'On 19 March 1907 Modesto Varischetti was trapped by water in a mine shaft at Bonnievale, near Coolgardie. Nine days later he was rescued. Tom Austen's book tells the story of the mine being flooded by heavy rain, of how Varischetti was trapped, how he responded to his ordeal, and the efforts to rescue him...It tells us much about the history of the times. Varischetti's ordeal was part of the story of the relations between the Italians and the "Aussies" on the Western Australian goldfields. Varischetti's stoicism and heroism were an answer to the malice of the "Aussies" against the "bloody foreigners".' (Source: Manning Clark, Foreword, St George Books, First Edition, 1986)
