Eastern Goldfields Miners Memorial at the WA Museum in Kalgoorlie WA
William Leslie SPINKS
Age at Death28
Date Of Death23 October 1940 : Reg 31/1940 Boulder
Place Of BirthWoonona, New South Wales
OccupationMachine Miner
Daily News, Thursday 24 October 1940, page 8
Eastern Goldfields Miners Memorial at the WA Museum in Kalgoorlie WA - Photo Paul Doust
Boulder Cemetery, Boulder, Western Australia - Photo Find a Grave
Name Of Mine On Which Last Employed
Lake View South Limited, Western Australia
Diagnosis or cause of accident
Killed by a fall of rock at the Lake View South Limited gold mine.
Place Of Burial
Boulder Cemetery, Boulder, Western Australia
Submitted by
Admin
MSW
Single
Cause of Death
Mine Accidents
Father
Walter Leslie SPINKS
Mother
Ivy Adelaide CALDWELL
Other Information
An article in "The West Australian" dated Thursday 24th October 1940 reads:
CRUSHED UNDER ROCK - Miner Killed at Boulder
KALGOORLIE - Oct 23 - Crushed beneath a five-ton slab of rock, William Spinks (28), machine miner, of Moran Street, Boulder, was killed instantly while working on the 300ft level of the Lake View South Ltd gold mine today. His workmate, John Kennedy, had a miraculous escape, for although he was standing only a few yards away, the rock just grazed him and inflicted slight abrasions to a leg.
Spinks and Kennedy were working in a shrink stope on the west lode above the 300ft level of the Lake View South, which is under the direction of Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie Ltd. They had been scaling down preparatory to rigging their machine and it appears that Spinks was holding the lamp for Kennedy. Without warning a large slab of rock directly above Spinks came away and he was crushed and shockingly injured. So massive was the rock - it was 14ft long, 4ft wide and a foot thick - that it had to be lifted with jacks before Spinks could be extricated.
This was not the first time Spinks had been involved in an accident caused by a fall of rock for last December when working on the Oroya South he received a fractured skull and bruised ankle which resulted in his losing several months work.
