I was recently lucky enough to spend some time in New South Wales, catching up, amongst other things like sunbathing, with second cousins, descended from my great grandparents who emigrated from Togston in 1913. We spent a few days in an area to the south of Newcastle where the family eventually settled and went back to what they knew best, working in the pits. It was pretty surreal to come up to a roundabout signing Newcastle and Wallsend straight ahead and Cardiff off to the right
We visited a coalfield heritage museum in a place called Kurri Kurri to find out more about the working conditions. The small town where the family settled was called Weston, known locally as Geordieland and there is even a preserved log, called the Geordie log where the men used to sit to have a crack. Their local pit was Hebburn No.1, a pick and shovel drift mine. The cemetery is full of local names.
I would imagine that one of the reasons for emigration at that time was to get away from strikes and lock outs and to make a better living. Sad to say, coal owners are coal owners the world over. In 1929 there was a bitter lock out, still remembered (and don't dare refer to it as a strike). The worst event was the shooting dead of a miner by police at a colliery called Rothbury following a big march by the pitmen to stop scab labour being brought in. A memorial marks the spot where the entrance to Rothbury colliery was, at a place called Branxton. It was just like being back in the north east
26-04-2013, 10:41 AM
Geordieland, NSW
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