Bellbird Colliery : a history of the events leading to an ignition of inflammable gases during the attempted recovery of a district previously sealed because of a spontaneous heating.

Abstract

Bellbird Colliery is an extensively worked colliery about 3 miles to the South West of Cessnock in the South Maitland Coalfield. All the workings of the colliery are concentrated in the Greta Seam, which in this general area reaches its optimum development. The Greta seam in this area has, for some reason or other, also become particularly prone to the incidence of spontaneous combustion and Bellbird Colliery is well within the zone popularly known as the “ firebelt