The 1887 Bulli Colliery explosion killed 81 men and boys. More than a century later, the case remains a sharp lesson in normalised deviation, gas control, worker voice and the danger of treating degraded safeguards as routine.

The Northparkes Mine air blast remains a major Australian mining case study. This analysis examines the event, the warning signs, failed controls and lessons for block-cave mining, geotechnical risk and emergency response.