Drive in, drive out

There are plenty of interesting people hereabouts, but the place doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, socially. I recently ran across a mention in a mining advert which might explain why.

The mention said that the mine in question had adopted a “drive in, drive out” policy for employees, thus saving themselves the cost of establishing a community presence.

Those people have to live somewhere, so if the mine isn’t paying for the community, then someone, somewhere else is.

The people working at the mine really are hirelings, they clearly don’t belong there. This means that there is no committment to the area at all. No development. No growth. No value. No progress.

I see echoes of this here in Tullah, where we have a fine football field that occasionally gets used for cricket. That, as far as I can tell, is it. We have Wee Georgie Wood, a steam loco, running around on his little track. The people who maintain him come from Rosebery and other towns. No identity, no committment.

I’ve asked every mine in the place for a job. Zinifex, Henty, Hellyer, Avebury (new mine at Zeehan), Que River, Savage River (via Skilled Engineering) & so on. None of them ask any questions. All of them give answers which add up to “don’t call us, we’ll call you”.

They’re all apparently willing to wedge in people from almost anywhere to do their jobs. Oh, & out again. No committment, no investment in the community. No community.

I’ll bet they wonder why their people don’t stay long.

Comments

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