Revolving Door

A tiled corridor inside Awaba Colliery runs to a pair of double doors fitted with security grates. The doors stand partially open. Push signs remain fixed to the frames. On the right wall, a white sign carries a column of printed text. A mop and bucket are visible through the gap beyond the threshold. Moisture has marked the concrete floor, and faint light catches the surface just short of the doors.

Awaba State Coal Mine began development in 1947. The NSW Government had reserved 8,500 acres in the Awaba district for state mining operations, gazetted on 2 June 1947. Premier James McGirr formally opened the mine on 14 July 1948. The mine was operated initially by the State Coal Mines Control Board and, from March 1950, by its statutory successor, the State Mines Control Authority.

The mine was a drift operation, driven into the hillside by an inclined decline rather than a vertical shaft, which meant no headframe was ever present on the surface. Primary extraction targeted the Great Northern Seam using bord-and-pillar methods with continuous miners; the Fassifern Seam was also mined. Surface infrastructure included administration offices, workshops, a bathhouse, a lamp room, and a coal handling and crushing plant.

Ownership passed through successive operators over the mine's life. The Electricity Commission of New South Wales assumed control on 1 July 1973, managing day-to-day operations through its subsidiary Elcom Collieries Pty Ltd. The mine was later consolidated under PowerCoal Pty Ltd before passing to Centennial Coal Company Ltd in August 2002 for $331 million as part of a broader NSW government divestment. Centennial itself was acquired by Thai group Banpu Public Company Ltd in 2011.

The mine was renamed from Awaba State Coal Mine to Awaba Colliery in 1994. Mining ceased in March 2012 when the Great Northern Seam was exhausted, after a total production of over 35 million tonnes across sixty-five years. The last shift ran on 23 December 2011. This photograph was made in 2015.