I snapped these workers arriving at the Newcrest mining village which is near the caravan park were we camped for the weekend.
You see, gold is not all in the past. Around Blayney there are active gold mines and they happily allowed a fly-in fly-out mining village to be established in the town. Itinerant workers may not be the traditional good citizen for a country town but they bring life and patronage to the shopping centre.
So it takes good fortune, diversification and a willingness to welcome strangers for a town to prosper.
Where would the workers come from? Sydney?
ReplyDeleteFrom the bus I would guess some come in from Orange.
ReplyDeleteI think they would have flown to Orange (from which ever city they live in) and then get the bus in. I assume that Newcrest pay for all the transportation on their days off.
ReplyDeleteLooks like that Blayney is getting a good deal out of mining since the mine is just out of town. It's a different story if the mine is really far out of town and too far to easily travel to, like those in outback Queensland/WA. Nearby towns aren't really guaranteed extra business in that instance.
That is what I was wondering. Why the QLD and WA towns are not happy with "Fly in and out workers" and yet Blayney does well from them. I know in Kalgoorlie workers in the mining industry have to be residents of Kalgoorlie.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a lot about fly in and out workers or why they are not liked. Clearly they have their homes elsewhere and are keen to collect the cash and go home when they are scheduled to do so. They won't be part of the local footie club or whatever
ReplyDeleteI was reading over the weekend of the travails of the family left behind when the bread-winner does all the flying in and out. I think this is something that the mining companies really do have to address.
ReplyDeleteI found this out too when reading up on FIFO workers in a bid to find out why thy are not liked. As for the mining companies having to address the problem, aren't people responsible for their own life decisions? If however, attending to the mental and social welfare of the workers and their families improves the employee retention rate then it makes economic sense for them to do so.
DeleteYes, I would like to think that people are responsible for their own decisions. However, most people like to have their cake and eat it, too.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that FIFO workers have a short retention rate. That the families that move into the region are better able to face the reality of being one-parent groups. I guess because they are with others in the same boat.
It is not a lifestyle I would recommend to anyone ...