Deposit E165 - Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation, Edgar Ross collection

The Amalgamated Miners' Association of Australasia was formed through a merger of the Amalgamated Miners' Association of Victoria and several other miners' associations including New South Wales unions. The Hunter River District Coalminers' Mutual Protective Association (1860), the Illawarra Miners' Mutual Protective Association (1885), and Lithgow unions became branches of the union. The Barrier Miners' Association (formed in Broken Hill in 1884) became the Barrier Branch of the union in 1886. The union was succeeded by the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation in 1916.

In 1916 the Australasian Coal Miners' Association changed its name to the Australasian Coal & Shale Employees' Federation. It operated until 1990 when it amalgamated with the Federated Mining Mechanics' Association of Australasia to form the United Mineworkers' Federation of Australia. Further amalgamations resulted in the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union in 1993.

The Illawarra Colliery Employees' Association succeeded the Illawarra Coal Miners' Mutual Protective Association in 1901 and had lodges in Bellambi, Mount Pleasant, Mount Kembla, South Bulli, Woonoona, Corrimal, South Clifton, and Coledale. The Balmain Sinkers' Association (1901) was also identified as its Balmain Branch.

The union was officially registered on 17 July 1906 as the West Moreton District Miners' Union though it operated from at least 1902. It was succeeded by the Queensland Colliery Employees' Union which was registered on 5 November 1908.

The union was registered on 5 November 1908. It succeeded the West Moreton District Miners' Union which had at that time over twenty branches in the Ipswich and Rosewood areas. Its first Secretary was David Gledson who became a member of the Queensland government in 1915 and later Minister for Mines and Attorney-General. The QCEU became the Queensland District of the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation from its formation in 1916 but maintained its separate status until it became part of the Mining and Energy Division of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in 1992.

The Tasmanian Coal Miners' Association was formed in December 1912 with miners from the Cornwall and Mount Nicholas mines. At a meeting on 26 January 1913 at Cullenswood the union met with T Mathieson, president of the Victorian Coal Miners' Association and decided to join with the Victorian union. It became the Tasmanian Branch of the Australasian Coal Miners' Association in 1913 and then the Tasmanian District of the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation in 1916.