Name Of Mine On Which Last Employed
Triton GM, Reedy, Western Australia

Place Of Burial
Cue and Day Dawn Cemetery, Western Australia

Submitted by
David McMillan - Volunteer

District
Reedys/Cue

Cause of Death
Mine Accidents

Other Information
Mines Dept report:- Henrik Henriksen and Ezzio Guiseppe BOMBARDIERI were working at the bottom of the main shaft at the Triton Gold Mine with three other men. The shaft mullock was being· hoisted from the bottom of the shaft to the No. 6 Level. A full kibble was being hoisted, and, when about halfway between Nos. 10 and 11 Levels, the rope broke and the full kibble fell to the bottom of the shaft, striking and killing Henriksen and Bombardieri and injuring one other man. The other two men escaped uninjured. Investigations showed that a portion of the cast-iron sheave at the No. 6 Level had broken away. Some of the strands of the rope were cut where they struck the broken sheave and the weakened rope broke when it came off the sheave and struck the axle of the sheave wheel.

There was no evidence of neglect or carelessness and a test of the rope subsequently carried out in the Midland Junction Workshops showed that it was in good order.
- Source: http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Documents/About-Us-Careers/AnnualReport_1939.pdf

Mining in Australia used to be a dangerous occupation. It was only after World War Two, authorities started to take mine safety seriously. Before this mining accidents were nearly always viewed as accidental with no one at fault. As such, mining companies and mine managers saw little need to curb production for the sake of protecting their employee's lives. Many of the deaths on Western Australian goldfields were immigrants, with Italians particularly prominent.

The Triton gold mine was operational during the 1930s and had an appalling safety record. It generated virtually no criticism in the press, or actions by any authority. In 1929 Giovanni Zoneti was killed at the neighboring Emu North mine. In 1934 at the Triton Mine Henry Odell and Frederick Whitehouse were killed when they bored into an unexploded stick of gelignite. J. Borg was injured during the same incident. Italian Ezzio Bombarderi and Finn Henrick Henriksen in 1937 ( recording error) were killed when a skip loaded with 1 tonne of ore broke free and fell to the bottom of the shaft, and was crushed. A third miner received injuries, and the skip narrowly missed three Italian miners. Bombarderi had worked at the mine since 1935 and had returned to Italy to get married, bringing his wife back to Australia to start work again at the mine. In 1938, Charles McMullen and Richard Holman were killed by a fall of earth. James Millar received a broken leg from the same incident. Alexander Hall was killed at the mine in 1941, after falling into an ore skip bin as the stone was being poured into it.