By Catherine Watson
EVERY now and then it takes an outsider to remind us what makes our town special.
That happened when Victorian Mining and Energy Union president Andy Smith visited Wonthaggi recently to launch a series of four short films produced by the union in partnership with the Wonthaggi and District Historical Society.
Looking around a packed room of about 70 people who had turned out on a cold winter's night for the launch at the Wonthaggi Museum, Mr Smith was impressed.
“I wish I could get a turnout like this,” he said wistfully. “I will be lucky to get half as many in Morwell.”
EVERY now and then it takes an outsider to remind us what makes our town special.
That happened when Victorian Mining and Energy Union president Andy Smith visited Wonthaggi recently to launch a series of four short films produced by the union in partnership with the Wonthaggi and District Historical Society.
Looking around a packed room of about 70 people who had turned out on a cold winter's night for the launch at the Wonthaggi Museum, Mr Smith was impressed.
“I wish I could get a turnout like this,” he said wistfully. “I will be lucky to get half as many in Morwell.”
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The Wonthaggi films form part of a national project documenting coal mining towns and the working-class communities that grew around them.
Mr Smith said Wonthaggi had exercised an influence far beyond its size. “Wonthaggi has a rich history of coal mining and an even richer history of unionism,” he said. |
You can see the short films at the Wonthaggi Museum on Saturday mornings. They will eventually be available on the Yesterday Stories website. |
“The Mining Union, under various names over the years, came with a fierce reputation and an unmatched ability to influence national labour standards from Victoria.”
He noted that Wonthaggi was once expected to dwindle away after mining ceased in 1968, but instead reinvented itself as a thriving town.
As coal-fired power generation gives way to renewable energy, communities in the Latrobe Valley now face many of the same challenges Wonthaggi confronted decades ago.
"I take heart from your town, which has not just survived but gone from strength to strength," Andy said.
“While we're still on the frontline fighting for a fairer and better country, it's those who went before us that continue to inspire us."
The four films focus on working conditions in the State Coal Mine, the 1939 mine disaster, which killed 13 miners, the community medical scheme and Wonthaggi's multicultural community.
They preserve first-hand accounts from people who helped to shape the town's identity, including well-known local identities Reg Wilson, Danny Carr, Sam Gatto and Irene Williams, along with the late Ella Andrighetto, whose memories have now been recorded for future generations.
Historian and writer Sam Gatto describes the remarkable support network created by the mining families who settled in Wonthaggi.
“The first thing the miners decided on was not the establishment of a union but the establishment of a medical benefit fund,” he says in the film, "and that it would be preferable if every miner joined this fund."
“That was quite a revolutionary thing."
He noted that Wonthaggi was once expected to dwindle away after mining ceased in 1968, but instead reinvented itself as a thriving town.
As coal-fired power generation gives way to renewable energy, communities in the Latrobe Valley now face many of the same challenges Wonthaggi confronted decades ago.
"I take heart from your town, which has not just survived but gone from strength to strength," Andy said.
“While we're still on the frontline fighting for a fairer and better country, it's those who went before us that continue to inspire us."
The four films focus on working conditions in the State Coal Mine, the 1939 mine disaster, which killed 13 miners, the community medical scheme and Wonthaggi's multicultural community.
They preserve first-hand accounts from people who helped to shape the town's identity, including well-known local identities Reg Wilson, Danny Carr, Sam Gatto and Irene Williams, along with the late Ella Andrighetto, whose memories have now been recorded for future generations.
Historian and writer Sam Gatto describes the remarkable support network created by the mining families who settled in Wonthaggi.
“The first thing the miners decided on was not the establishment of a union but the establishment of a medical benefit fund,” he says in the film, "and that it would be preferable if every miner joined this fund."
“That was quite a revolutionary thing."
“We went to the doctors, you didn’t pay anything,” recalls Reg Wilson. “You went to the dentist, you didn’t pay anything. You went to hospital, you didn’t pay anything. It was great.” |
The fund eventually led to the establishment of Wonthaggi Hospital. At the time, state governments did not build hospitals, but they agreed to construct one in Wonthaggi on the condition the community ran and staffed it without seeking additional funding.
Leo O’Connor, manager of the miners' dispensary where scripts were free. Irene Williams said she had assumed every town operated the same way.
“The doctor would just write in the script book and you took the book to the dispensary and they made up your ointment or your medicine or your tablets. It was free. You came out with whatever you needed.”
It was only when she left Wonthaggi to attend teachers’ college that she realised people elsewhere paid for doctor visits, dental care and medicines.
“We took it all for granted,” she said.
“The doctor would just write in the script book and you took the book to the dispensary and they made up your ointment or your medicine or your tablets. It was free. You came out with whatever you needed.”
It was only when she left Wonthaggi to attend teachers’ college that she realised people elsewhere paid for doctor visits, dental care and medicines.
“We took it all for granted,” she said.