Unveiling Shifts in the Visibility of the Chilean-Australian Relations since 1990

Abstract

Australia and Chile share an unusual record: two Australian miners trapped for 14 days in Tasmania in 2006 was the longest mining confinement in history until the accident involving 33 miners in the north of Chile who stayed underground for 69 days in 2010. The first machine for drilling a hole to rescue the Chilean miners was of Australian origin, a Strata 950. In a highly symbolic metaphor, technology, as one of the driving forces of progress, alludes to an asymmetrical representation of two mining countries: Australian technology provided Chile with the means to begin to save a group of Chilean workers in the most visible field of mutual cooperation. Nevertheless, the competing narrative of progress took shape in the form of a donation of a replica of the miners’ rescue capsule (Phoenix 2), designed by the Chilean Navy in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, which Australia exhibits in a square in front of the Australian National University in Canberra. The object symbolized a powerful story of national identity linked with progress, and unveiled the Chilean purpose of making its exceptionality visible worldwide in tangible ways.