Work in progress
Previous | Contents | Next From Cliff’s notes ~ Ian. There was a large winch to haul skips of coal up the long underground drive — the tunnel that led to the coal face. A heavy, endless wire rope was used, which at the top and bottom of the drive ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next After Cliff was fired by the miserable WH on January 7th 1936 he moved back home to his parents and started his second stint at the mine. Once again this is partly in his words, partly in mine from his notes. ~ Ian Cliff was ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next These pages, which cover Cliff’s coal mining stories, are partly written by him, and partly by me, in the third person, based on his notes. His first job was at the Ackers mine, where he worked on at least three separate occasions, he said, as ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Notes to give context to Cliff’s coal mining stories ~Ian. Coal was discovered in Waro (North of Hikurangi) and Kamo (North of Whangarei) in the 1860s, and commercial mining began in the ’70s. Cliff’s father John, or Jack, was just one of several miners and ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next My birthplace and residence was 11 Seddon Street, Westhoughton in Lancashire, England, a short street of adjoining houses with two rooms up and two down. Typical “Coronation Street”. From the front door you stepped onto the footpath. From the back door you stepped into an ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Cliff was a bit short of seventeen and a half years old when he walked off his last farm job, moved back home and started the second of his two stints in the mine. Since he was working alongside his father, this will be a ... Read more
| Contents | Next | In 1931 Cliff left school, and home, for his first job a few days short of his 13th birthday. He learnt about life the hard way, working for — and living with — a variety of people from around the Hikurangi/Whangarei area of Northland. Mainly dairy farmers ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Some of the following is in the first person, written by Cliff, some in the third person, written by me based on his notes. ~ Ian § Walter and his wife were a lovely couple and a pleasure to work for. Their farm was south ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Jack and Maureen (not their real names ~Ian) had a poor gum-land farm, all sloping hillside except for a small area of rush-covered flat where their house was. It was a wet, bleak, inhospitable-looking place. The house contained only the bare essentials of furniture, but ... Read more
Previous | Contents | Next Charlie was a former bushman and Kauri gum digger, a very shy man, fairly tall and lean, with an impressive moustache. In a fit of recklessness he’d advertised for a wife, and struck gold. His wife was a pleasant, happy, outgoing person whose previous husband ... Read more