Long before William Robert Black became one of Queensland’s wealthiest coal mine owners, he earned his living pushing a handcart loaded with coal through the streets of Brisbane.
Born on 3 March 1859 in Kildress, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Black arrived in Queensland aboard the Silver Light in May 1880, aged 21.
His first years in Australia were spent around Maryborough, working as a farm labourer, timber cutter and fencer. He later moved to Brisbane, where he found employment delivering coal for a merchant named Lindsay.
By 1885, Black was working for himself, replacing the handcart with a horse and dray. Business grew, and he expanded into transporting coal along the Brisbane and Bremer rivers, eventually operating six launches and 20 coal-carrying barges.
Black then made the move from transporting coal to producing it.
He purchased approximately 700 acres (283 hectares) of coal-bearing land at Bundamba, near Ipswich, where he established Blackheath Colliery. Investment in electric haulage and mining machinery helped lift production to 600 tonnes a day, setting a Queensland record.
Black later acquired Caledonian Colliery at Walloon, raising its daily output to 300 tonnes. His purchase of Abermain Colliery at North Ipswich required further investment, including £8,000 (roughly $1 million in today’s money) for a railway siding and £40,000 (roughly $5 million) for a new shaft and machinery.
While Black was introducing machinery into his operations, the industry remained physically demanding, with much of the underground work relying on miners cutting coal by hand and attending to wagons.
An account published in The Brisbane Courier on 11 January 1898 offered readers a glimpse of these conditions when a journalist accompanied Black and a mine manager underground.
As the three men prepared to descend in a cage, Black called to the engine driver:
“Living freight this time, my man, so go easy.”
The journalist admitted feeling nervous as the cage descended into the darkness. Once underground, the visitors travelled along passages, occasionally pressing themselves against the walls to allow loaded coal wagons to pass.
The noise of machinery and wagons made conversation difficult, while the heat was intense and the air seemed almost suffocating. Yet the miners appeared accustomed to the conditions, working in pairs, one hewing coal while the other attended to the wagons. Some even whistled familiar tunes as they worked.
When the reporter asked one miner whether he had difficulty breathing, the man laughed and replied:
“No, not in the least.”
For the visiting journalist, the conditions were confronting. For the men underground, it was just another day at work.
By the early twentieth century, Black had established himself in Queensland’s coal industry. Yet one of the most extraordinary events of his life occurred far from the coalfields.
On 31 March 1910, Black was aboard the passenger steamship Pericles, beginning what was reported to be a two-year tour of Europe, when the vessel struck an uncharted rock near Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia.
The ship was travelling in clear weather when the impact tore open its forward hull. Within minutes, water was flooding the vessel, and despite the crew’s efforts, it became apparent the Pericles could not be saved.
Captain Alexander Simpson ordered the evacuation. Passengers and crew boarded 14 lifeboats and made their way towards shore, where lighthouse staff had lit fires to guide them to a safe landing place.
All 461 people aboard survived the sinking, although the ship’s cat, Nelson, was lost. The rescue was an extraordinary escape for passengers who had expected to be continuing their journey to Europe.
In Queensland, Black was also becoming known for his charitable contributions. A devoted Presbyterian, he regarded his wealth as a responsibility and frequently encouraged others to contribute to projects he supported.
Education was a particular interest to him. In 1917, he helped establish Fairholme, a Presbyterian girls’ school in Toowoomba, followed by Scots College for boys at Warwick in 1919. He also served on the councils of Brisbane Boys’ College and Somerville House and assisted in founding Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland.
His donations also helped establish the Blackheath Home for Children at Oxley in 1923, another children’s home at Chelmer in 1927, and homes for older people in both suburbs in 1929.
One of his more unusual contributions was towards Brisbane’s Canberra Hotel, a project also associated with businessman and philanthropist George Marchant.
The Canberra officially opened on 20 July 1929 as an alcohol-free hotel established by the Queensland Prohibition League. It was intended to demonstrate that accommodation and hospitality could be provided without serving liquor.
Located on the corner of Ann and Edward streets, the seven-storey building later gained two additional floors. The hotel became particularly popular with visitors travelling from regional Queensland and was sometimes described as the city hotel for country people.
Black had retired from business in 1920, but his financial support for charitable organisations continued.
He never married and, following his death in Brisbane on 2 October 1930, aged 71, the remainder of his estate, valued for probate at nearly £180,000 (roughly $19 million in today’s money), was left in trust for the Presbyterian Church in Queensland after bequests to relatives.
Black was buried at Toowong Cemetery, where his black marble tombstone carries an inscription that offers a fitting reflection on his life:
The righteous showeth mercy and giveth.
| WANT TO LEARN MORE? For those interested in learning more about William Robert Black and Queensland’s early coal mining history, visit the Australian Dictionary of Biography, explore historical photographs through Picture Ipswich, Trove and the State Library of Queensland. Or go underground with William Robert Black and read The Brisbane Courier’s account, Our Industries: Coal Mining at Ipswich, Down in a Coal Mine, published on 11 January 1898. |
