Oakleigh Colliery

Rosewood History

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld), Wednesday, 4 April 1951, page 7

_________________________________________________________

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.), Friday, 1 June 1951, page 4

SUBSIDENCE AT ROSEWOOD A witness in the Mining Warden’s Court yesterday told Mr. C. Innes, Acting Warden that mining operations had caused subsidences in the Rosewood district. The Court was hearing an application by George Henry Rule and Robert Inglis Rule, trading as Oaklelgh Collieries for a lease to mine coal on Perry’s Knob.

The applicants were represented by Mr. P. B. Fallu (Messrs. Dale and Fallu).

Raymond George Auld, manager and secretary of the Oakleigh Colliery, said the workings would be at least 130ft. under buildings owned by John William Evans. He said he was prepared to leave a solid block of coal under Evans’s buildings, and, if necessary, reserve an area of one acre around his house and buildings.

Replying to Mr. Evans, witness said the works were 60 to 70 ft. deep near H. W. Harding’s cowballs. He admitted there was subsidence where there had been total extraction, but said no damage had been done.

John William Evans, in evidence, asked that an area of three acres of coal be left in a block surrounding his house and buildings. He said there had been subsidence in the district where there were mines. He had seen a subsidence in Harding’s cowyard, and the concrete had cracked. He claimed that land in that locality must be shifting, because he could see more of Rosewood over the hill than he used to see. He said there had been several slips during the last rain. Acres of land had slipped where there were no mines underneath.

Mr. Innes recommended the application for approval.

_____________________________________________________________

Tribune (SA edition, published in Sydney ), Wednesday 5 July 1961, page 2

STAY DOWN IN QLD.

BRISBANE: Fighting against four dismissals, 17 miners at Oakleigh colliery, Rosewood, stayed underground from Monday of last week until Saturday morning.

“You have shown how to fight against dismissals and for your mates’ jobs,” the Queensland Miners’ Union State president (Mr. T. M. Millar) told them when they came to the surface on Saturday morning, to be met there by their wives and children.

The men had come up on the recommendation of the Union’s State Executive, the members of which had held a meeting with the men earlier on Saturday morning and told them that the case was to go before the Coal Reference Board.

In their stay down, the miners had the invaluable backing of womenfolk of the West Moreton Auxiliary, as well as of surface workers.

“We were fed like fighting cocks,” the Oakleigh chairman (Mr. Len Smith) told the meeting at the surface.

Throughout their stay down, they had been provided with three meals a day, plus smokes and suppers, by the Auxiliary members and surface workers. They had been supplied also with cards, reading material, and so on. They had slept on the mine’s main rubber belting.

Just beginning
The Union’s State Executive members who went to Oakleigh on Saturday morning were Messrs. Millar (president), Vickers (secretary), and James (vice-president and treasurer). They were accompanied by check inspectors R. Murphy and C. Murphy.

Addressing the surface meeting, Mr. Millar said that the struggle for jobs was just beginning. The stay down strike had demonstrated workers’ fighting spirit in this struggle.

Speaking in response to the tributes to the work of Auxiliary members, the Auxiliary’s secretary (Mrs. D. Murphy) said that the aim of the Auxiliary was to enable womenfolk to play their part alongside the men, and she appealed to more women to join the Auxiliary and take part in its activities.