So, this is where it all began.
My career in Southern Cross spanned three years - 1993 to 1995. In 1993 I went there for my work experience placement. At university that was a requirement of completing fourth year, getting three months work for a company relevant to the disciplines we were studying. Being that my degree was in Geological Engineering, well that had anything at all to do with dirt and rocks. Actually as I think I have mentioned before, that's why I chose this degree, because in the handbook we received in Y12, it had about the longest list of options for potential career choices.
It's funny looking back now - the way I found holiday work experience employment, knowing that WA was a solid source of mining opportunities, was to go to the General Post Office in Melbourne. We're talking mid-1993 here. In one part of the post office was a room where they had EVERY single Yellow Pages from across Australia. We're talking hundreds of the fuckers. So there was I, pen and paper in hand, scrolling through the Western Australia Yellow Pages from just about everywhere, writing down addresses of mining companies I could write to in order to ask for work experience. My memory fails me when it comes to how many letters from such origins I sent, but I believe it was 20-30. And of course, one never knew if one's applications ever actually reached their destination. I reckon I only got 2 replies. One was a thanks but no thanks, and the other was from RYGOL - Reynolds Yilgarn Gold Operations, based in Southern Cross, a shitty town about 2 hours Perthward from Kalgoorlie (so about 4.5 hours from Perth itself). They, on the other hand, said YES!
So there I was, at the end of my third year at uni, studying Geological Engineering at RMIT in Melbourne, embarking on an odyssey to the goldfields of W.A. I don't remember a whole lot about getting there, or who paid, but I expect it was RYGOL. I do know I flew into Perth and then took a bus to SX on a Sunday. I arrived in the camp in town late in the afternoon, got shown my room and had a meal at the mess. Ah the mess. Up until that point, I was pretty buff. I exercised a whole lot at uni, in fact Clint and I were gym junkies in Y1 and Y2. Y3 when I moved out from my cousin's place and with Nat in Mooroolbark, well it was just too hard to get into uni early enough to gym with the boys. So I guess by then I was already not 100% trim, taut and terrific! But this summer in Southern Cross, OMG. I drank so much piss it wasn't funny. Plus this was my first introduction to a mining camp. And this mining camp was very unusual in that they provided THREE hot meals per day. And yes, after three years of living like a pauper in my student digs, I partook. Big time. Bacon and eggs for brekkie. And if you didn't have time, butter toasted sandwiches. Hot lunch, every day, and multiple courses. Full dinner, including steak, chips, you name it. And of course beer, lots of beer.
I actually wrote a note to myself in one of my draft "career" posts that it needs to be more about the work and less about the war stories. The truth is though, that it needs to be about both. Yes there are times where the work was more and the life less, but frankly, it's more interesting when it's the whole story. And SX as we'll call it from here on in, was one heck of an introduction to me.
So in those days, SX was a town of about 900 people. Now it's more like 600. That's partially to do with the town kind of dying off, with not so much mining going on anymore and partially to do with FIFO/DIDO. In my day, there was no such thing. You came to work. You want to get out of town? Take annual leave mofo. Yep, and while you're there you're still in a basic mining donga (single persons quarters), and yes not earning a fortune like today. In those days, you were happy to have a job and you were prepared to move to the bush to get it. But in all honesty, I was on the back end of that, and within another 10 years, it was FIFO-baby, wherever you were.
SX was a shit town. In the year I was there, there was a murder and two suicides. Drug use was rampant, everyone was on the piss, and it was frankly depressing. Not that I felt that way at the time - hey I was having the time of my life. I had NEVER had so much money, I was working in my chosen field and I was in a professional team, developing an underground gold mine. A little about the environment first. The next three photos are of the three pubs in town....
Yep, the Railway, the Club and the Palace. The management usually went to the Palace, and frankly the only time I went there was on my second, post-grad stint, when we were all mulling over what to do regarding the Sons of Gwalia takeover (the first one for me - I had two in my career. Not just takeovers (had many of those) but two SOGs takeovers!). The club to my memory was a bit of a cliquey pub and I didn't feel so comfortable there But the Railway, well that was my second home. The pommy folk running it were a lovely couple, and for a bit of history - that's where I got my ear pierced, all those years ago! If anyone is wondering why I only singled out the town's three pubs for mention, well that's because there was pretty much nothing else in this place apart from a supermarket and a petrol station!
I don't seem to remember any skimpies in SX, although no doubt there were a few from time to time. Skimpies, for those who don't know, are scantily-clad barmaids. Generally one just enjoyed the view, but there were those who did tricks, like flipping $2 coins off their boobs and such. Or pouring shots from their nipples, stuff like that. Stuff that would get the PC Police up in arms today! But back then, it was part of life. If you didn't like it, don't go. The girls made good money. I get that you could see it as exploitation, but it was free choice. Yeah maybe not always, but generally the world was an easier place to live in back then. Now, every fucker gets offended by every thing.
Anyway, we'll talk more about the pubs and booze later on. For now, let's talk about the RYGOL camp. This was going to be my home for some time, both over the 93/94 summer and then from late 94 into mid 95, apart from a short stint in Marvel Loch (another RYGOL gold mine 30km up the road). The two photos below show what it was like, both outside and inside my little room.
I don't actually remember if I had my own bathroom or not back then. But in all honesty, I think I did, because later in life, whenever faced with the prospect of using shared ablutions, I was horrified! You can see that it is a pretty simple setup. I like that I can recognise most of the photos shown in this pic. I can identify a couple of text books too, how very nerdish of me back then.
I don't remember his name, but I was welcomed by the cook when I got there in late 1993. He was a big guy, with a curly mustache, and was very "camp". That's something I encountered a number of times in mining camps in W.A., more frequently that one normally would. I wonder why that is? Anyway, when I got there it was 40+ degrees and they had no power. So my room was an absolute hot box, unbearable to stay inside. A couple of old-timers smoking outside their rooms casually suggested a stroll to the pub to pick up some beer. So I did, and introduced myself to Emu Export, one of the most horrible brews I have ever tasted. OMG it was foul. But in those days there was very little choice in the west. When VB arrived a couple of years later it was a big thing. So the local Gold, Export and a couple of others was pretty much it. I generally opted for Swan Draft at the pub and Emu Bitter for takeaway, which was an ok drop.
As for work, well it was pretty cool. I was employed by a man called John McDougall, but didn't have a lot to do with him on site. I was mainly responsible to the geologists, Greg Hope and Janine Rea, as well as the UG Manager, Peter Tynan. I hung out with the surveyors and geotechnicians, which was essentially the role I had. Most of the time I was doing either survey work or sampling underground, digitising data in the office (drill logs I think) or logging km's and km's of diamond drill core. It was all fairly mundane work, and frankly I probably didn't pick up many skills that I used again in the future, but it was a good start, and eventually led to my first full-time job directly out of uni, back at the same place, in October 1994. But here in the first SX stint, it was geotech' work, purely at the Transvaal Decline.
Transvaal was an underground gold mine, accessed by way of a decline (basically a tunnel that is a ramp, so it winds its way deeper), owned by RYGOL and run by a contractor called Nash Brothers. I had been UG before, on a field trip to the Pasmico mine in Broken Hill, in second year at uni (93), but that was hardly a taste for working in an active mine. We had a few shift bosses, but the only one I remember was Nifty. He probably saved my life actually, as one morning I had turned up very much still under the weather. These days, you'd be breathalysed, and sent home if you blew numbers. Then, you were given a kick in the pants and told to get to work. So I did my sampling and then decided to go find a nice quiet corner to have a nap in. I went up a level and found a drive that was empty, walked in a ways and had a kip. Nifty, being a good shift boss, somehow figured out I wasn't where I should have been pretty quickly (very surprising in hindsight as there were a number of working areas, but perhaps he was mindful of my inexperience) and found me. He scolded me and pointed out that there was no ventilation in this drive, and that had I stayed there too long, I would have slowly suffocated without even realising it. Wow, that was scary. I didn't do anything like that again! Well, I did do a few more drunken stunts, but not at work. I have a hazy memory of myself and a colleague serenading the Railway's barmaid from the bonnet of a work ute one evening. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not proud of these deeds, but they happened, and were part of my formative years. Plus as I mentioned before, the culture was different back then.
So this was one of the work utes. Dime a dozen really, although to me at the time, very cool, and this was the vehicle I got my license in. Choosing SX as the place to get it was cunning of me, as there was only one stop sign in town, no lights, and the tiniest of little hills! I actually got my L's and P's on the same day, one after the other. Prior to that, one of the survey crew, Carl, helped teach me how to drive a manual, and also to parallel park. I will never forget him in fits as I tried to get between two drums he had set up and managed to hit them both. Sadly, I have never mastered this skill yet...
The photo above was taken on my last stint UG in early 94, before coming back to Melbourne to finish uni. The boys thought it was prudent that my last exit from the mine should be via the emergency exit shaft, rather than in (relative) comfort in a car up the decline. There were about 25 levels to climb up, mostly on shitty old ladders. It was one heck of an experience though and I am glad I did it.
Dave the intrepid miner! Not that I ever operated a jumbo, but I hung off the side of one once...
And below horsing around with one of the surveyors.
More tomfoolery, this time in front of the decline portal. The rock bolts in the face above are a common feature, just to make doubly sure that part of the wall never fails. The ute these boys are driving is a 100 Series Landcruiser. A Toyota like the Hilux, but a lot tougher and frankly an awesome vehicle. One of those would be my work vehicle everywhere until I cracked superintendent level a few years later.
The next two photos are of Greg the geologist, and the survey boys, Carl and sorry-can't-remember. The other two surveyors, Justin and Craig, I never got any pics of for some reason, which is sad, as I had some great times with them. It's a good memory to see the old UG change room - you never went UG in your clothes as you would always get filthy, so it was overalls all the way.
Apart from drinking copious amounts, I loved the repartee with particularly Justin, he had a great sense of humour. I went to the Big Day Out in January 1994 with him and Craig, and we had a huge day. That's a live music event with multiple stages. I think it was in Fremantle. All I know is that after a long day of drinking and burgers, we essentially walked 25km back to Justin's parents place. We did get a cab eventually, but after several hours of walking. OMG I was sober by then I can tell you! But it was a cracking experience, and in fact my one and only music festival.
Another weekend experience in the west that summer was Christmas. My cousin Carmen was living in Perth with her partner Joe at the time, both musos, and I was invited to spend the day with them. I took the bus, Carmen picked me up, and we spent the next two days drinking, eating and being merry. They had some other friends over, and it was a good time. I don't remember a whole lot other than that it happened, but there you go. Carmen is a good person and someone I would like to ensure I stay in touch with. She welcomed me into her home for a family Christmas, and for that I am grateful.
The next photo is the coreyard at SX. I spent a whole lot of time here, and logged heaps of core. I don't remember any of it being particularly spectacular, but there were some decent intersections. Apart from logging it, I also cut it and sampled it, so the whole gambit really. I think towards the end, some of the digitising I was doing was for sections that came out of this drilling, so I really was involved in the whole process. Those barrels may well have been the very same ones involved in my parallel parking practice...
This last photo was an incident that occurred towards the end of my stint too. A bogger was backfilling a stope and went over the side. Luckily the stope was only 20m deep, and because there was already some rill there, it was not a catastrophic result - as in the operator came out unscathed. Frigging lucky though. In hindsight, it wasn't the most safe of operations I have worked in, and I have never worked UG again.
There was another incident that occurred during this time, again one that could have easily resulted in my death. One of my jobs, as I always went into a face to sample straight after a blast, so we could quickly turn the results around and map out the face for mining (between ore and waste), involved me prying down loose rock on the backs (roof) of the tunnel (drive) at the blast area. One day I was doing just that, finished my work, then sampled and left. A good way to tell if the backs were solid was to tap your pry bar (huge crow bar really) on the rock. If it rang like a bell it was solid, if it was loose it would sound hollow. To me it all sounded fine, but then again I was a noob. Anyway, I passed Nifty on the way out as I left to wait for a ride at the decline (about 150m away). A few minutes later I could see a light bobbing up and down hastily, approaching from the end of the drive. Nifty came out, out of breath and flustered, and demanded to know why I hadn't told him of the roof collapse. I was in shock! It had been fine, when I was there five minutes before, underneath it. About 20m of drive came down, several thousand tonnes. I am amazed I didn't hear it, but UG mines are bloody loud places in areas where there are vehicles, vent bags, and equipment. Whichever way you look at it, I escaped death by a matter of a few minutes.
The last memory I have of the work experience era was of Lindsay Farley and Stretch, two RMIT geos who were also with Reynolds, but at Marvel Loch, the mine up the road. I was in contact with them and they organised a trip to Perth for a weekend to watch Australia play South Africa in one-day cricket on Jan 16 '94. We went down in Lindsay's convertible, a nice red sports car. We got there on the Saturday and then went out with his mates in Perth. I don't remember a whole lot except for Gobbles, the classic old 80's and 90's nightclub in Perth. We had a hell of a night and didn't sleep at all, staying out until stumps and then going for breakfast before going to the match at the WACA. Gobbles had closed down by the time I became a regular in Perth a few years later, but the site and the sign outside, persisted for many, many years after. In fact when I was living in Perth last, in 2004, it was still there, albeit in a decrepit state. I wonder if it's still there today? Following that night we went to the cricket and spent the whole day in the sun drinking light beer. Be it the sun or the beer or the night before, and possibly all three together, I was in a sorry state by the end of it. But it was a memorable weekend!
So all the above referenced my time in SX on work experience during the summer of 93/94. When I went back to uni, I actually did my design project - the major 4th year industry report we had to do - on the development of a new UG operation in SX, close to Transvaal. I got some advice from a lecturer, Dan O'Toole, and that impressed John McDougall, who came to Melbourne to talk to me, and then offered me fulltime employment post-graduation. At the time I finished my exams, I immediately left town and flew to Perth, on the bus again to SX. But this time I had my girlfriend at the time, Lucette, with me. She was a year younger and actually got my old work experience job, which was really convenient. The only downer was me - I was very emotionally immature in those days, and struggled with a pretty girlfriend (my first ever serious one) in a male dominated environment.
It also didn't help that at the time, the company was in the throes of a takeover. By the time I left in May 1995, Sons of Gwalia (SOG) had taken over, and I didn't feel very secure (which was probably just because I was taking my emotional energy from the older guys around me). Anyway, in the 8 months I was there second time around, I only really remember doing one thing of note - a full geotechnical study of the Mercury Pit. Mercury was an open cut mine close to Transvaal, and one of two pits there, the other being South Polaris. Mercury was borderline financially, and the company wanted to know if the design could be a bit more aggressive, in order to improve the strip ratio (the number of tonnes of waste one had to remove per tonne of ore in the pit). Alas I don't have any of my work from those days, but below is an example of a pit design, showing the orebody running through it. You can see that some walls are steeper than others, which is common where structure is more dominant or unfavourable in certain orientations.
What I actually did was spend a couple of weeks mapping the pit, taking note of the location and frequency of all the various joint sets, faults and other geological features I could find. I then loaded that into a program called Dips, which allowed me to analyse this data, figuring out what the optimum bench height and berm width would be for each point of the compass in this area. Below is a Dips screenshot, again not my data, but showed you the kind of work I did.
From there I wrote a report and produced a new pit design, which was more aggressive and did capture more gold and/or less waste. It was received favourably and I think generally I was seen as a decent young engineer there. My boss was a bit of a nutter. Gary Mills I think his name was, not sure now. He had a fellow called David Hughes with him a lot of the time, associated with the takeover I believe. It's fair to say though, that I never felt settled there.
The mining industry is in constant flux and people change all the time. But I was amazed that in less than 9 months since I left my work experience, almost ALL of the people I had worked with were gone. Justin was the only one still there, and he now had a partner - the gorgeous barmaid from the pub we had serenaded back in the day, and as I was in the same boat, we didn't go do the boy things we had only a year before. To my detriment I have to say. I also had my dog with me - Diesel - and Justin was good enough to let her live with him in his house. Diesel was a prick in terms of behaviour, which is entirely my fault. I was not good with her, and have generally been poor with dogs since. I hope being a dad has helped me to learn patience and to always lead with a loving heart, because back then I most certainly did not. Anyway, it's a long time ago now, and whilst I probably could have had friendships that endured, I was not thinking too logically. It wasn't the first time, and wouldn't be the last.
There is one last memory I have about those days - Stunts. Stunts was a DOS based car racing game where you could design your own tracks and then race them. One of the geos - Chris Davies - and I were particularly manic about this, and I recall coming in one morning to find a note from him about a track he had designed and labelled INSANE. Haha, it's an inside joke, but it makes me chortle still. Thanks Chris, that's a fun memory.
Not long after, and when in the throes of the takeover, I went to Kalgoorlie - two hours further inland - for a weekend. I went to the tourist lookout over a place called The Superpit, and my life changed instantly. I knew I had to work there. I went back to SX and wrote a letter of interest. What happened next will be portrayed in the next chapter.
So that's it for Southern Cross. It really was only the beginning. I didn't really learn a whole lot there, not compared to what was to come anyway. But I did learn one thing - what I didn't want in a company and a working environment. Anyway, by mid-95, I was out of there, and onto Kalgoorlie.
Footnote: This has been one heck of a post and taken me quite some time to put together. Amazing, considering it represents only a very small percentage of what I have done in my adult life. I hope I can find the time to adequately portray the rest of my experiences. It has been enjoyable looking back...
