Locked out, p.26
Locked Out, page 26
Chapter 21
Jimmy’s Confession
‘You can blame the colliery owners and the government,’ a male’s voice said from just behind her.
She twirled around to come face to face with Jimmy Coles.
‘I’m sorry to startle you,’ he said. ‘How are you getting home?’
‘Don brought me out and he said he would wait in his car to drive me back home,’ she replied.
‘I’m going your way if you would allow me to drive you. It will save Don a trip, who I’m sure is also grieving his loss; first his youngest brother, Henry, and now his only nephew, Phillip. I believe his other brother, Mal, has been reported missing and suspected of having been killed by the Japanese, or God forbid, taken prisoner,’ Jimmy said.
‘Isn’t it better that he has been taken prisoner than to be dead?’ Wynnie responded with obvious surprise.
‘The Japanese treat prisoners extremely inhumanely, so I’ve been told. Apparently, they have no regard for soldiers who surrender to the enemy. Some of the stories filtering back from Malaya suggest that prisoners held by the Japanese are starved and beaten,’ Jimmy explained.
‘Mal is a strong man. If he is held by the Japanese, I’m sure he will survive,’ Wynnie muttered.
‘I hope you’re right, Wynnie. I understand that Don is trying to keep the farm going virtually on his own ’til the return of Mal. But even when Mal does return, if he does, after spending time in a Japanese prison camp, he won’t be the same person who left,’ Jimmy said.
‘How ironic!’ Wynnie exclaimed.
‘What do you mean?’ Jimmy asked.
‘If Don is the only son left, he will have to try to manage the dairy farm alone. Henry only went into the pit because the farm couldn’t support the three brothers and their father when Henry turned fifteen and was ready to start work. He didn’t really want to go down the pit to work, he was virtually forced into it. When all the trouble started, I wanted him to get out and find a job on a farm but he refused saying that he couldn’t let his workmates down.’ Wynnie scoffed.
‘Yes, I now see what you mean, Wynnie. Life can be very cruel and unpredictable,’ Jimmy empathised.
‘I’m sure Don would like to get back to the farm as soon as he can, so I’ll let him know that you have offered to drop me home,’ Wynnie muttered.
‘Okay,’ Jimmy responded.
Wynnie walked around to the front of the church where Don was waiting and slipped into his car on the passenger side. ‘I’ve been offered a lift home by Jimmy Coles who will drop me on his way home and save you the trouble of taking me to Rothbury, only to turn around and come all the way back out to your place,’ she said.
‘Are you sure, Wynnie? I don’t mind,’ Don responded.
‘No, it is okay, Don, but thank you for waiting,’ she said as she slid from the seat back out of the car.
They both said their goodbyes before Wynnie walked over to meet Jimmy at his vehicle.
‘He was okay with that?’ Jimmy asked as he opened the passenger-side door for Wynnie.
‘Yes, he was,’ Wynnie responded.
As Jimmy drove, there was silence in the car for quite a while until he said, ‘I feel sorry for you, Wynnie, for you have suffered most out of all that has happened.’
At first, she didn’t say anything but then, after clearing her throat, she responded, ‘Yes, I have virtually lost my whole family because of the conflict in the mines.’
Jimmy didn’t know what to say in response, so after noticeably swallowing hard, he just said, ‘Yes,’ and then nothing more after noticing the tears winding their way down her cheeks. When he pulled into her backyard, he turned the engine off. ‘Are you okay with money for your needs?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Well, I don’t need much because Flo left the house to me and I grow most of my food in the back garden over there.’ She pointed to her very extensive garden patch where she grew vegetables in season and several fruit trees, including an apple, two oranges, and a peach tree. ‘As well as feeding me, it keeps me busy and takes my mind off all that has happened,’ she continued.
‘What about meat?’ he asked, more for want of something to talk about than the need to know.
‘Mr Jones, from next door to my house where I lived with Henry and Phillip, has chickens and goes rabbiting every week. He always brings me eggs, the occasional chicken, and a rabbit each time he gets a few. Also, Don regularly brings me milk, butter, and occasionally bacon when he slaughters a pig. I bake what little bread I need,’ she explained.
‘Well, if I can do anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me.’ He took a pen from his shirt pocket and a small notepad from the car glovebox, quickly wrote his name and phone number down and handed it to her.
As she took it from him, she looked into his eyes and said with tears freely flowing, ‘Thank you, Jimmy. I really miss my family.’
Jimmy looked deep into her eyes and said, ‘I’m sorry for encouraging your brother, John, to take a potshot at John Brown, that was the start of all your sorrow, Wynnie. I’m so sorry.’ He then quickly exited the car and rushed around to the other side to open the door for her.
She stepped out and dropped her gaze as she walked off towards the cottage without a further word.
As she entered the then very empty cottage, tears continued to flood her eyes. She walked through each of the five small rooms recalling better times as a child with her parents and siblings; she especially recalled the many good times spent with her father, Jo, and remembered him as a very caring man who loved his family. Then, she had a special thought for her mother, Flo, the strong woman who was the backbone of the family. Her brothers then came to mind. John, the big, strong-willed but easily led boy and Billy, the softy who needed a guiding hand.
Later, before the Rothbury Colliery lockout of 1929, she recalled the times gathered together with her maternal family and her then-new husband, Henry, for meals prepared by her mother, Flo. Finally, the reality of her most recent loss, her son, Phillip, hit her like a brick. Returning to the kitchen at the rear of the house, she flopped down in one of the chairs and surrendered to her fate as she murmured, ‘All gone now.’
Wynnie failed to take Jimmy up on his offer but continued to live in her parents’ small Rothbury cottage. She died alone in the house two days prior to the closure of the Rothbury Mine in 1974. Wynnie was then sixty-four years of age.
Although the protest at Rothbury Mine was termed a “riot” by the mine owners and the Bavin Conservative Government and falsely reported as such by the Conservative press, it was far from that; the miners marching merely wanted to protest the hiring of scab labour to take over their jobs. The police basher gang’s presence clearly started the conflict that ensued.
References
With thanks and acknowledgement to the authors and creators of the following works, which were referenced in the telling of this story:
Coontz, S. Marriage, a History, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 2005.
Labour and the Depression: The Great Coal Lockout of 1929, http://www.solidarity.net.au/unions/labour-the-depression-the-great-coal-lockout-of-1929/
Rothbury riot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothbury_riot Rothbury: The Veterans of Rothbury, http://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/objects/pdf/a000085.pdf
The Book of Common Prayer 1662, Section 26 ‘Burial Services’, http://www.eskimo.com/~/howell/bep1662/
The “Dog Collar” Act, http://www.pmhps.org.au/2014/10/the-dog-collar-act/
The Maitland Mercury, 150 Front Pages from 1843–1993, Andrew Meenahan, Managing Director, 1993.
Geoffrey Stokes, Locked Out
