Community effort to restore Helensburgh’s coal mining heritage

AFTER years of disrepair, Helensburgh Lions Club has come to the rescue of a local coal mining memorial at Charles Harper Park.

The ‘Miners Tribute’ is two ‘skips’ rescued from Helensburgh Metropolitan Colliery and displayed, as part of a Lions Club Project, as a memorial to those who have lived and worked in the industry since ‘black diamonds’ were discovered by Charles Harper in 1883. 

Helensburgh Lions treasurer Keith Hawkins said the ‘Miners Tribute’ was established in the park in April 1998.

“Sadly these skips had fallen into total disrepair and basically (were) a danger to the public,” he said.

Mr Hawkins said the Lions Club decided to take on the project to have the site “brought back to some sort of respectable state, as there is not much left in Helensburgh of any heritage significance”.

The club contacted Wollongong City Council to gain approval to restore the skips, and after 18 months, with the assistance from volunteers at the Helensburgh Men’s Shed, the kips, which were once hauled by ‘pit ponies’ have been restored.

Update: The skips have now been returned to Charles Harper Park and unveiled officially on 8th September 8 2023 as a valuable piece of Helensburgh history.

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