Summary
Produced by the Australian Technology Park in Sydney, this is an interview with former Eveleigh Workshop worker Bob Rhymes. Once the centre of rail assembly and maintenance in New South Wales, the Eveleigh Railway Workshops now form part of the Australian Technology Park.
Bob Rhymes commences with a story about Bob Hawke visiting the workshops to speak prior to an election, an election that Bill Hayden eventually lost. An amateur poet, Rhymes reads a poem about the poor working conditions in the workshops, which included cold and leaking buildings. He used to write poems for the workshop newspaper the Eveleigh News and remembers the workshop dog. Secretary of the Workers Committee for 14 years, Rhymes says there were few strikes at Eveleigh as the workers usually found other methods to get their point across to management. He was also a representative on the Appeals Board, which gave sacked workers a second chance to get their jobs back.
Special Notes/Achievements
Author: J Bird, 2023