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ZL2VAL > INFO 27.07.02 16:04l 96 Lines 5392 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 6975-ZL2VAL
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Ex Goldsworthy Mining workers?
Path: DB0FHN<DB0ZWI<DB0HOT<DB0MRW<OK0PPL<OK0NAG<9A0BBS<LZ1KIS<IK1ZNW<IK6PYS<
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Sent: 020727/1056Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:5610 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g $:6975-ZL2
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : INFO@WW
[¯¯¯ TST HOST 1.43c, UTC diff:-12, Local time: Sat Jul 27 21:31:19 2002 ®®®]
Did you ever work at the Mt Goldsworthy iron ore mine in Western Australia?
I did, from May 1977 to November 1979, driving a Haulpack in the pit, on
Simo's shift, with Olly the dozer driver and Mouse the shovell driver, to
name a couple of the crew.
The reason I ask, is that I heard a piece of music the other day, that
reminded me of one of the guys in my accomodation block, can't remember his
name but he was known as "The dancing Queen", due to his obsession with the
70's pop group "Abba". Anyway, I tried searching the net for info on
Goldsworthy Mining and came up with about 40 pages of stuff, most of it to
do with People named Goldsworthy, but there were quite a lot of references
to the Mine, and the town, but not much about the folk who lived, and
worked there.
For instance, did you know, every trace of the mine, the town and the work
shops have been removed, about the mid 90s. The pit has been left, but the
sides were bulldozed down to a more gentle slope and the waste dumps were
given the same treatment, then seeded and planted out with flora, native to
the area. Apparently, the only thing left that can be recognised from
ground level is a row of gum trees. I guess they are the ones that lined
one side of the entrance street from the rail crossing to the offices.
The "Black Rock Stakes" are still run every year, but now run from Whim
Creek pub to Port Hedaland. The "Black Rock Stakes" is an anual event, to
raise money for local charities, where teams push a wheel barrow with 25lbs
of iron ore originally from Goldsworthy, to Port Hedland. The race is held
at night, starting about 9pm and the last teams finishing just before dawn,
this is in order to avoid the extreme temperatures achieved during the day.
Goldsworthy, for those who don't know, was the first modern Iron Ore mine
to open up in the North West of Western Australia, in an area known as "The
Pilbara". Work commenced in 1965 and the town, and associated workshops,
came into being about 500 metres North West of Mt Goldsworthy, a towering
peak of 168 metres above sea level. Not exactly an impressive landmark, but
slightly higher than the surrounding hills. When I arrived there in May 79,
the top 60 metres had been removed and the guts had been dug out to about
60 metres below sea level. The opening, at the top, was about a kilometre
long by 300 metres wide and the floor of the pit was about 700 by 100
metres. When I left 2« years later, the depth was about 150m, below sea
level! The main haul road, in and out, sloped up at about 1 in 12, I think
and was nearly 2 kilometres long, from the floor to the top and the trucks
took about 20 minutes to do a round trip from the floor to the crusher just
over the lip. The trucks, 120ton Wabco "Haulpacks", were diesel electric
powered by basic 800 hp V12 Detroit Diesel motors, suped up with
Turbochargers and Intercoolers to about 1200hp. There was an electric
generator bolted to the rear of the motor, where you'd expect a gearbox.
Each of the two rear wheel hubs were, in fact, electric motors. There were
no gears & no clutch. The equivalent action was done by switching and was
totally automatic. Braking was regenerative, when you put your foot on the
brakes, the motors were switched into generators and the output went to a
bank of resistors, forced air cooled by screaming blowers, the more severe
the braking the louder they screamed. The brakes developed about 1800 hp
and functioned at any speed over about 5Km/h, below that they cut out and
relied on normal friction brakes, disks I think. Top speed on the flat was
about 25KM/h!
Anyway, I digress..
I'm proposing the starting of a sort of data base, of past employees of
Goldsworthy Mining, who actually worked and lived in Goldsworthy itself.
There were three sites, Shay Gap mine about 60Km Nth East and Finucane Is,
ship loading facility at Port Hedland 100km to the South West.
If you quallify, would you like to drop me a line at this address, or by
e-mail to the one below?
A brief account of where you are, how you got there and why you're still
there, plus a current contact address.
Maybe, if it gets big enough, I could start a web site for the project?
I don't know if there were any Amateur Radio operators in Goldsworthy, I
Do know there were a few CB op's, maybe they graduated?
If you know of anywhere else I can post this, please let me know?
Goldsworthy workers came from just about every country on Earth, most were
just there to save enough to get started in life or do a world trip, or
just hiding out, not sure which category I fit into, though.
73 de Alan
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Answers to High School exam questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q: Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A: Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and so they look like
umbrellas.
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