Truly The Land Down Under

Cold Skin takes place in the 1940s, in a tiny town called Burruga. Nothing ever happens there except fights at the pub every Friday night. Then suddenly the town’s star girl Colleen O’Conner is found brutally murdered, left by the river to die. Every man becomes a suspect, and the main character Eddie Holding is caught in a whirlwind of confusion and anger as he and everyone else tries to find out who’s guilty.

The town Burruga only existed for one reason: The coal mines. Nearly every man who came home from fighting in World War Two worked in the coal mines. There were thousands of little towns much like Burruga that became ghost towns when all the coal had been mined.

Coal mining has gotten safer but in the 1940s the greatest dangers were: The constant danger of flooding Pitching seams High levels of methane gas And working with a 10 or 20 ton piece of machinery under ground and in the dark was just asking for something to happen.

The first coal mined was in April 1972 The first shipment took place in 1980 Some of the largest coal mines today are in Anglesea, Beltana, Dawson, Broadmedows, and many more.

Australia exports 75% of the coal it mines, most of it goes to eastern Asia. In 2000 and 2001, million tons of coal was mined, and was exported. Coal provides 85% of all the energy used in Australia

Eddie’s dad, Albert Holding, was a mad person, all the time. Before the went to war he worked in the coal mines, but after he was home he refused to work there and wouldn’t let his sons work there either. Eddie never really knew why. I think he didn’t want them working there because after he came home from war, he blamed himself for not being allowed to fight on the front lines like the other men. He also realized how easy it really was for someone to die and when he yelled at Eddie for bringing up the mine it was because he really actually cared. He didn’t want anything to happen to him.

a) Old clothes from home b) Special uniforms c) Deep sea diving suits d) Nothing

a) They put a flame in the mine and waited to see if it went out b) They sent someone down there and waited to see if they died c) They put a bird in the mine and waited to see if it died d) They flipped a coin to see who went in first

a) Don’t slam the train cars together b) Don’t pile the coal up in the car c) Don’t stand on the tracks when a train comes d) None of the above

a) Renewable energy source b) Fossil Fuel c) Liquid d) Animal

a) January 1970 b) April 1972 c) May 1964 d) April 1980

a) Pitching Seams b) Getting crushed by machinery c) Flooding d) All of the above e) None of the above

a) Dying b) Lung Cancer c) Drowning d) All of the above

a) Not to go into a coal mine without putting a bird in first b) That I could get cancer from spending long periods of time in a coal mine c) Mining is not hazardous in any way, shape, or form d) Nothing