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The blast ripped through the west coast mine. They knew that many would not have survived.
The next day, with the police cracking down on frantic friends and family, the first bodies were found.
Some of the scenes they found were gruesome.
Sixty-five men had died: husbands, fathers, sons, between the ages of 15 and 72.
The tragedy devastated Brunnerton, the coal mining town, and left 39 widows and 192 children.
John William Pattinson, father of eight children, died reading his Bible.
England-born Pattinson, a 36-year-old Salvationist from the Brunnerton Corps known for accompanying the singing of the young soldiers under his charge with his concertina, had been taking a moment during his shift break.
The charred book was found open on his knee.
Today, Pattinson’s Bible survived, preserved by his family, and is kept under special climate-controlled conditions at the Salvation Army Territorial Archives and Museum in Wellington.
His great-grandson Kevin “Dinghy” Pattinson, himself a fifth-generation West Coast miner, has gone to see the burned Bible.
“It’s really very special,” he says.
Dinghy Pattinson has supervised the re-entry into the Pike River mine, some 20 km from Brunner, to try to recover the 29 men who died after an underground explosion tore through the mine at 3.44pm on Friday, November 19, 2010.
He sees the cruel irony that 125 years later, John Pattinson’s great-grandson is leading recovery efforts from another mining disaster.
“That was one of the reasons I took on this role – my personal background, the history, the West Coast,” says Dinghy.
“You have to learn from disasters, and New Zealand has had quite a few, because if you don’t remember, you end up full circle and have future disasters with the same thing happening again.”
On Thursday, March 26, 1896, local miners entered the Brunner coal mine, in the Gray Valley, at 7.45 am to begin their shift.
The day was calm and pleasant after torrential rains and strong winds created disastrous flooding in the district.
A river flooding had caused gas to build up at the adjacent and unused Coal Pit Heath mine and the gas was forced into the Brunner mine.
And at 9:30 in the morning, the mine exploded. Everyone inside the mine died.
Later, a royal commission of inquiry concluded that the initial explosion was caused by a gunshot, gelignite in a tube that was set in motion to blow the coal into pieces, in the dust-heavy immersion section on the roads.
But those findings have often been questioned.
As the series of coal dust explosions intensified, they quickly swept away much of the operation.
Almost half of the mine’s workforce died.
Tomorrow at 9.20am, a service to commemorate the disaster, organized by the Gray District Council, will be held at the Brunner Memorial site near Greymouth. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Tamsin Evans, Deputy Executive Director of the Manatū Taonga Ministry of Culture and Heritage, said that in the wake of the disaster the country came together through national fundraising efforts to help provide financial relief to these families.
“Significantly, the disaster led to the introduction of new laws to improve access to compensation for workers or families affected by workplace accidents,” says Evans.
“Remembering events like the Brunner Mine disaster heightens our awareness of the moments in our collective history that have shaped modern New Zealand.”
Today, the Brunner Mine site is cared for by the Te Papa Atawhai Conservation Department, and is part of Tohu Whenua, a visitor program that connects places rich in historical or cultural significance.
And like many West Coast locals tomorrow, Dinghy Pattinson will pause to reflect on those who died 125 years ago.
“It’s history, it’s New Zealand, it’s the west coast … but it’s also personal to me because it’s my family,” he says.
