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From Hill 60 to Home: The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company
From Hill 60 to Home: The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company “The hidden war beneath the Western Front - and the families who carried its shadow.”
Beneath the mud and trenches of the First World War, Australian tunnellers fought a war few have ever heard about - digging in silence, laying mines, and enduring gas attacks in the suffocating dark. This podcast series follows the story of the journey from the tunnels of Hill 60 to the kitchen tables of Depression-era Australia. It is a story not only of soldiers, but of wives, children, and communities who bore the long shadow of war across generations.
This is not just military history. It is the story of endurance, memory, and the cost of freedom - told through one family, and the Company that shaped them.
Producer & Host: Dr Paul Watters. A production of Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd.
This podcast is supported by the Department of Veterans' Affairs through the Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants Program.
From Hill 60 to Home: The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company
Episode 0 - Beneath the Western Front: The Tunnellers’ War Begins
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At dawn on 7 June 1917, the earth beneath Messines Ridge exploded, tearing the landscape apart and signalling one of the most dramatic victories of the First World War. This episode begins with that moment and descends into the hidden world that made it possible: the underground war fought by tunnellers beneath the Western Front.
This prologue introduces the origins of mining warfare, explaining how trench stalemate forced both sides to dig beneath no-man’s-land in a deadly contest of listening, counter-mining, and massive underground explosions. It traces the rapid creation of specialised tunnelling companies within the British Army, their offensive, defensive, and counter-mining roles, and the engineering ingenuity that turned civilian mining skills into weapons of war.
The episode then focuses on Australia’s unique contribution. Drawing on the nation’s goldfields and coal mines, the Australian Mining Corps was raised and later divided into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Australian Tunnelling Companies. These men - miners, mechanics, carpenters, and engineers - were deployed to some of the most dangerous sectors of the front, including Ypres, Hill 60, Vimy Ridge, and Messines, where their work proved decisive but came at enormous personal cost.
Beyond the tactical achievements, the episode explores who the tunnellers were, how they lived and worked underground, and the constant dangers they faced: cave-ins, enemy explosions, gas, flooding, exhaustion, and close-quarters combat in the dark. It also reflects on the long-term consequences of this hidden war, including illness, delayed deaths, and a legacy that remained largely unknown for decades.
Finally, the episode sets the stage for the series ahead. Having established the broader history and significance of tunnelling warfare, it introduces the personal story that will guide the narrative forward: that of Alphonsus (Albert) Joseph Edwards of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company. Episode 2 will follow his journey from civilian life in Australia into the depths of the Western Front, and into a war fought beneath the war itself.
Producer & Host: Dr Paul Watters. A production of Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd.
This podcast is supported by the Department of Veterans' Affairs through the Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants Program.