This article is 16 years old. Images might not display.
Published in June 2009 Australian Longwall Magazine
High seam mining was not easy back in the day – in this picture miners use two ladders roped together to access the top of the seam.
In his memoirs in “Back at the Coal Face”, Tucker said safety had been a concern at the mine since an explosion in 1905 that killed six men and injured nine.
“In most pits there was an unwritten rule that fathers and sons and brothers didn’t work the same shifts. Sometimes neighbours didn’t work the same shifts. While it was bad enough one family member getting killed or injured, it was even worse if father and son or two brothers were killed or injured in a single incident.”
After one year Tucker was moved to No. 4 Flat area where he worked for six shillings (about 30c) a day as a “clipper”. While the pay wasn’t much, it soon turned to nothing when the Great Depression hit and he was thrown out of work.
Tucker did all sorts of odd jobs trying to make ends meet before he was called up for military training in World War II. He was posted to New Guinea where he spent more than 2.5 years.
When he returned he was able to find work once again in the mines at Stanford Merthyr before moving to Nebo Colliery where he worked for 17 years until
he retired.
