Mt Kembla History

Mount Kembla occupies a prominent place in the history of mining in New South Wales (NSW) due to its tumultuous past including the infamous 1902 explosion that killed 96 people.

Mount Kembla is located approximately 11 kilometres west of Wollongong and extends to Farmborough Heights in the south, Figtree to the east, and Mount Keira to the north. Mount Kembla was spotted by Captain James Cook in 1770, who described it as “a round hill, the top of which looked like the crown of a hat.” [1] The initial name of Mount Kembla thus became Hat Hill, as recorded by Matthew Flinders in 1796. By 1834 however the town was being referred to as Mount Kembla, which is evidenced by a map of the Illawarra created at the time by the surveyor H.F.White. [2] 

The first land grant in the Kembla district was 300 acres in 1817 to George Molle, and from the 1840s, additional land was granted or auctioned off. The original settlement expanded during the 1850s, and in 1858 the Church of England established the first church at Mount Kembla. The first school, Violet Hill (later renamed Mount Kembla), opened in 1859 which was followed by further development.

Mount Kembla is noted as being the home of the first kerosene mine in Australia. This mine was located near American Creek on land owned by John Graham, who remained one of the proprietors once mining operations commenced in 1865. The oil produced at the mine was of such exceptional quality that it won prizes at the Melbourne Inter-Colonial Exhibition in 1866-67, and at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1868. The company became known as Graham’s Pioneer Kerosene Oil Works, which was sold to the Mount Kembla Coal and Kerosene Company in 1874. The oil mine closed down in 1880 due to the kerosene no longer being economical to mine and the company also ceased operations.

The economic downfall of kerosene had the flip-side of demonstrating the financial viability of mining coal in its place. A new company was formed to do just that and the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company commenced operations in 1880. The Annual Report of the NSW Department of Mines in 1880 lists 36 employees at the Mount Kembla mine. [3]  By 1882 there were approximately 60 men who worked at the mine. The mining operations grew to encompass 800 acres of land, with an extra 500 acres being leased for a period of 99 years. In 1882 the mining company installed a railway link from Mount Kembla to Port Kembla, and in 1883 a jetty was established at Port Kembla to facilitate the shipment of coal. By 1883 the mine was producing 1,000 tonnes of coal per week from the Bulli seam. [4]  Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company opened a second mine in 1887 but this mine was closed in 1890 because it was uneconomical. By 1901 there were 336 men employed at the Mount Kembla mine. [5] 

The Southern Coal Company was formed in 1888 to extract coal from the southern slope of Mount Kembla. In 1896 however the company announced that their mine at Mount Kembla would close due to the inferior quality of the coal, and by 1897 mining operations had ceased. [6] 

In 1888 it was first proposed to mine coal that was located north of the Mount Kembla pit, which would allow easier access to the rail-line along Brandy and Water Creek. Nonetheless it was not until 1954 that a tunnel and rail access were finally put in place to transport coal produced at Mount Kembla and at the nearby Corrimal Colliery.

On the 31st of July 1902, there was a gas explosion at the Mount Kembla mine, which tragically killed 94 men and boys who were employed at the mine and two men from the rescuing party. There was a Royal Commission conducted into the origin of the explosion which determined that it was caused by the igniting of gas in the mine by the naked flames used as torches by the miners. The deaths were caused by the initial gas explosion and by the following coal dust explosions.

In 1887 the Mount Kembla Coal Mining Company had taken action against a miner who was found to be using an unlocked safety lamp in a gassy section of the mine, following on from the Bulli explosion. [7]  The Mount Kembla Mining Heritage Festival is held each year to commemorate the disaster.

Despite the enormity of the disaster, the Mount Kembla mine continued operations and was taken over by Mount Kembla Collieries in 1913. This ownership continued through to 1946 when BHP became the owners. Also in 1946 the Nebo mine was established above the former shale workings at Mount Kembla.

In 1950 the Mount Keira and Mount Kembla mines were joined by an underground tunnel. Kemira Colliery was thus established, which incorporated both mines. 

The Mount Kembla mine was closed in September 1970, after having produced 14 million tonnes of coal in 90 years. [8]   The Kemira Colliery remained open and in 1983 was the site of a two-week sit in following the retrenchment of 189 workers. 

A new mine called Dendrobium, which is owned by BHP Billiton, was established in 2002 at Mount Kembla. Dendrobium was the first mine to be built on the southern coalfields in more than 20 years. The mine commenced longwall operations in 2005 and currently produces exceptional quality coking coal. Dendrobium has a production capacity of more than five million tonnes of coal per year. [9] 

The town of Mount Kembla today retains many original nineteenth century miners’ homes and other historic buildings. The peak of Mount Kembla is home to a flora and fauna reserve and the mountain is used for various recreational activities. The ring track at the summit of the mountain incorporates the entrance to a mine that operated from 1887-90, the old cemetery and miner’s huts.

A Select Bibliography