Bullock, Charles, 1922-

Date: 23 Mar 1992

From: Huntly Coalfields oral history project

By: Bullock, Cora Maude, 1923-; Bullock, Charles, 1922-

Reference: OHInt-0020/13

Description: Charles Bullock recalls earliest memory, replacing kerosene lights with electricity; travelling around the district in the Rotowaro Band; working in the mine on the bends of the rope-roads, pit top, clipping, trucking and on face; effect on health; arguments with management; disputes over wet time; making up weight illegally in skips; management avoiding dust time; comparison of Rotowaro and Pukemiro mines; more on deputies; compares pay between mines; travelling to the mine; hours worked; compares work in mines then and now. Cora Bullock describes Rotowaro School; Pukemiro Junction; going to the technical institute in Ngaruawahia; walking long distances; hours worked at home; working at the Rotowaro Post Office; facilities at Rotowaro; scavaging bottles as a child in the Depression (1930s); going to movies in Huntly as teenager; dances; billiard room in old Rotowaro Hall and alcohol. Charles Bullock talks about sneaking alcohol into dances; the Glen Afton disaster and accidents and deaths at Rotowaro; falls in the mine; removing pillars; exemption from war service; Welsh miners singing; working in the Huntly East Mine; putting up power poles at Rotowaro and the carbonisation works. Cora Bullock discusses the flax mill at Rotowaro; raising children; the Country Women's Institute; the medical service at Rotowaro; the 1951 strike; shifting house, local Maori families. Venue - Huntly Interviewer(s) - Jamie Mackay Venue - 200 Hakanoa Street, Huntly Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-004402 Quantity: 1 C90 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 1.28 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 733 - also contains excerpts of tape transcripts.