by Brian Cain
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
On the opposite side of Greedy Piggy Creek a shift was in progress at the giant Greedy Piggy Creek coal mine adjacent to the Fields and Harper properties. In the early days of mining in the area the name was a novelty but as time passed and the operation was swallowed up by the global conglomerate Janeiro Coffee it became a stigma the mining giant felt unfair. Lobbying local and state governments to change the name of the creek that gave the mine its name had been dusted with stiff opposition from locals. There was a story attached to how the creek was named spaning back nearly two hundred years. The relentless twenty four hour operation never slept and in some weather conditions neither did the locals. On clear cold dark nights the sound of giant diesel engines and the clank of chains carried for miles hardly music to their ears. The once far away operation was growing ever closer to the Harper and Fields and negotiations by Janeiro Coffee to purchase adjacent properties lining Greedy Piggy Creek was at stalemate. People were happy with where they lived and refused to be daunted by the industrial mayhem within their community. Although many relied on the mines for income a constant battle raged on where the line should be drawn. The Fields and Harpers were only small players in the area as the Greedy Piggy Creek was also the border line spanning the magnificence of the Loudbark winery where Bob Fields devoted his life. Janeiro Coffee had good relations with the family owners of the sprawling leafy haven maker of some of the world's finest wines but the controlling family questioned the motives of the relationship.
Janeiro Coffee focused on obtaining the properties to access the shallow low sulphur and ash coal seams sought by fussy Japanese power stations worth hundreds of millions of dollars below the green picturesque expanses. They had tried hard to encourage support from Loudbark and now a new problem suddenly took the wind from their sails. The adjoining winery along the remaining border of Greedy Piggy Creek Shangri La Wines also bordering Loudbark had recently been sold, a shock to the mining giant who had offered and exuberant sum for the property only days before the announcement. Janeiro Coffee found the new owners two ex merchant bankers from England to be a little harder to deal with than the previous Japanese owners and the doors had been securely closed on the mining giant. The cashed up eccentrics could buy and sell the multinational several times and a new process of approach was being planned. A state election loomed and Janeiro Coffee executives arranged a closed door meeting with state politicians currently in power to outlay timing and revenue plans for the expansions should they be successful. Funds generated to government coffers from the expansions planned to be highlighted along with employment prospects and community benefits.
Horse studs and wineries were not the only people sometimes in the firing line of corporate expansion. The workers of the Greedy Piggy Creek coal mine were members of a powerful union, the Australia wide Come Fly With Me Union. The CFWMU were the keepers of the fine line between full time employees with a foreseeable future and benefits bolstering family support and the dirty word contractors. There was a continued push to fill mines with disposable labour indirectly employed by labour hire companies creating a similar community morale depletion that killed off remote mining communities in Western Australia and Queensland. However the Hunter Valley was not far from Australia's biggest city Sydney and the annals of Canberra. Always under the scrutiny of the powers to be visiting the picturesque gem on the New South Wales coast they seemed to be more interested in the area than a remote red desert town with a mainly non voting populous of flies. Opinion on Hunter Valley industrial policy was as clear as Greedy Piggy Creek the line between a coal mine, horse stud and winery. To further strengthen the areas business rivalry the Greedy Piggy Creek coal mines other boundaries joined a rival global mining giant The Fixed Hole pty ltd. The mining rivals had found this was actually an advantage that they were separated by only a fence barely capable of holding back farming stock. In fact Kangaroos protected by government no cull bureaucracy demanded by minority groups regularly cleared the fences looking for greener pastures and frequenting the roadways becoming a road surface for three hundred and fifty ton dump trucks. The signs displayed for all to see around the fence line warning of open cut mining operations and heavy earth moving equipment were ignored by the Kangaroos but the sign was clearly there. Company lawyers had problems understanding this and employed consultants to design a sign that could be understood by the Kangaroos. The local parrot population had also deserted them, lack of housing opportunities and inability to wear safety glasses and hard hats whilst flying though clouds of coal dust had seen them seek greener pastures. The mining giants received complaints of dust noise and vibration from concerned locals the neighbours were immediately implicated as the perpetrators never pinpointed. No one had come up with a tool that could be used to equate unity but unbeknown one had just arrived called Flaxmead.
Kerry Snow an Open Cut Examiner and Supervisor a statutory position of responsibility required by coal mining law currently on day shift in the Greedy Piggy Creek coal operation was responsible for checking all areas of the mining lease and reporting on a shift by shift basis. His company vehicle had an on board GPS tracking system displaying every piece of equipment in the mine on demand, amongst the musty coal dust decimated bushland and contaminated water ways. All equipment was closely monitored for status condition and productivity level. For smooth and effortless operation a series of procedures written by lawyers none who had actually seen a piece of earthmoving equipment were stacked in heavy bookshelves in rows of offices, one must access the paper work print out or copy the requirements issue the paperwork sign it. In many cases by this time the next shift was due on and time to go home for stress medication. It was made clear if procedures were not followed people would be sacked. If further breaches continued the people responsible for sacking the people who had already been sacked would be sacked. This caused a few staff training issues and familiarising new staff was a common task for supervisors. Moments of normality were sacred. An access roadway for reporting purposes followed the edge of Greedy Piggy Creek on the mine edge and once a shift during inspection he would traverse the road cautiously not to kick up to much dust. An OCE supervisor is subject to abuse from the entire workforce starting with the upper management and finishing with people who access the mine who don't even work for the organisation. The line of abuse in the industry is loosely disguised as responsibility. He often stopped by the creek opposite the Fields residence under trees for lunch, a moment of solace in a day of mayhem. He would check the flashing orange light on top of his vehicle for proper function, this would apparently ward off all evil spirits.
Kerry was a horse race punter of monumental proportions and often used the moment of calm to pick his next day bets. Over the years he had become quite an authority of current form and his whispers of a sure thing were taken seriously and often bore fruit. If you wanted a hot tip Kerry Snow was in the know. He was a lifetime open cut coal miner and no direct admirer or authority of horse flesh but when on day shift at the creek he had noticed a thundering black stallion in the paddock of the Fields property. His shift roster of two on two off rotating day and night shift he spent fourteen hours a day in the mine and when on day shift noticed children played with the massive stallion and lunching at the creek became a habit. It was mid summer and hot, he sat next to the creek away from his Toyota land cruiser wagon fitted with GPS screen fleet monitoring system, two HF radios, two mobile phones a moment of consolation was sacred. Responsible for the eastern area of the mine and some thirty five equipment operators in liaison with six other area OCEs with equal responsibility not to mention the dreaded bunglers in the mine nerve centre called dispatch. A quite five minutes by the creek was hallowed. Watching fish swim in the clear cool water he was startled by a girl's voice. "Hello mister," said Anna from Flaxmead's back as he stood in shallow water on the other side of the creek drinking not twenty metres away, a horse of Flaxmead's size will drink forty five litres of water a day.
He looked up
startled his white hard hat slipping back a little, his blue uniform with silver reflective stripes around the arms stood out against the parched brown surrounding grass. He lowered his safety glasses from his nose leaving them hang on a chord around his neck as he crouched by the waters edge.
"Oh, good day."
"What you doing mister," asked Anna.
"Having a spell, that's a nice horse he must be quiet I didn't hear you."
"Sorry mister he came down for a drink we walked slowly but he can run really fast."
"What's his name?"
"Flaxmead."
"Flaxmead, sounds like a winner."
"He's going to win the Melbourne Cup."
Kerry chuckled and opened his eyes wide. "Wow what's he won so far?"
"Nothing he's going to run soon in Scone."
"Flaxmead I'll remember that and look for him. What's your name?"
"Anna, I have to go he's finished drinking," she called to her dog wallowing in the creek shallows. "Come on Pipa." The creek had a steep ramp from where Flaxmead stood he reared up lunged up the ramp and broke into a gallop away to the right, Pipa her dog clipped at the horses hooves but was outgunned. Flaxmead covered fifty metres following the creek line then pulled up turned and prancing to a gallop flat out passed Kerry thundering out of sight with Anna tucked in behind his ears, turf flew everywhere as he raced past. Although Barry was an ardent punter he had never seen a real horse run only on the television, he was captivated by the flying charger and it stayed with him making him think. The pair thundered out of sight off with Pipa the blue heeler barking in pursuit.
Kerry battled on to the end of shift preparing the oversize task whiteboard covered in equipment numbers and corresponding employees names by a series of magnetic strips big enough to see from the back of the muster area. The board was mounted on one wall with rows of chairs facing the wall to seat oncoming staff. The strips bearing names and equipment numbers could be moved around by simply pulling them from the magnetic board and placing them where required. A computer screen in the room revealed up to date equipment location for last minute accuracy from the GPS system. Hand written areas of the board gave a bus no for groups to access their equipment after briefing, neatly parked outside by the off going shift in the muster car park. The light vehicles Toyota land cruiser wagons had a pre start inspection book to sign off responsibility of the driver to ensure they were safe to use. Some more irresponsible members of the workforce found they were excellent for making paper aeroplanes to throw out the window on the way to and from the work area. A handover briefing was made with the ongoing OCE supervisor and early starters small groups of operators staring half hour before the rest of the shift manned high production shovels and draglines to ensure continuous productivity. Even the most well laid plans can go astray and quite often did. To an outsider it looked like a pressure cooker waiting to blow, to Kerry and other staff at Janeiro Coffee Greedy Piggy Creek it was all in a days work.
A galloping horse played on Kerry's mind and as he left the mining lease half after seven on the warm evening he detoured slightly past the Fields property. He was rewarded with his first sight of horses breaking a gate and running against each other even if it was only two Meadow and Flaxmead training together. The practice track in the front paddock of the Harper property with its near white railings was around two hundred metres parallel from the roadway where Kerry Snow watched. He noted the black stallion raced away from the bay mare from the gate covering three circuits of the track leading by ten lengths by the time they pulled up. He didn't really know how fast they were going but it looked fast, the black stallion reminded him of the emblem on the grill of a mustang. He didn't know he had witnessed the fastest stallion in the country but was compellingly driven to sample a race meeting for the first time.