Mining Under Maitland Road Tighes Hill

From the Royal Commission;

It appears that No.2 south headings were commenced with the ulterior intention of working out a considerable area of coal owned by the company south of Tighe’s Terrace street, and probably, also, of anticipating some of the small colliery owners referred to in working the coal from under the Maitland Road in the direction of the bridge across that creek.

The colliery officials, on being interrogated on the point, affirmed that these bords, on reaching the western fence of the road, were stopped. Mr Inspector Dixon, however; suspected that these bords had crossed the road, and had been driven towards or under the creek, which here forms a sharp elbow, and sweeps under an escarpment of conglomerate.

On being called upon to do so, Mr. Mackenzie, Examiner of Coal-fields, produced a plan of older date than the one put into the hands of the Commission, in which the faces of the bords under review were shown to cross the road, and were stopped under the bed or channel of Tighe’s Creek.

Upon. this low-lying and flooded land, nearly opposite Bryant-street, and about 2 chains from the margin of the creek, a small colliery (now owned by Messrs Broughall. &Griffiths) has been sunk.

The depth of the shaft, is only 23 feet to the top of the coal-seam, and, like Ferndale, is entirely composed of fluviatile or estuarine deposits. Some bords worked from this colliery had been pushed under Tighe’s Creek towards Ferndale workings ; And one bord, shown on No. 1 plan, has reached within 10 or 11 yards of the advanced workings from the last-named colliery at the date of the inundation (18th -March, 1886).

The uncertainty that existed as to the correctness of the underground plans, and the terrible nature of the catastrophe that had occurred to the adjoining collieries, presumably acted as an incentive to the Government officials to serve notices upon Messrs. Broughall. & Griffiths to cease working.; and, although the Law Officers of the Crown, probably with reason, did not see their way clear to place an injunction on these gentlemen to cease working, the action taken has has the good effect of preventing any further work in the bords approaching Ferndale from being prosecuted.

Maitland Road Mining Tighes Hill