It is in isolated mining towns that the difference between the haves and the have nots is most noticeable. The mining nouveau riche tend to flaunt the icons of the good life…4WDs, spare cars, boats, week-enders etc. Public servants, police, teachers, bank personnel and others assigned to a particular mining town, because their general employment or professional outlook demands it of them, sometimes find such differences hard to bear.Until 25 April, 1966 Head Teachers had not been required to pay rent for residences that had been constructed on school property. In return, the Government received 24/7 guardianship of the property, thorough community involvement and an on-the-job commitment to extended working hours.
Early in 1966, General Secretary Grulke of the Queensland Teachers Union submitted a plaint in which Head Teachers ‘traded’ free rental for a promised increase in salary. [See "Rent"] The conditions of occupancy did not alter and, surprisingly, there was no great reaction from Primary personnel to this move. Over the years, however, the occupants of school residences in favourable locations made their own arrangements. If one lived in a congenial area, why not ? However, choice of preferred accommodation did not exist in remote areas, especially in mining towns where on-the-job residences for Principals [as they came to be called] cost more to rent than those of mine employees’ grander air-conditioned accommodation.
Mining towns such as Mt. Isa, Collinsville and Moura provided early examples. As new mines became established and ballooned in size during sharp increases in the price of metals and coal, the housing conditions for all teachers continued as a major concern to the Government, the Department and the Teachers Union.
In the 70s and 80s the differences were made more manifest by the significant burgeoning of new mines and new towns in the Bowen Basin. Moranbah / Goonyella opened in 1971, Dysart 1973, Blackwater 1977, Blackwater North 1979, Middlemount and Coppabella 1980, Moranbah East 1981, Glenden 1982, Tieri 1983. The large companies offered attractive salaries and conditions to obtain suitable employees. Salaries, housing and general conditions for teachers maintained their comparative low level and they became regarded as the poor relations of mining employees.
These haves and have nots distinctions kept growing and haunting the QTU. Teacher Housing maintained its status as a serious industrial issue for many years. During this period, QTU Industrial Officer Bill Kohlmann asked Ray, when Ray was Principal at Richlands East [1977-83] to compose a ditty bemoaning the differences. When industrial action was threatened and the QTU was asked to appear before it, Bill sang the parody aloud to the Industrial Commission.
UNDERMINED
[Tune: "Clementine"]
At Goonyella, lucky fella !
Excavating for a mine,
Lived a miner, big dragliner,
And his daughter Clementine.
O he drove a T-bar Rover
And he drank imported wine,
Fondly smelling the Chanel-ing
Of his daughter Clementine.
Should he DEcide that the seaside
Had a sunnier Sunday sun,
Off he flew, sir, to his cruiser
In his Cessna 401.
Life was gracious, life was spacious
And the future looking fine,
When a schoolie, Daniel Dooley,
Met his daughter Clementine.
Dan pursued her and he wooed her
And her eyes were all ashine;
Clearly heading for a wedding
Was the darling Clementine.
Said the miner, “Clementina !
Though you think your chalkie’s nice,
There’s a BUT, girl – use your nut, girl,
Heed your wise old dad’s advice.
“Now if Daniel’s work was manual,
He could claim you for his wife -
Well protected, not expected
To endure a pauper’s life.
“But the rental Departmental
That a schoolie duly pays
Makes him poor, Clem – and what’s more, Clem,
Keeps him poor for all his days.
“Wed a teacher, luckless creature!
Only backward can you go;
Wed a miner, you combine a
Pay that’s high with rent that’s low.”
So the daughter, though she orta
Been more faithful, showed some sense,
Ditched her suitor, switched to Utah
For abiding af-flu-ence.
And the schoolie, spurned so cruelly,
Will continue to decline,
Short of solace, short of dollars,
Till he’s working in a mine.
