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VK6BE > FUEL 13.05.08 17:44l 68 Lines 3275 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : D5IEA5DV_00F
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: VK6BE > The queen can fly!
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From: VK6BE @ EA5DV.EAA.ESP.EU
To: FUEL @ WW
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From: VK6BE@VK2TV.#MNC.NSW.AUS.OC
To : FUEL@WW
I am not sure how much of that story is correct, Tony, but as for the rest
of it and the Great Depression I know a great deal as I was there.
The work for the dole as you call it, was called "sustenance" and its aim
was to prevent unemployed people from starving to death, a very likely
result in those dreadful times. I don't remember hearing anything about
deaths and a scandal on the line to the Alice, but it is possible it
happened. Does anyone really know for certain? I can't recall anything of
that sort being reported but that is not to say it did not occur.
I don't know what the conditions on the South Australian end of the
railway were like but I guess they were no worse than those suffered by
the gangers working on the Trans line, remote from any settlement and
dependent on the "flour and sugar" trains coming from Kalgoorlie. One
thing they did have was trains coming to bring supplies and take them out
if it became too much for them.
My father was a Minister of religion and during the depression we kids saw
many a hungry man come to our door and ask for food. They were never
turned away. Many a man sat at our table and had a good dinner at my
parent's expense. The impoverished church could do nothing in a small
country town but its individual memebrs could and did do something.
A common sight also was the tramps jumping onto railway wagons as they
moved slowly through the station precincts to get to the next town where
they might strike it lucky and find work. This "jumping a train" was
illegal but I don't think the railway authorities worried too much about
enforcing the regulations.
I also remember men coming to the door selling all sorts of gadgets they
had made from timber or wire - forked poles for "propping" clothes lines,
wire baskets etc. Anything they could make and sell.
I heard of some men committing a petty crime so that they could be locked
up for a few days and get a decent meal and a bath.I should hope those
conditions will never occur again.
Cheers,
Bob VK6BE.
>
> Not buying into this topic but.....
>
> I seem to recall that the original Ghan rail line was built using
> "depression unemployed" workers. These were ex office workers and similar.
> It was sort of a work for the dole system. What nobody had considered was
> what would happen when you took all these men not used to physical labour
> and stuck them out in near desert conditions and expected them to do a
> hard days work.
>
> There were many deaths and a great scandal.... or so I seem to recall.
>
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