Transport to the mine has changed as technology has improved and distances have increased. Convict miners walked from the barracks to the mines, where they were lowered down the mineshaft by bucket. They stayed a week in the mine. As the depth of the mine increased the lowering mechanism became more sophisticated, with cages used like elevators to lower men into the ground. 

Modern day underground miners are taken to the pit bottom by a diesel transport car or similar device.

As the mines spread westward miners required new modes of transport to reach them. Workers took horse-drawn buggies and trains to get to the pit. Horses and trains were superseded as motorcycles and cars became affordable and the roads improved.