Modesto Varischetti

Modesto Varischetti (24 October 1874 – 3 September 1920) was an Italian miner who was trapped in a gold mine for nine days after a thunderstorm flooded it in March 1907. The 12-level mine was located at Bonnievale, near Coolgardie, Western Australia.[1]

Reconstruction of the rescue, Ecomuseo delle Miniere di Gorno.
Schematic of the mine, Ecomuseo delle Miniere di Gorno.

Biography

Varischetti was born in Gorno, in northern Italy, near Milan. The region was a well known mining area and he became a miner at age 13. He married his wife Maria and had five children, but like others in the poor region, he (along with two of his brothers) left Italy to earn better money in Australia.

Arriving in February 1900, he first worked in Clunes, Victoria. He traveled to Italy again, before returning in 1903 and being attracted to the Westralia & Eastern Extension Mine in Bonnievale.[2] While there, his wife died in 1905, compelling him to make a return trip to Italy a third time. By October 1906, he was back in Bonnievale.

The mine was located between two valleys, but there was little concern for flooding due to the extremely dry local conditions. However, an unusual thunderstorm on the afternoon of 19 March dumped a year's worth of rainfall in just a few hours.[2] Water soon funneled into the mine and all but one of the miners escaped.

Varischetti was trapped deep in the mine and survived by retreating into an air pocket until he was rescued.[2] Pumping and mine equipment were then able to slowly lower the water level. A diver, Frank Hughes, using a long air hose and deep-sea diving equipment, first reached Varischetti five days after the flooding and provided him with food, clothes, candles, messages, and letters of encouragement.[1] After nine days, the water level was finally low enough for Varischetti to walk to safety.

Herbert Hoover, who would later become President of the United States of America, was a mining engineer at nearby Kanowna and was involved in the mine rescue.[1]

After his rescue, Varischetti was briefly feted, recovered, and returned to mining.[2] He died 13 years later, at the age of 46, from fibrosis.[1][3] He is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery.

Legacy

Varischetti's grave is marked by a headstone erected in 1987 and is part of a heritage walk trail devised by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Cemetery Board.[4]

Australian folk group Cloudstreet tells Modesto Varischetti's story in a song.[5] The song's writer is unknown, and it was found in a booklet of songs entitled Moondyne Joe and other Sandgroper Ballads. It is based on an English folk song, "Down in the Coalmine".

Notes
  1. Stephens, Tony (5 May 2006). "A Great Survival". Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. The Entombed Miner | Forgotten Australia, retrieved 6 April 2022
  3. "Kalgoorlie Cemetery". www.ozburials.com. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  4. Thomson Tess, 2004, Kalgoorlie Cemetery Heritage Walk Trail, published by Kalgoorlie-Boulder Cemetery Board
  5. Video on YouTube

References
  • Austen, Tom (1986), The ENTOMBED MINER An account of the rescue of Modesto Varischetti in Bonnie Vale in 1907, St. George Books. ISBN 0-86778-027-4

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