In the summer of 1985, the Colliery Lands Park was opened in New Waterford on the site of the former No. 12 and No. 16 collieries. The park was officially opened on 21 July with an audience of more than 600 people present, and the Cape Breton Post reported that the resulting sentiment in the town “was one of pride, aggressively looking toward the future and cooperating to move ahead.” [1]
At the centre of the park stands the Miners’ Fatality Monument. This monument is composed of eight grey granite markers inscribed with a total of 307 names. Each name engraved on the granite markers is of a miner who lost his life in the New Waterford collieries. The list was compiled using a record book that is currently on display at the Miners’ Museum in Glace Bay, which includes all of the fatalities mentioned in the provincial Mines Reports. This number is, in some ways, conservative. The names of countless miners who died at young ages of workplace-related illnesses, such as black lung, are not included. A large mural depicting a day in the mine, including the death of a miner, stands between the fourth and fifth granite markers. Behind the markers are a series of flags, each representing a country that saw some of its citizens emigrate to find work in the Cape Breton coalfields.
The painted mural at the centre of the monument is a reproduction of a painting done by local artist Terry MacDonald. It presents a series of images depicting a day in the New Waterford coal mines, specifically at the No. 12 colliery as it would have appeared in 1935. [2]
At the centre of the park stands the Miners’ Fatality Monument. This monument is composed of eight grey granite markers inscribed with a total of 307 names. Each name engraved on the granite markers is of a miner who lost his life in the New Waterford collieries. The list was compiled using a record book that is currently on display at the Miners’ Museum in Glace Bay, which includes all of the fatalities mentioned in the provincial Mines Reports. This number is, in some ways, conservative. The names of countless miners who died at young ages of workplace-related illnesses, such as black lung, are not included. A large mural depicting a day in the mine, including the death of a miner, stands between the fourth and fifth granite markers. Behind the markers are a series of flags, each representing a country that saw some of its citizens emigrate to find work in the Cape Breton coalfields.
The painted mural at the centre of the monument is a reproduction of a painting done by local artist Terry MacDonald. It presents a series of images depicting a day in the New Waterford coal mines, specifically at the No. 12 colliery as it would have appeared in 1935. [2]
Immediately behind the mural and granite markers stand the modern national flags of Canada, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States of America. Men from each of these countries have perished in the New Waterford coal mines. These flags symbolize the wide range of ethnicities, experiences, and cultures that had come together in New Waterford to form a cohesive community.
Taken as a whole, the Miners’ Fatality Monument can be viewed as an attempted representation of workers’ experiences in New Waterford through the past century. The granite markers of inscribed names, flags, and the central mural all serve to memorialize both those who have died and those who have spent their lives working underground. Each name represents the life and death of a man employed in the New Waterford mines, an insight that is furthered by the images depicted on the central mural. Although these individual stories are not accessible on the face of the mural, they exist in the individual and familial recollections of the citizens of New Waterford and make up a large portion of the community’s conceptions of its own industrial past.
Footnotes
[1] Cape Breton Post, 22 July 1985.
[2] Cape Breton Post, 23 July 1985.
Taken as a whole, the Miners’ Fatality Monument can be viewed as an attempted representation of workers’ experiences in New Waterford through the past century. The granite markers of inscribed names, flags, and the central mural all serve to memorialize both those who have died and those who have spent their lives working underground. Each name represents the life and death of a man employed in the New Waterford mines, an insight that is furthered by the images depicted on the central mural. Although these individual stories are not accessible on the face of the mural, they exist in the individual and familial recollections of the citizens of New Waterford and make up a large portion of the community’s conceptions of its own industrial past.
Footnotes
[1] Cape Breton Post, 22 July 1985.
[2] Cape Breton Post, 23 July 1985.