October 8,the Mayor Jabez Wright laid the foundation stone of a Municipal baths at the Central Reserve. The baths were opened on 10 December--' one afternoon per week reserved for ladies'. 1901-- Brass bands were in abundance and obviously performed well. Members of the Broken Hill Brass Band were voted the best instrumentalists of the Ballarat championship competitions in March. Bermingham's Brass Band had been renamed the City Band with John J. Bermingham as conductor. The A.M.A. band was active, as were the Salvation Army bands. The Pinnacles Brass Band, formed in 1900,gave its first public performance in May 1901. After having operated under makeshift conditions since 1890, a handsome, red brick Technical College was officially opened on May 1 by Hon. J. Perry, Minister of Public Instruction. May 24,the seconded mass disaster to occur at the South Mine took the lives of six men. Several men had been timbering up the ground on the 500 feet level-below the scene of the 1895 tragedy--near the boundary of the Central mine. Without warning, the whole stope collapsed with a mighty crash. Six men-John Prideaux, Henry Down, Edward Mason, Samuel Havelock, William Benneta and John Edwards-were immediately buried under tons of ore and Mullock. When another miner, John Smith, re-lit his candle, he could see that Bennetta and Edwards were only partly covered and were calling for help. As Smith, Oscar John Gawen and Samulal Thomas moved in to pull the victims out,a second fall filled the stope, completely burying Bennetta and Edwards. The Silver City Workingmen's Club was formed, and occupied a room at the corner of Iodide and Blende Streets. Music teachers in the township were up in arms at the number of pianolas being purchased by the people of Broken Hill. Further improvement were taken place in Argent Street with the construction by W.C. Davies of a large drapery store at the north-east corner of Argent Street and Oxide Streets. The site was originally occupied by J.R Saunders, then by Barnett Harris, followed by Davies & Jones. 1902-- Electric trams were installed underground at the Propriety Mine at the 650 feet level, with a view to gradually replacing horses for haulage work. The mine had 52 horses in use underground, which were lowered each day for an 8-hour shift. In the early years the horses were dragged into cages in rope nets and securely fastened; later they were trained to walk backwards into the compartments. When originally introduced around 1896,horses were believed to have been kept at the underground stables on the 500 feet level for a full week before being raised to the surface. There were harrowing stories of the animals becoming blind or taking lead fits because of this practice. Only the Proprietary Company and the South Mine used horses underground for truck haulage; the Propriety Company also used mules for surface transport. A new method of public transport came into operation in Broken Hill on February 15 1902 with the introduction of Government owned steam trams. On the mining scene, the Proprietary Company's had abolished night shift stoping. The first of a series of 'creeps' (subsidence occurred at three adjoining mines-Block 10, Block 11 (Proprietary), and the Central. October 8,Thomas Jorden and Leopold Campbell were buried under thousands of tons of mullock on the 400 feet level. Efforts to locate the bodies of the two men were unsuccessfull because of the extensive nature of the rochfall, and the danger of further collapse. The search was eventually abandoned, and the bodies were never recovered. 1903--of all the living areas in Broken Hill, Crystal Street was by far the worst. The street was low-lying and adjoined the mines. Boarding houses--labelled 'sweating evils' and ' hash houses' by the Barrier Miner of 12 February-lined the Street, and single men lived in primitive surroundings. Young girls worked 16 hours a day, then cut 'cribs' in unhygienic conditions for men working on night shift. Few dwellings could boast ownership of a bath. Men arriving from a day' work in the mines, begrimed with lead dust, would strip to the waist and sluiced themselves with a jug of water whilst standing at the back door. Sanitary pans and cesspits constantly overflowed and the effluent ran unchecked down Crystal Lane. One section of Crystal Street was named 'pneumonia row' and the ladies from the 'red light' area also played their part in spreading disease-so much so, that a special V.D. clinic was set up at the hospital. A timber and iron building was removed from the Technical College grounds and relocated at the corner of Pattern and Holesworth Streets, to become the East Broken Hill Primary School. Several brick kilns were established at the northern outskirts of the town and another in Rakow Street, opposite the Burke Ward School. A lad named William Botwell drowned in a dam at Sumpsion's brickyards, when a home made- boat tipped. CONTINUE |
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