Pelaw Main, New South Wales facts for kids
Pelaw Main is a small town located a few kilometers southwest of Kurri Kurri. It is in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. This town started because of the coal mine (colliery) that had the same name. In 2011, about 1,027 people lived there.
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The Pelaw Main Coal Mine
Around the year 1900, a coal mining company called J & A Brown bought the rights to a planned coal mine. They soon changed its name to Pelaw Main. The Pelaw Main Coal Mine opened on December 28, 1900. It was the first mine to open in this area.
By 1901, miners had dug two tunnels into a very thick layer of coal. The company then built a railway line to connect the mine to the main railway. This new line was about one mile long and opened on November 17, 1901.
How Coal Was Transported
A special platform was built for passengers at Pelaw Main. However, passenger trains stopped running in 1932. This happened because the railway line was made smaller. Also, from 1918, coal from another mine was being moved using a different railway line called the Richmond Vale Railway.
By 1940, the original railway line was completely closed because the ground beneath it had sunk. This meant the Richmond Vale Railway became the main way to transport coal from Pelaw Main.
The Pelaw Main Coal Mine was very important and employed many people. By 1902, it had four places to load coal onto trains. These places could hold enough wagons for 4,000 tons of coal at one time.
The Richmond Vale Railway was later extended to connect to the main railway at Weston. This link was finished in 1936. This meant there was a backup route for coal trains if one line was blocked, for example, by floods.
Connecting Mines by Rail
In 1922, a direct railway line was built between Pelaw Main and Richmond Vale. Passenger trains used this line to take miners to and from their work shifts at each mine.
Sadly, on July 19, 1957, an explosion happened in the mine. One miner, Kenneth Roderick, died in this accident.
The Pelaw Main Coal Mine closed in 1962. This was because the coal industry was going through a difficult time.
Pelaw Main Today
Pelaw Main has not changed much since the coal mine closed. The number of people living there remains quite small. In 2006, there were 836 people.
The town used to have a small general store, but it has since closed. Most people now do their shopping in nearby Kurri Kurri.
Pelaw Main also has a primary school. It was first opened in 1903.
The railway line built in 1922 between Pelaw Main and Richmond Vale has been rebuilt by the Richmond Vale Railway Museum. Until 2017, it was used for special train rides for tourists. A bush fire damaged the line, but it is being repaired.
