Spotswood Sewer Disaster
Good Friday, 12 April, 1895

The construction of the original Melbourne Sewerage System during the 1890s was probably the largest civil engineering project undertaken in Victoria last century and provided Melbourne with a state of the art sewerage system of which many components are still faithfully serving us today.

In late 1892 construction of an underground sewerage system for the city commenced, with the final design consisting of a network of gravitational sewers bringing sewage collected throughout the city to a central pumping station at Spotswood, where it was pumped to a treatment farm at Werribee on the western shores of Port Phillip Bay .

The main sewers were constructed by tunnelling and represented the most challenging aspects of the whole construction work.

Ground conditions encountered varied from solid basalt rock requiring blasting, to soft beds of sand, clay and ancient rotting vegetation. Amongst the most treacherous ground was the sections under the river and across the water-logged flats of Fishermens Bend and Port Melbourne.

Before beginning the tricky task of tunnelling under the (Yarra) River, the contractor, A.T. Robb & Co., imported a special tunnelling shield from England . Known as a Gateshead shield, it followed the basic design developed by the famous British engineer J.H. Gateshead during his work on the City and South London Railway Tunnel beneath the Thames in 1890. This was leading-edge technology of the day and the Melbourne Sewerage System was the first project on which it was used in Australia .

The tunnelling shield consisted of a riveted wrought-iron cylinder 3.4 metres in diameter and 2.5 metres long. On the front edge of the cylinder a sharp steel lip was attached, designed to cut into the sediment as the shield moved forward.

Because the tunnel was below river level, the ground through which it was being driven was permanently water-logged. This meant that pumps were required to continuously drain water seeping into the workings.

After driving the tunnel forward 120 metres from the shaft the water flow became so heavy that an airlock was constructed in the tunnel. This consisted of two 1.5 metre thick brick walls set 4.5 metres apart. In the centre of each wall was a strong iron door with a small square window of thick glass providing a spy hole. Compressed air piped from the surface was used to increase the pressure in the forward section of the tunnel beyond the air lock. All workers and materials entering the working section and spoil trucks being removed had to pass through the air lock.

The Accident

At 8 pm on the evening of Good Friday, 12 April 1895 , water burst into the tunnel near the leading edge of the tunnelling shield. It quickly swamped the workings, drowning five men from the nightshift, and an engineer, who were all in the tunnel at the time.

At the point where the accident occurred, the tunnel had almost reached the centre of the river, with the working face being some 140 metres from the shaft. Here the thickness of ground between the top of the tunnelling shield and the riverbed was as little as 3.3 metres.

The Workers

The workers killed in the accident were all local residents.

James Bourke, the shift foreman, was a single man of 24 years in age, however, we provided the sole means of support for an ageing and almost blind father. The other workers were Joseph Jackson, a young unmarried man; Thomas Johnson of Yarraville, 21 years of age, who was also unmarried but provided the sole income to support an elderly mother; Martin Gabriel, a married Italian man of about 45 years of age leaving a wife and child; and William Foster, also a married man, with six children.

The sixth man killed was Mr John Buchanan, the contractor's resident engineer, who had been supervising the tunnelling operations. Born in Glasgow , he was 38 years of age and a widower, leaving a single son of seven.

Inscription on the monument erected in honour and memory of the six workers who died in the collapse of the sewer tunnel beneath the Yarra River at Spotswood on Good Friday, 12 April, 1895:

Tribute to Workers

Who built Thebes of the seven gates?

In the books you will find the names of kings.

Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?

And Babylon , so many times demolished,

Who raised it up so many times?.....

Bertolt Brecht, 'Questions From a Worker Who Reads'

This monument was erected by friends of labour to mark the tragic events of Good Friday 1895 when six construction workers died here in Spotswood in the collapse of the sewer tunnel under the Yarra. The tunnel is an essential part of the metropolitan sewerage scheme which so greatly improved the health and quality of life of Melbourne . The real builders of our cities are all too often forgotten. This monument is to honour the six who gave their lives to improve the civilisation of our city.

They were:
- John Buchanan 38 years married with one child
- James Bourke 24 years married with children
- William Foster 30 years married with six children
- Martin Gabriel 35 years married with one child
- Joseph Jackson 24 years single
- Tom Johnson 21 years sole support of his widowed mother 

Unveiled by the Hon Barry Jones - Member for Lalor, President ALP
In company with
Martin Kingham - Secretary, Construction & General Division, CFMEU
18-10-96

Supported by Labour Historical Graves Committee