Media Release

KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter has thrown his full support behind plans to construct a memorial to honour miners who lost their lives in Mount Isa’s mines, ahead of the city’s 100th anniversary celebrations in 2023.

The Katter’s Australian Party MP said the project’s proponent, John Moran (a former Foley Shield radio commentator) had come up with a marvellous idea.

“Personally, I think the memorial should be a 20 or 30 foot high monument, made of bronze to commemorate the hundreds of us who have died down the mines in North-West Queensland, but it will be up to the people of Mount Isa past and present,” Mr Katter said.

“When people say my Party has a close affiliation with the mining division of the CFMEU, they are correct. Before we formed the unions, 72 human-beings vanished in the space of about 10 seconds at Mt Mulligan. Following that tragedy proper laws were created and enforced due to the formation of the union.

“I worked in the mines myself in Mount Isa so I am well aware of the grave dangers. I too was in a hairy situation working in the lead smelter. It’s intrinsically a dangerous occupation.”

Mr Katter said the monument should also be a tribute to the many prospectors who died in the North-West Queensland region.

“I prospected with Bob Fowler on many occasions, and he perished while prospecting. So this memorial should recognise people like him also,” he said.

“Before World War II, nine out of 10 people had come to Australia for the gold rush. That’s the people Australians are; we are aspirational and we take risks. Those great people need to be commemorated.

“It’s been a hard fight. The old Labor movement were the miners; the new Labor movement is anti-mining. The old Labor movement was formed by Red Ted Theodore after the third time in his life he was sent down a dangerous mine and multiple people died. They called a stop work meeting and out of that came the old Labor movement. That movement still exists in the CFMEU, but is under attack from ‘Lilly-pad Lefties’ in the ALP and LNP who are anti-mining.”

Mr Katter said he didn’t believe there would be any difficulty raising the money required for this monument, but it was critical that Mount Isa residents past and present had the final say and not engineers and bureaucrats from Brisbane and Canberra.
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