A memorial service was held on Friday afternoon to mark 132 years since an explosion at the Old Bulli Mine resulted in the death of 81 men and boys.
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The events of that day on March 23, 1887 were remembered at Saint Augustine's Anglican Church, Bulli followed by a wreath laying at the memorial monument.
Organised by Black Diamond Heritage Centre president Kerrie Anne Christian the service included her interviewing memorial restoration committee chair Allan Potter about his family's history at the mine and how he worked there as a cadet on another tragic day in 1965 when four people were killed.
They said a booklet about the explosion and its profound effect on the Wollongong community has been reprinted with funding from the Miners' Trust and CFMEU.
The memorial service was held on Friday instead of Saturday so local school children could attend and read out the names of all the men and boys who died in what was at the time Australia's worst industrial disaster. The event was only surprassed by the Mount Kembla Mine Disaster that claimed the lives of 96 men and boys in 1902.
Other students participated in the wreath laying ceremony.
Bulli parish rector Leigh Roberts read a passage from Psalm 32 that was included in the Sunday service held three days before the mine explosion in 1887.
Keira MP Ryan Park took some time out of the last day of state election campaigning to say, especially to Bulli primary and high school students present, that we should never forget the sacrifice the 81 men and boys at Bulli made on that tragic day. As well as the dedication miners of today to the industry that helped make many other lives better.
"I never forget the risks those men and women make even today," he said.
"Yes the safety standards have improved but we as a community must never forget what happened here and at Mount Kembla".
Mr Park said the safety of men and women who work in the mine industry every day was something that must be maintained vigilantly.
The Lamplighters Choir performed three songs and the presence of Kath Connolly, of Durham, was acknowledged. She is involved in the establishment of a memorial for thousands of miners killed on the job in England and wanted to see what had been done in Bulli during a holiday to Australia.
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