Proposed Workers Remembrance Wall in Mount Isa
I was listening to local ABC News and I heard Mayor Joyce McCulloch speaking about a memorial in Mount Isa for all those miners who had lost their loves while working at Mount Isa Mines.
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I thought that she must have been reading "Letters to the Editor" in the North West Star back on 12 February 1998.
In that edition (see letter reprinted in full below), I proposed that a Remembrance Wall bearing the name of workers who had lost their lives in mine accidents be erected somewhere in the city of Mount Isa as a tribute to those who had made the ultimate contribution.
The only change I would make to my original letter is that the names of all employees who lost their lives on both underground and surface workings be displayed on the wall.
The other change I wish to make is that I would donate $500 if a fund was set up to make this wall a reality.
A Remembrance Wall would create a lasting legacy and be a worthy project to coincide with the centenary of the mine and the town in 1923.
John Moran,
Karumba
John Moran's original 1998 letter to the Star on the topic of the Remembrance Wall
As a former resident of Mount Isa for 43 years and an employee of Mount Isa Mines for 40 of those years, I would like to propose a project to mark this, the 75th year anniversary.
The creation of the great Isa Mine as we know it today as one of the best underground mines in the world has been achieved by, not only by some brilliant and innovative mine engineering, geological forecasting etc, but also by the human effort put in by many thousands of Mount Isans who "went down the mine every day" for those past 75 years.
Unfortunately many of those Mount Isans who "went down the mine every day" failed to return to their family or their home at the end of their shift.
Over the years, those who lost their lives working and helping to develop the great Isa Mine have been forgotten during the passage of time.
My suggestion is that an "Underground Workers Remembrance Wall", bearing the names of underground workers who have lost their lives in mine accidents, be erected somewhere in the city as a tribute to those who have made the ultimate contribution.
Some might see such a project as an inference at the safety measures implemented by the company over the years.
But not so.
Let us just show that we care to remember.
I would like to see the whole city (including the company, Council, service organisations. citizens, unions etc) get behind this project to make it a reality in this the 75th anniversary year.
If a fund is set up to enact this project, I would be willing to donate a $100 donation to such a fund.
Johnny Moran
Ex MICC Alderman and Sports Broadcast
Karumba
(Thursday February 12, 1998)
A little bit of history repeating
I have seen photos of the latest bushfires in the Blue Mountains region and other parts of New South Wales which are ablaze around the end of the year 2019.
The situation looks like what happens after an eruption from the Mauna Loa volcano.
It seems to me that Prime Minister Scott Morrison therefore didn't need a trip to Hawaii at all.
Grant Agnew,
Coopers Plains
