The history of the Northern District coalfields will soon be preserved forever in an interactive history app by filmmaker Sandra Pires. From Harry’s miners’ lamp that was left at the Neath Hotel in World War I while he went to fight, to the 3000 miners who helped clean up after the 1955 Maitland Floods, these are the kinds of stories you’ll find in the ‘Yesterday Stories’ app, told through videos with locals, photographs, and people’s personal stories.
Sandra always wanted to be a filmmaker, but it wasn’t until she was older that she realised her true passion was history.
“My father was a stonemason and he loved history so much that I wanted nothing to do with it. There were so many days before and after school that my dad would take me to see buildings and the stonework and tell me how important it was for them to be preserved.
“On my 21st birthday he gave me a stone that said ‘remember’ and with that he planted the seed that history needed to be kept alive.”
Sandra was approached to do a documentary on the coal mining history of the Illawarra region in 2007. It was her first feature-long documentary and sparked Sandra’s interest in mining history.
“I met so many salt-of-the-earth people and miners who grew up during the depression and it all really resonated with me.”
Sandra produced and directed ‘Beneath Black Skies’ that was released in 2009 based on the Illawarra mining industry, and then also produced and directed ‘The Dalfram Dispute 1938: Pig Iron Bob’ in 2015. In between, she launched the Yesterday Stories app and has been collecting stories ever since.
The Mining and Energy Union is now helping Sandra put together 100 coal mining stories from across the country starting with the Northern District coalfields.
The Neath Hotel near Cessnock was one of the first stops on Sandra’s trip to the state’s biggest coal mining region.
The hotel is home to the miner’s lamp. The lamp belonged to Harry, a miner in World War I. As he was a miner, Harry was protected from going to war, but finally on his fifth attempt he was accepted.
Before he left, he asked if he could leave his lamp and helmet at the pub he drank at and so the publican kept it for him. Harry fought, was badly injured and sent home, but somehow fought his way back into service towards the end of WWI and was killed.
So, for over 100 years the lamp and helmet have stayed at the Neath Hotel.
In the northwest of the state, Sandra has interviewed several people who were involved in a strike at the Vickery coal mine in Gunnedah.
Miners went on strike in August 1995 after the company tried to force the men to change from 8-hour shifts to 12.5-hour shifts without proper compensation and without a fair negotiation process.
In a bid to stop the change and possible roll out of that change to the rest of the industry, the miners stood their ground and found themselves getting an outpouring of support from miners and union members from across the country.
“We voted unanimously to go on the strike,” said Derek Lucus.
“We were accumulated at the gate, and we stuck there 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“A lot of people said ‘Oh, you’re out on the picket line drinking’, but for the full 12 months, I never seen anyone have a drink on the picket line.
“It was definitely an experience and a bond that everybody hung together.”
Derek’s experience along with Ron Fuller, Peter Bennet, Colleen Fuller and Sandra Bennet will be included on the Yesterday Stories app.
MEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District President Robin Williams is looking forward to everyone being able to access the region’s mining history with a tap of their finger.
“To date, you had to really go and look for the history of mining, it wasn’t readily accessible, so I think this app will promote the industry in a way that’s easily accessible.
“We’ve had some of the biggest battles with coal companies on this land, some of those have been big battles, some small, some long and short.
“I’m excited to see it all put together in Yesterday Stories.”
It’s not just about preserving history for Sandra though, the big thing that drives her is the desire to increase empathy between people.
“The stories are about raising empathy. About people understanding other people’s stories and struggles.
“I came to realise that my ultimate goal was to increase empathy between people because otherwise we will lose that. We can only have empathy if we understand each other’s stories, we need to care more about each other.
“The stories that we’re doing, they are very much about ‘us’ not ‘me’.”
Sandra has a lot more stories to gather, but so far, she said she’s been blown away by the people she has met.
“The men cry about these stories they’ve been a part of. One man at Vickery had photos of that strike on his wall at his nursing home. Everyone I have spoken to are so proud of the history they’re a part of.”
You can download the Yesterday Stories App by scanning the QR code and downloading it from Google Play or the App Store. More details can be found here: https://www.yesterdaystories.com/
