After working in the British coal industry, he immigrated to Australia in 1969 and worked mostly on the NSW south coast at various underground mines. Under existing New South Wales legislation, Nowell was forced into retirement when he turned 60 and relocated to Queensland’s Bowen Basin to continue working underground in 2000. Other than his passion for mining, Nowell nurtures a love of all things equestrian and he is on the Australian National list of Showjumping course designers and judges.

ILN: What is your earliest mining memory?

BN: Working in the pit bottom area, clipping the empty skips to the endless haulage, which took the skips from the bottom of the coal-winding shaft to the skip loading point.

ILN: What made you choose mining as a career?

BN: Mining was a way of life in the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area of England we lived in. When I left school at 15 years I was playing soccer in an under 18 years team, and all my team mates worked in the mining industry and it was only natural to do the same. Wages in the mining industry was about twice that outside the industry so that was an attraction.

ILN: When was your first underground visit?

BN: January 1952 when I commenced work as a 15 year old in the mining industry at the Afreton mine run by the National Coal Board.

ILN: What was your favourite job in a coal mine?

BN: As a young newcomer to mining, transporting supplies with horses to the hand-got advancing longwall faces. Horses taught me about dealing with people. If you brought along handful of green grass or a carrot at the start of shift your horse would work well with you. It’s the same with people; if you treat them properly you will make a great team

ILN: What was your least favourite job?

BN: Also as a newcomer we got the job of greasing the rollers on the pit bottom endless-haulage system. The rope went for about 4 miles and you had to keep alert for skips clipped to the rope. Nobody was working within a mile of you at times.

ILN: Who, or what, has most influenced your mining career?

BN: Under the contract system that used to be in force during my formative years in the industry, if you did not do the job correctly you did not get paid for it until you did. This enforced to me that to do the job correctly first time is the safest and most efficient way to go.

ILN: What do you consider your best mining achievement?

BN: Getting world-class production tonnes per man-shift with the budget priced Coal Mill shearer (at a tenth of the cost) and second generation Fazos roof supports at the Clutha owned Brimstone Mine. We were achieving 10m advance on the face per nine hour shift.

ILN: What do you see as being the greatest mining development during your career.

BN: Possibly the humble Dowty prop. After all, today’s roof supports are only glorified dowty props. On our first mechanised longwall face the run of face supports were dowty props with a cabbage head and slide bar every metre. From those humble beginning the longwall chock evolved.

ILN: Do you hold any mining records?

BN: At Coalcliffe/Darkes Forest Mine we twice broke the World Record for daily production for a non-longwall mine during the Christmas bull week in 1979.

ILN: Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?

BN: Just to live as long as I want to and want to as long as I live.

ILN: What was your most embarrassing moment in a coal mine?

BN: Nothing comes to mind. Maybe I have just been lucky.

ILN: What was your scariest time in a coal mine?

BN: We had started mining an advancing longwall face in about a 1m seam which had a sandstone roof, and had travelled about 100m and not had a goaf fall. We were boring holes into the roof and firing cardox shells in them to encourage the goaf to fall. We heard the goaf starting to work so we bolted as best we could for the main gate. The supports were Dowty 2 leg and 3 leg supports. One of the 3 legs had a bent relay ram and this support was about 150mm behind the other supports. When we returned to the face this support legs had sheared and the canopy was speared about 0.5m into the coal face.

ILN: What is your worst memory of coal mining?

BN: Digging out the Miner Driver in a pillar lifting panel, knowing that the cable handler was dead under the fall we were working on to get the miner operator out.

ILN: Do you think that the day of the fully automated remotely operated face is near?

BN: It will happen, but labour will still be required when adverse conditions are met, and there will still be the longwall support tasks to be done.

ILN: What major improvements would you like to see on longwall operations?

BN: Continue working on dust suppression, especially in the BSL / Crusher area when any dust make goes onto the face line.

Brian’s son, Robert, has followed him into the mining industry. He started at the Brimstone mine in the late 1980’s and has held Shift U/M, Longwall and Development Co-ordinator positions at Kenmare, North Goonyella and Moranbah North mines. He presently works for himself and his present job is Project Manager for Mastermyne, driving development headings at the Kestrel mine.