Truly The Land Down Under

Australian Coalmines

Cold Skin takes place in the 1940s, in a tiny town called Burruga. Nothing ever happens there except fights at the pub every Friday night. Then suddenly the town’s star girl Colleen O’Conner is found brutally murdered, left by the river to die. Every man becomes a suspect, and the main character Eddie Holding is caught in a whirlwind of confusion and anger as he and everyone else tries to find out who’s guilty.

Cold Skin by: Steven Herrick

The town Burruga only existed for one reason: The coal mines. Nearly every man who came home from fighting in World War Two worked in the coal mines. There were thousands of little towns much like Burruga that became ghost towns when all the coal had been mined.

All The Tiny Towns

CAUTION: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

Coal mining has gotten safer but in the 1940s the greatest dangers were:

• The constant danger of flooding

• Pitching seams• High levels of methane

gas• And working with a 10 or

20 ton piece of machinery under ground and in the dark was just asking for something to happen.

How They Came To BeThe first coal mined

was in April 1972 The first shipment

took place in 1980Some of the largest

coal mines today are in Anglesea, Beltana, Dawson, Broadmedows, and many more.

Quick FactsAustralia exports

75% of the coal it mines, most of it goes to eastern Asia.

In 2000 and 2001, 285.5 million tons of coal was mined, and 193.6 was exported.

Coal provides 85% of all the energy used in Australia

Why Not?Eddie’s dad, Albert

Holding, was a mad person, all the time. Before the went to war he worked in the coal mines, but after he was home he refused to work there and wouldn’t let his sons work there either. Eddie never really knew why.

I think he didn’t want them working there because after he came home from war, he blamed himself for not being allowed to fight on the front lines like the other men. He also realized how easy it really was for someone to die and when he yelled at Eddie for bringing up the mine it was because he really actually cared. He didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Trivia!!!

a) Old clothes from homeb) Special uniformsc) Deep sea diving suitsd) Nothing

What did the miners wear?

a) They put a flame in the mine and waited to see if it went out

b) They sent someone down there and waited to see if they died

c) They put a bird in the mine and waited to see if it died

d) They flipped a coin to see who went in first

How did people check for poisonous gases in coal mines?

a) Don’t slam the train cars togetherb) Don’t pile the coal up in the carc) Don’t stand on the tracks when a train

comesd) None of the above

What do the “DO NOT HUMP” signs on trains mean?

a) Renewable energy sourceb) Fossil Fuelc) Liquidd) Animal

Coal is a(n)…

a) January 1970b) April 1972c) May 1964d) April 1980

When was coal first mined in Australia?

a) Pitching Seamsb) Getting crushed by machineryc) Floodingd) All of the abovee) None of the above

What are the dangers of coal mining?

a) Dyingb) Lung Cancerc) Drowningd) All of the above

What are some of the health risks?

a) Not to go into a coal mine without putting a bird in first

b) That I could get cancer from spending long periods of time in a coal mine

c) Mining is not hazardous in any way, shape, or form

d) Nothing

What have you learned from all of this?