Chapter 4 - Work on the Railways - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

*On Wooden Rails <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 8/30/05 8:26 PM Page 132
On Wooden Rails - Celebrating 150 Years of <strong>Work</strong> on the NSW Railways
Enterprising Characters
There is an almost endless list of tales, tall
and true and characters larger than life, that
flow from the workshops. Richard Butcher
provides some examples from his time at
Eveleigh.
“There were always a number of
‘characters’ at Eveleigh; men who were, at
times more enetertaining than the old Tivoli.
There were strange nicknames given to such
men: silly, laughable and often selfexplanatory
names like Knuckle Head, Hairy
Harry, Moose Head, Weary Willy, Dopey,
Bill the Dill, Baldy, Greasy Joe and
Scatterbrain. Other nicknames were more
esoteric: Tic-Toc, who liked clocks and repaired them;
Plonky, who liked to drink too much; Hungry Norman,
who wanted all the overtime he could get; Magic Eye,
who was cross-eyed; Paddles, who walked with his feet
spread outwards; Slappy Jack, a rough machinist of the
‘she’ll be right mate’ variety; Red Dean, a red hot
communist; and Tapper, who was a young chap who
constantly seemed to be tapping everything with a
hammer. Each workshop had its ‘actors’, odd people
and, of course, its storytellers: some had travelled the
world; others just talked as if they had.” 20
“Other men ran small businesses: the hair cutters or
hairdressers were outside Blacksmiths No 1 shop,
hidden behind a tarpaulin and three furnaces with a
curtain draped to hide the activity. Here they charged 2
shillings and 6 pence for a haircut with some powder on
the neck thrown in. There was a bit of competition so at
other workshop locations a hair cut could be obtained
for considerably less if a person was prepared to
‘travel’“. 21
While many of those who spent their working lives in
the workshops have fond memories of the lighter and
more enjoyable moments, these recollections are
constantly overshadowed by the dirt, the dust, the heat
and dangers awaiting every activity.
“The analysts from the Wilson Street laboratories
discovered, years later, that the area was laced with
cyanide, with micro particles layers on all the overhead
beams and structures. We smiths were tough men but we
certainly didn’t know any better, either’ 22
20 Butcher, op.cit., Pp 206-207
21 Butcher, op.cit., p 206
22 Ibid., p 207
23 Ibid., p 210
132
Art Show, Eveleigh
Social Activities
Red Square was the gathering place for social and
political activity, and the site of many a heated union
meeting. It was also the stage and ampitheatre for many
performances and social activities.
“One Eveleigh union man I vividly remember, Jeff
Aldridge, told me about the Eveleigh Brass Band. Jeff
said they played at times in Red Square and he said the
band was an important link between the worker and
society. ……Each week a band recital took place in Red
Square.” 23
Butcher recalls also that once a month workers gained
an additional extended lunch period (of about 20
minutes) to be entertained by performing artsists,
organised by the Shop Committee – artists as diverse as
Yehudi Menuhin and Rolf Harris, Johny O’Keefe, Roger
Woodward and possibly even Dame Joan Sutherland,
performed at Eveleigh.
Other entertainment included, at least from the 1930s to
the 1950s, regular boxing tournaments and at other
times a movie was screened . The workshops and their
social activities spilled over into their community
activities through cricket and football teams, local
competitions between different workshops. To close on
Lucy Taksa’s metaphor of a ‘bed of roses’, the working
conditions and politics of the workshops were mostly
thorny, where the social pursuits, including hotly
contested flower shows, expose the soft underside of the
workshops culture.
<strong>Chapter</strong> 4 - <strong>Work</strong> on the Railways