Wonthaggi Coal Miners Struggle for Decent Working Conditions
Working underground, especially in a coal mine, is one of the most dangerous, physical, filthy, dirty jobs one could imagine. Men had to often lie on their sides with their picks and work in confined spaces, whereas the NSW coal seams were 8 to 12 feet thick, making work somewhat easier. In Wonthaggi the coal was generally of a poor grade and the coal seams were narrow, meaning that physically mining it was very hard.
This significant collection of interviews of surviving miners and families were recorded in the 1980’s revealing the difficult time when wages and conditions were cut In response to depression, and as economic conditions improved, miners at the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine went on strike for a return to pre-depression wages.
After five months the Menzies government eventually succumbs to the Miners’ Federation’s demands and in so doing, helps to pave the way for the gradual nationwide restoration of conditions and wages lost during the years of the depression.
Those five month long strike and the life of the mining community are revealed in these interviews.
STRIKEBOUND directed by Richard Lowenstein is one of Australia’s most celebrated labour focused feature film, is a gritty and emotionally powerful film about the 1937 stay-in strike at the private Sunbeam Colliery in the Victorian township of Korumburra.
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