tuesday 12 December 1882, 29 miners became trapped underground by flood waters that came from the flooded parallel-sunk No.1 mine shaft, only five men survived and made it to the surface. Despite two days of frantic pumping and with other equipment transported from the monitor ship HMVS ''Cerberus'', the waters filled the mine shaft. The trapped men scrawled last notes to their loved ones on billy cans before they drowned. Some of these have been kept and still bear the messages, one can, on display in the Creswick Museum says, "We are all happy". The men that perished left 18 widows and 75 dependent children.

Funerals and relief fund

The funerals took place on 15 December and the procession of 4,000 was about long between the mine and Creswick cemetery. Many of the victims were originally from

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

or of Cornish ancestry. Shortly after the accident £13,000 had been raised for the relief fund. In 1982, the

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assemb ...

John Cain John Cain may refer to: * John Cain (34th Premier of Victoria) (1882–1957), Australian politician *John Cain (41st Premier of Victoria) (1931–2019), Australian politician, son of the above *John Cain (lawyer), Victorian Government Solicitor (20 ...

unveiled The New Australasian No.2 Deep Lead Gold Mining Memorial, which relates the story on a plaque. The site is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

References

External links

* http://www.creswickmuseum.org.au/exhibitions/the-mining-room/australasian-mining-disaster/ {{coord, 37, 23, 42, S, 143, 52, 12, E, region:AU-VIC_type:landmark, display=title Mining disasters in Australia 1882 mining disasters 1882 in Australia Victorian Heritage Register Gold mining disasters December 1882 events Gold mining in Australia Mining in Victoria (Australia)