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 their families who’d emigrated from Lancashire in the 1920s to work in the Waro mines. They were a tight knit bunch even in my own childhood. As a little kid some of my earliest memories are of the Waro miners’ Lancashire accents, of Grandpa coming home from work in the afternoons, and of the bucket of coal — a perk of the job — that always stood by their fire place. There was an easy chair each side of the fire, then the dining table and a china cabinet opposite. The coal was black and shiny — and high quality, all agreed. I loved the warmth and sooty smell.
John worked at Waro until the Hikurangi mines closed down and then at Kamo. Kamo was closed down in 1955 due to flooding. Subsidence due to the old mine workings has been a concern in both towns since, and there was in fact a major incident in Kamo in about 1980.
Mining was a major industry that employed hundreds of men over the years. Among Cliff’s papers are several pages by Joe Isherwood, a Hikurangi miner, that include much detailed operational information. There were several mines scattered over various locations, some company owned, some run by individuals or or partners. Over the Depression years they were often short-lived and employed just a few workers, sometimes working cooperatively. Their names, and the names of the miners, appear throughout Joe’s narrative — the Royal Oak, the Shafts Mine, the Northern, the Silverdale, Wilsons, Kerr and Wyatts, Christies and the Fire Dip for example. The old pre-war generation reckoned that the best quality came from the Fire Dip. It was called Peacock Coal due to its variety of dark colours.
Generally the small mines operated for only a few months or years. One of the longer-lasting was opened and developed by the Ackers father and sons, who became Cliff’s in-laws when his sister Evelyn married into the family.
The Hikurangi Coal Company operated a tramline that connected the small mines together. The coal was loaded into wooden skips on wheels, which a very small locomotive pulled in a coupled-together “rake” of skips to be loaded onto railway wagons.
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As best he could remember in his 70s, Cliff got his first temporary job in the coal mines after he left Bob — the angry farmer with the short-stemmed pipes — probably in February 1934, aged 15. His father was always on the lookout for work for him as both his Mum and Dad liked having him home. These efforts weren’t always welcome as he hated having to leave a good farm job to work in the mine, but home he had to go.