New jobs for old ??

[dazb]

Quote; BBC News;
“Out-of-work miners in northern England are being offered the chance to work in New Zealand.” 15-02-05.


Well this is it, my lastest chance
To get to learn that Maori dance.
Swap Flora Light for Anchor Butter
If I miss this chance I’d be a nutter.
New Zealand wants a Yorkshire miner
In full belief there’s nothing finer.
Twenty five they want now straight away
Even officials at the end of the day.
Desperation in downside uppermost
Interviewing in haste to fill the post.
Experienced miners for inverted seams
Where rips are dints and roofs are floors,
................ or so it seems.

[John]

I wonder why they don't advertise in New South Wales, there's loads of colliers there thats out of work

[Ragger]

Waltzing Miners.

Australia also wants our men,
In Oaky Creek, Queensland; ye ken.
Bowen Basin is one of the places,
Oaky No. 1, with million ton faces.

Here Waltzing Matilda is often sang,
But you may come home like a boomerang.
Not much charm for us down under,
Hope moving there is not a blunder?

Not that good for the fairer sex,
Cause Aussies think more of their 4XXXX.
Personally I don’t know what to do,
Don’t fancy fighting a kangaroo.

Those crocodiles I would surely hate,
They may frequent a wet supply gate.
But lets look on the brighter side,
Those coal seams are very wide.

Not much time spent on your knees,
Bound to miss the pigeon crees.
Give it a go, what the hell,
I can always give my pals a bell.

I think I’d probably miss the beer,
It’s far superior over here.
Maybe I’ll try that surfing lark,
But maybe not; I’m allergic to shark.

Just sitting by the bill-a-bong,
Supping whisky; can’t go wrong.
So Australia, here I come,
Need to spend less time on my bum.

[dazb]

Well, a good question there John, I couldn't answer it with any semblence of authority, but I might be able to provide a few indicators gleaned from observations made in the distant past;
1) The fact that nearly every NSW coal miner's car carried a sticker which asked...."Would the last person to leave New Zealand please turn the light off"
2) Quite a few of the NSW miners were there having either been to NZ or were there as direct emmigrants.
3) The NZ rate of income tax was a major joke to the NSW miners who I believe told me that even with comparitivley low wages the IT was about 40% in NZ.
4) The majority of NSW miners believed that Tooheys was rationed in NZ and that the black market rate was AU$ 15 a can.
5) Where in the world could NSW miners find easier got coal to mine for a living.
6) On a more serious note perhaps is the fact that I believe sometime in the late 1970's there was a similar drive for miners in NZ, a mate of mine uprooted from the UK and got there in time to find that the mine had closed or at least been put into mothballs, a load of moths aren't that bad to accept but the load of ----s used to get him there wasn't all that clever. So perhaps the question long term employment security is thought of as some sort of deterrent.
7) The New Zealand ladies are possibly thought of as being closer to the English Puritanical, lace making, hand knitted swimwear wearing, non surfing, alcohol abstaining, bingo playing, non combatant types as opposed to their NSW Newcastle equivalents. Note this observation would only relate to any unmarried NSW miner having been given the opportunity of emmigration to New Zealand and in no way is it intended to portray my own opinion of any ladies of either country in the Downside Uppermost World of Antipodesian orientation, whereas my personal thoughts on the female varieties of the Tasmanian lady miners differs dramatically.

[dazb]

Hey Ragger, some good and valid points in this great obsevational poem, I well remember the Oaky Creek's first shearer being designed and put together in Motherwell, the excitement of a mate who went with it and the uprooting of his family to follow him there, his descriptions of isolation and loss of social life always reminded me of the original colonial 49iners, he did however apparently find it worthwhile and stuck it out as far as I know.
I reckon that you are dead right with the Castlemain 4X rubbish but that kangaroo hoppity jobalong boxing thing wants some beating as does the wombat wrestling and red bellied black snake strangling contests.
Not really sure about the Bill a Bong business either, I reckon the use of hemp in any form other than a rope should be banned. (in the Southern Hemisphere anyway).
Now the whisky supping and the sitting on one's bum might well be the road to go, rather than half way round the world to start all over again.

[Ragger]

Aye Daz, on the Bum is better than the knees even if the pays not as good.

Saw the advert for Oaky Creek in the paper today. I suppose it's nice to be wanted by someone. An old mate of mine went to Aussie some years back, spent most of his time sheep farming in the middle of nowhere. He came back home and went to the pit.
Another bloke told me he went across on the assited package; lasted two weeks and came back.
It's a big step as many know.