The Australian Women's Register

2 digital audio tapes (120 min.) Folkloric recording. Joe & Lyn Chambers are retired teachers and Fred Brown a retired miner. 1. Joe discusses his early life in Scotland where his father was a shale miner, emigrated to Australia in 1925, his schooling in Wonthaggi & father went mining, discusses the influence of Sunday school & the close relationship between Presbyterian beliefs & socialism, discusses Red Flag song. 2. Song: Red Flag. 3. Recalls his schooling at Wonthaggi, how his father was an active socialist & a member of union movement, discusses the Communist Party & Idris Williams, the 1934 Strike & its impact in Wonthaggi where a militant branch of the committee was organised, how women became involved, how he became a teacher & his studying in Melbourne in 1940. 4. Fred discusses being raised in Wonthaggi, how his father & grandfather were both miners. 5. Song: Wild Colonial boy. 6. Discusses how boys got into mining at Wonthaggi which closed in 1955, 1934-35 Mining Strike, how Wonthaggi miners raised funds in Melbourne. Tape continued: 7. Song: Wonthaggi song(explains song & sings a parody).8. Song: Show me the way to dig coal (sung in English & Italian).9. Recitation: Whistle restored (poem read by Lyn).10. Recitation: Characters (poem read by Lyn). 11. Fred discusses his interest in community singing, Joe recalls Idriss Williams & his influence on the union movement, how different Wonthaggi is today from the comradeship of yesteryear which Fred confirms, his interest in history & writing books, how the theatre which started in 1925 was the centre of Wonthaggi & the love of music. 12. Lyn describes her teaching career.