Biography

Harkin was killed on the Number 5 Level of the Youanmi Gold Mine as a result of a premature explosion. Arthur Head, shift boss in charge of operations at the mine, visited the site where the two men were working. The deceased was employed on the mine as a machine miner and Donald Sherritt, a bogger. They were working in the No. 5 stope sub-level. Head noticed dynamite in four butts of the north face and instructed the two men to clean away the broken ore from the foot of this face and to blow out the butts so that they could be re-fired at knock off time (3.12 pm). He again visited the men at about 2 pm and on an inspection of the north face found it ready for re-charging, the four butts having been cleaned out. When checking over the plod cards at about 4.30 pm, he noticed that Harkin's and Sherritt's were missing, so he interviewed the platman, Francis Eifller, who told him that the two men would be late in firing out. After waiting a further 20 minutes, he again interviewed Eiffler who said that the two men were not on the plat. He then decided to go in search of them, and climbed the ladderway to the No. 6 level. He called out, received no answer but heard what he thought to be a man groaning and immediately went into the stope and found Sherritt, who appeared to be badly injured, lying on his back alongside an ore pass. After taking the necessary precautions to prevent him from falling down the pass, he went in search of Harkin and found him lying on his stomach, apparently dead near a pass at the bottom of a rise leading to the sub-level. He immediately gave the alarm and the men were conveyed to the surface.

At the inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mr Harkin at Mt. Magnet, Dr. F. H. Ebell gave formal medical evidence stating that Harkins received compound fractures of both legs, evisceration of the large intestine, multiple lacerations and shock and death was instantaneous. Sherritt received several fractured ribs and multiple lacerations and bruises and was for some days in a serious condition. Fully recovered and able to give evidence, Sherritt stated that he was employed on the mine as a bogger and had only been on the job for six weeks and had not had previous mining experience. During the day, he was employed bogging in the No. 6 stope sub-level with Harkins, who was a machine miner and who was boring for most of the day. At about 2.30 pm, Harkins began charging the face and did all the plugging and ramming. He, Sherritt, was standing away from him and was watching him prepare for firing and saw him light his burner and the next thing he remembered was the explosion.

After a short retirement, the jury brought in a verdict "that John Harkins came to his death on the 2nd day of February, 1939, at the No. 5 sub-level, No. 6 stope in Youanmi Gold Mine from injuries received in an accidental explosion of dynamite." They concluded that there was not "...sufficient evidence to show how the accident occurred or what caused such explosion." and added that no blame was attachable to any person.