Ray O'Hara was born in 1926. He began working at Cessnock No.2 (Little Cessnock) in 1942 at the age of sixteen. He left working at Little Cessnock in 1944 and went then to Kalingo Colliery. The majority of this interview, however, centres on the time he spent at Little Cessnock working as a "platter boy".
| TAPE POS |
KEYWORDS |
| 007 |
Worked at Little Cessnock and Kalingo |
| 008 |
Harry McKendry |
| 011 |
Jim Rutherford |
| 028 |
No.2 tunnel mouth, Little Cessnock |
| 035 |
Skips were in sets of 12-13 |
| 043 |
Skips were tipped into "tumbler" |
| 050 |
Dick Drinkwater |
| 056 |
Recalls engine driver giving "slack rope" |
| 058 |
Rope was thrown over "Tommy Dodd" |
| 061 |
Skips were gravitated downward |
| 063 |
Reason for holding safety points |
| 071 |
Alf Ackroyd |
| 072 |
Coal was fed onto "creeper" |
| 077 |
Coal was diverted to No.1 or No.2 tunnel |
| 084 |
Ted Hayler |
| 105 |
Empty skips ran under the "creeper" |
| 107 |
Height of chimney stack, Little Cessnock |
| 113 |
Exhaust from engine heated bath water |
| 119 |
Location of ventilation fan |
| 130 |
Recalls "hardness" of coal |
| 133 |
Worked at Little Cessnock, 1942-44 |
| 137 |
"Platter boy" worked underground |
| 141 |
Joe McKendry |
| 148 |
Recalls skips being harder to control in No.1 |
| 167 |
Description of "wrapping wires" |
| 171 |
Description of a "wrapper" |
| 179 |
Recollection of signals used by wheeler |
| 185 |
Job description of a "sidler" |
| 202 |
Most "flats" were on down grade, No.2 tunnel |
| 216 |
Recalls working conditions at Cessnock No.2 |
| 220 |
Recalls oil residue on coal face |
| 250 |
Recalls being shown storage area |
| 255 |
Number of miners (pairs), Little Cessnock |
| 262 |
George Gehrig, Jack Gehrig |
| 267 |
Caleb Smith |
| 274 |
Dick Tozer |
| 290 |
Joe McKendry |
| 294 |
Recollection of skip poetry/messages |
| 311 |
Gifford Headley |
| 320 |
Little Cessnock began working, 1917 |
| 342 |
Charlie Jeffries |
| 378 |
Travelling road, Little Cessnock |
| 391 |
Cessnock No.2 tunnel mouth, location of |
| 400 |
Location of air raid shelter, Little Cessnock |
| 409 |
George Wildes |
| 415 |
George Coyle |
| 417 |
Harry Wilde, Jack Wilde |
| 419 |
Jim Hadley |
| 447 |
Traditional garb for shiftman |
| 467 |
Description of contract mining method |
| 476 |
Cessnock No.2 re-used timbering |
| 487 |
Job description of first-class shiftman |
| 506 |
Reason for using different lamps |
| 532 |
Dimension of miners lights |
| 542 |
Carried cannister of tallow for lamp |
| 548 |
Recall two brands of tallow |
| 557 |
Recalls making own tallow |
| 565 |
Recalls how "filled up" tallow lamp |
| 612 |
Cessnock No.2 did not employ "trappers" |
| 620 |
George Wildes |
| 646 |
Dick Drinkwater |
| 664 |
Ted Hayler |
| 669 |
Billy Hutton |
| 672 |
Allan Hutton |
| 687 |
End (Tape 426/Side A) |