Strongman - The Tragedy

This award-winning docudrama mixes interviews, archival footage and drama to depict a tragic gas explosion at the Strongman coal mine in January 1967. Nineteen miners died at the West Coast site, and thanks to the quick actions of fellow workers most of the bodies were retrieved that same day. In this trailer, rescuer Mick O'Donnell describes his determination to find his brother in the mine, and families of miners recall hearing the news about fathers and husbands. First-time director Paula McTaggart's uncle Ronnie Gibb was the first rescuer to enter the mine after the explosion.

There was a Catholic priest and he wanted to speak to me alone. He asked me if I'd said my prayers, and I said no, I hadn't, so we said some prayers and then he told me, and I called him a lying bastard. That's something I'll never forget. Childhood was over, really.

– The son of a miner killed at Strongman remembers how he heard the news

Key Cast & Crew

Simon Coldrick

Post-Production Director, Editor

Paula McTaggart

Director - Documentary, Producer, Story

Gaylene Preston

Director - Dramatic Sequences, Writer, Executive Producer

Matthew J Saville

As: Carleton Syme

Paul Gittins

As: JK Patterson

John Sumner

As: Mr Taylor