On 31 July 1902 the Mt Kembla coal mine in New South Wales exploded, killing ninety-six men. It is the worst disaster to occur on land in Australia's history. The explosion took place during a time of social and industrial upheaval, when safety issues had become a bargaining point between management and miners. The New South Wales coal industry was slowly emerging from the 1890s depression, and the miners were testing their industrial strength in the Arbitration Court.

The Mt Kembla Disaster is a rich social history which traces the events, from the decades leading up to the blast, the frenetic rescue operation and mass funerals, through the series of acrimonious legal inquiries, to the divisive relief effort and the continued commemoration of the disaster by the community of Mt Kembla.

Stuart Piggin and Henry Lee examine the disaster within the broader context of the social, political and industrial systems in which it was set. They conclude that, contrary to the common view that such catastrophes can force positive change within these systems, the Mt Kembla disaster had little long-term effect. The local community compensated for this inertia with an intense internalisation of the trauma.