ISBN: 9780646706382
Blackgum Item Code: DATH0001
Title: Whistle at the Bridge
Author: Jean Thorne
Imprint:
RRP: $29.95
More information:
Here, by one who lived them, are tales of Tullah in the 1920s - a very different Tullah from the one we know today.

Back then, there was only the gelana mine, and no road; the only link to the outside was the 2 foot gauge steam loco Wee Georgie Wood.

They are tales of isolation; of the struggle to rear a family and get higher education for the children; of loneliness, and the lack of facilities (no doctor, no dentist), of the shortage of work after the Great War had stopped the export of metals to Germany.

We learn how the people alleviated their lot - with pigeon racing, wood chopping, cards, billiards, football, dancing, movies and music.

And we find that even in such a small community there existed a definite social pecking order; mine manager, teacher, bush nurse, parson, tradesmen, miners and timber workers.

But they are more than simple outback tales: through them we share the struggles and feelings of the characters - their grief at the loss of loved ones; their pride in achievements for the children through stubborn effort and self-sacrifice; their fight for better pay and conditions at the mine.

And too, we share with them what the author calls ‘the simple pleasures in a unique community now gone forever’.