Thirty years ago this October, John Hammond, Tony Evans and John Wiltshire spent 16 days living together underground to protest against BHP’s plan to axe 400 jobs at Kemira Colliery.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Along with 28 others involved in the now famous sit-in of 1982, the men were sacked on their first day down the mine, but the lasting contribution they made to coal mining industry pay and conditions is enshrined in stone.
The three men yesterday joined about 200 past and present Illawarra coalminers and their families at the opening of The Miners Tribute monument at Tarrawanna.
The memorial was developed by four retired miners to recognise the contribution of coal mining to the region since 1880.
The 1982 Kemira strike gained national and international attention and came to symbolise a nationwide coal and steel union struggle against ongoing retrenchments in the early 1980s.
While they were underground at Corrimal, thousands of protesters stormed Federal Parliament in Canberra calling for then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to protect their jobs.
Although he couldn’t save his own job, Mr Wiltshire - who still works in mining - is proud of his contribution to the sit-in.
‘‘I think it made a difference eventually. We didn’t probably get what we wanted, but it made a big difference to things like redundancy pays and conditions,’’ he said.
He has mostly fond memories of his 16 days underground.
‘‘One of the first things we did was build a table that all 30 of us could sit at, so everyone could eat together,’’ Mr Wiltshire said.
‘‘We had dartboards set up and card competitions on a daily basis and then Shane [Williams] would sing,’’ Mr Wiltshire said.