Coal mine must be saved

In late 1910, the year the town of Wonthaggi was founded, my grandfather bought my grandmother and their family of three young children to the new township. 

Seven more children were born in Wonthaggi in the years ahead and my father was the eldest of those ten children. 

My grandfather worked in the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine as did my father for 43 years of his hard working life. 

I was born in Wonthaggi and my grandchildren are now fifth generation of the Brown family living in Bass Coast. Wonthaggi has a proud and important history in the story of the development of the State of Victoria. 

Founded as a State owned town with the State Government responsible for its development and the development of the State Coal Mine from day one, the town and the Mine has a long, proud and important history. 

For all of its life, the State Coal Mine was a dangerous place to work and the coal miners of Wonthaggi were instrumental in workplace reforms which today benefit all workers including the introduction of the 40 hour working week and holiday pay. 

The workforce was always unionised and heavily supported the Australian Labor Party. Against this background, I am amazed that the present Labor Government has let the renowned major tourist attraction, The State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi deteriorate to the point it has. 

The existing tourist attraction was the only genuine underground black coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere where people could be taken down the mine to see first-hand the difficult conditions the coal miners had to endure. 

Visitors were captivated with stories the volunteers would tell, including the vital role undertaken by pit ponies. 

The two most important aspects of the mine were the underground tours and the excellent café which is on the site and it’s a disgrace that both are now closed. 

This is a tourist attraction owned and operated by the Victorian State Government and I am amazed they have let it get to this. 

A recent public meeting drew in excess of 300 very concerned citizens who are understandably upset and have called on the State Government to re-open both the mine tours and the café as a matter of urgency and I support their call. 

This once wonderful tourist attraction unlike nearly all others in Victoria is not privately owned, it is owned by the State Government and it is their responsibility to adequately fund, maintain and operate. 

There is a wonderful Friends Group and they and their supporters conducted the underground tours at no cost to the Government prior to COVID closing the underground tours. 

This once wonderful tourist attraction has been starved of funds and it is time for the Government to step up, fund it properly and re-open it fully as soon as possible. 

The Government claims that some equipment needs upgrading and the cost estimate is less than $1 million. 

Prior to the November State Election, the State Government gave grants to three privately owned companies on Phillip Island totalling just on $7 million dollars. 

One of those companies received $5.2 million. 

Without question, if the Government can give over $5 Million to a private company on Phillip Island to promote tourism, they would be negligent if they won’t provide less than $1 million to re-re-open their own facility. 

The most authorative book written on the history of the State Coal Mine was The Wonthaggi Coalfields, a story of the men and the mines by Phillip Harper. 

His father was one of 13 men killed in the disastrous 20 Shaft explosion in 1937. 

His book accurately sets out the town history and the trials and tribulations faced by coal miners in the early days of the State Coal Mine and I commend it to anyone wishing to know the important history of the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine.

Hon Alan Brown, Wattle Bank