By: Marilyn Bell26th Aug 2024 4:42PMMy grandmother was "a baby in arms," during the 1893 floods. However it wasn't until I started looking at Family History that her dad Robert Palmer was one of the guys who took on the wet and onerous task of retrieving the bodies. Robert had mostly daughters, most of whom raised their own families in the district. His family once lived at 21 Dudleigh Street, Booval.

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Memento of Eclipse Colliery Disaster at Tivoli, February 4 1893

Creator Details

TitleMemento of Eclipse Colliery Disaster at Tivoli, February 4 1893Date Created1893PhotographerBenjamin Hurst Taylor (1857-1916)Laura Jane Taylor (nee Harris) (1857- )StudioI.X.L. Studio

Location

SuburbTivoliCity & StateIpswich, QueenslandGeo Coordinatesnot specified

Description

DescriptionOne of Queensland’s worst mining disasters occurred in 1893 at the Tivoli Eclipse Colliery. Three cyclones crossed the coast of South East Queensland during February 1893, resulting in the flooding of the Bremer River on the 3rd, 13th, and 17th of February, inundating the city of Ipswich and surrounding areas. The first flooding event resulted in water entering into the Eclipse Colliery, drowning seven miners, including Thomas and George Wright, the sons of the mine’s owner, John Wright. With no mines rescue or recovery team in place, volunteers entered the mine to recover the bodies. It took several months to pump the water out of the tunnel and to clear the debris, before the seven miners were removed, with the last body, that of Thomas Wright, being removed on the 16th of May. All, with the exception of one, of the miners were married and along with six widows, they left behind twenty-five young children, who were supported by a widows and orphans fund, established soon after the disaster. The volunteers who worked for several months in the mine – Robert Miller, A. Nimmo, John Eadie, Charles Sollitt, David Campbell, John Stafford (manager), Robert Palmer, Andrew Howie, W. Fryer (mining inspector), P. McInally, J. Ainsworth, J.D. Campbell, and A. Muir – were each presented with addresses at an event held at the School of Arts on the 18th August 1893. The addresses were the work of D.F. Edward, of the I.X.L. Company – run by photographer Benjamin Taylor. References (offline)‘The Eclipse Colliery Disaster: The Seven Bodies Recovered, after a period of three months and twelve days’, Queensland Times, Thursday 18 May 1893, p.5‘The Eclipse Colliery Disaster: presentation to the rescue party’, Queensland Times, Saturday 19th August 1893, p. 5

Connections

BusinessesEclipse CollieryEvents1893 FloodsEclipse Colliery DisasterDefining Tulmur | Defining IpswichBoom & Bust: Mining

Subjects

SubjectsMine disasters Flooding

Asset Details

Reference IDqips-2018-09-18-0039Asset TypeImages - JpegImages, Maps and Artefacts (Trove mapping field)imageColour or Black & White ImageBlack & WhiteOrientationPortraitGenreEventAccidentsNatural DisastersPhysical DescriptionGlass PlateHigher Resolution Available (contact Picture Ipswich)YesCopyright NoticeThis work was created prior to the 1st January 1955. It has been identified as being free of known restrictions under the Copyright Act 1968.

You can use this work without asking permission.

Moral rights remain and the work MUST be correctly attributed to its creator (photographer, studio, author, etc.) with acknowledgement of Picture Ipswich as the source of the work.

If you require a higher resolution copy of this work, please contact Picture Ipswich.CopyrightPicture Ipswich Copyright Information

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Memento of Eclipse Colliery Disaster at Tivoli, February 4 1893

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Memento of Eclipse Colliery Disaster at Tivoli, February 4 1893