Richard Raxworthy - 'Australians at Work', interviews with retired tram and bus workers from Sydney and Newcastle, 1982

MLOH 2

fonds

1982

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

87992

Sound Recording : CY MLOH 2/1-11

Sound Recordings - 11 cassettes - 11hrs

Richard Raxworthy is a professional interviewer whose expertise in interviewing is particularly directed to politicians, trade unionists, trades and working people.

10 hours of interviews with 8 men and 1 woman - retired workers. 1 hour is devoted to 2 edited radio programmes - `Fares please : an oral history for 5 years of NSW Government Buses. Bus and tram workers tell the story' / compiled for 2 SERFM. Issues mentioned include the one-man Bus Dispute, conditions during the 1930s Depression, work on the steam funeral trams, first intake of women conductors during World War II, the 1917 strike and its aftermath around the tram depots.
The interviewer's intention was to present a working class view of history in original form. 10 hours of recorded interviews, 1 hour edited programmes.

Interviewees:
Noel Quailey worked on both trams and buses. He was President of the Union during the one-man and Atlantean bus disputes, and during the battle over the Arbitration Penal Clause. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/1-3)

Col Horan of Newcastle was at one time Australian President of the Union, and during the Penal Clause battle was on the Union Executive Council. He worked on trams and buses and also gives an account of working at sea, the Seaman's Union, the 1949 Miner's Strike, and the Depression of the 1930s. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/3-5)

Cliff Anning worked on trams and in the tram workshops. He was an ironworker on the building of the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and was unemployed during the Depression of the 1930s. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/6)

Les Colwell lived in Annandale, Sydney, and worked on trams and buses all his working life. He has clear memories of the 1930s Depression and of the one-man bus dispute, in which he was the first man dismissed. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/6-7)

Arthur Richardson grew up outside Gunnedah, NSW. He worked as a wheeler in a coal mine as a boy and in the bush with his father. He then joined the trams at Newcastle where he worked as a conductor on the steam funeral trains. Richardson then moved to Sydney where he worked on trams and buses, and as a traffic inspector before his retirement. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/7-8)

Violet McNamara joined the first intake of women tram and bus conductors during World War II. After the War she was among the first group of street ticket sellers. Later she worked again on the buses at Leichhardt, and was an examination supervisor at Randwick before her retirement. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/8)

Ernie Warman spent all his working life on trams and buses, and as a Traffic Inspector at Wynyard, Sydney, prior to his retirement. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/8)

Harry Batterham was active in Union affairs. He worked on both trams and buses and recalls the 1930s Depression. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/9)

Bill White was a chorister at St. Andrews Cathedral, Sydney, and was a brass band musician. He gives an account of the 1917 Strike and its aftermath around the tram depots, of the activities of the White Feather Brigade during World War I and many other Sydney activities. He was active in the Union and the Communist Party and gives an account of the 1930s Depression. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/10)

Two radio programmes edited from the above interviews, broadcast on 2SER-FM Sydney. (Call No.: CY MLOH 2/11)

Reproduction Restricted

A log of the tapes is available.
The masters are not exacly copied in CY MLOH 2/1-13. The logs, however, follow these copies
Digitised by the National Library of Australia. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4938821