Publisher's black leatherette hardcover with silver titles to front panel and spine. Pictorial dust jacket.
xxiii + 502pp. Profusely illustrated with maps, plans, colour and black & white photographs.
Book and jacket in near fine condition.
'The story of Hlobane Colliery spanned a hundred years from 1898 to 1998, during which long period the mine played an important role in South Africa's economic history. In the first half of its existence, the mine was an important source of coal for railway locomotives, for steamships plying international trade networks, and for power stations generating electricity. In the latter half of its existence, Hlobane became an increasingly important source of straight coking coal for the iron and steel industry which lay at the heart of South Africa's industrial revolution.
Together with an historical overview, this lavishly illustrated story is structured thematically round mining methods and technology, safety, living conditions and social life, labour organisation, accommodation and resistance, and the interactions between human beings and the biophysical world from earliest times to the present.
The story is not only about a mine but also about a mountain carved out of the African landscape by the forces of uplift and erosion over a period of 190 million years, from the breakup of Gondwana to the present. The hard dolerite capping, reflected in the imposing cliffs ringing the summit, preserved the friable Karoo Supergroup formations, including the coal seams beneath it, which in time would make the mountain significant for South African industrialisation.
In the turbulent days of the Phongolo frontier in the 19th century, Hlobane mountain served as an outpost of the Zulu kingdom and was an important refuge for people and cattle alike. Linking Hlobane's pre-industrial and industrial past is the Anglo-Zulu War, one of the battles of which was fought on the summit and surrounding areas.
Ironically, mining, one of the most destructive of economic activities, has helped to preserve the summit and its important floral kingdoms from the destructive impact of overgrazing, so that today, the summit qualifies as a natural heritage site destined to form part of the Itala biosphere. Thus Hlobane mountain is acquiring a new significance in the international quest to preserve biodiversity and achieve the sustainable development of terrestrial ecosystems.' - editor's note
- Jacket Condition: Near Fine
- Binding Condition: Near Fine
- Overall Condition: Near Fine
- Size: 4to.
