farmdoc's blog post number 176

During my work I’ve been down the Beaconsfield gold mine. I can’t recall if it was two or three times, but they were before Anzac Day 2006 when a rockfall killed miner Larry Knight, and trapped miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb for 321 hours. A week ago I finished reading Bad Ground: Inside the Beaconsfield Mine Rescue, by Age journalist Tony Wright, Russell and Webb. The story's riveting, and Wright – whom I suspect did most or all the writing – captures the tension of not only the trapped men and their families and rescuers, but also the tiny town suddenly thrust into the global media spotlight. It can’t be easy writing a non-fiction rescue book when all readers know the outcome before they start the first page. Wright et alii do it surprisingly well. Now I’ve read the book, I’m tempted to see Beaconsfield: A Musical in A-Flat Minor. Early last week when this show was announced, it caused such a sanctimonious outcry that last Wednesday the playwright Dan Illic changed its title to Beaconsfield: The Musical. Pity. The bleeding hearts need to lighten up. I’m with Jack Marx. Larry Knight's family – and everyone else – have the right to mourn him as they wish, but 2½ years after the event, their concomitant responsibility is to allow others to make of it what they will. Unless they do that, their self-imposed preciousness will prevent them honouring Knight's memory with the dignity and respect it deserves.