His mining career began at Clutha’s Sirius Creek Mine, Blackwater in 1970 as mineworker. He then moved to the Ipswich field for 14 years at New Hope Colliery as a machineman in bord and pillar extraction. His longwall career started at Central colliery - Queensland’s first longwall in 1985 as a longwall face operator. He spent several years as a Health and Safety Rep before Moving to Gordonstone in 1991 as a longwall supervisor. In 1994 he moved to BHP Billiton’s Crinum Mine as longwall supervisor. He lists favourite pastimes as fishing, rolling a swag, Fourex Gold and Bundy Rum.

ILN:What is your earliest mining memory?

KW: As a young school kid going to work with my father, a contract miner at Willaroo Colliery on the Darling Downs. On weekends while they did track maintenance, I enjoyed the ride in the coal skips and listening to their stories of what had gone on in the previous week. I still have strong memories of his pride in his work standards and the condition of his working panel.

ILN: What made you choose mining as a career?

KW: I guess it was in my blood. Both my grandfather and father were miners all their working lives. When I left school I had a stint as a clerk with the Post Office at my father’s insistence. It wasn’t me, so off to the mines, to my father’s disgust at the time.

ILN: What was your favourite job in a coal mine?

KW: Being part of and leading Crinum’s longwall team, being able to pass on my experiences. Longwall relocations certainly give the most challenges and satisfaction when completed successfully and safely.

ILN: What was your least favourite job?

KW: One of my first jobs at New Hope Colliery was boot end boy!! Breaking up lumps of coal on a grizzly at the bootend – a human “breaker feeder” and then shovelling up the spillage.

ILN: Who, or what, has most influenced your mining career?

KW: Firstly, my father for instilling into me at a very early stage the importance of maintaining high standards and work ethics. Secondly, a Scottish gentleman, Gavin Taylor who gave me my first opportunity as a longwall supervisor. Gav’s advice, knowledge and support laid the foundations of my longwall management career.

ILN: What do you consider your best mining achievement?

KW: Being involved in Queensland’s very first longwall operation at Central Colliery and also being part of both Gordonstone and Crinum’s longwall installations. Being involved in the setting up of systems and seeing high productivity with good safety follow on.

ILN: What do you see as being the greatest mining development during your career?

KW: The advancement in roof and rib support from timber crowns and split set bolts to steel, fibre, plastic bolts and chemical resins making mining easier and safer for today’s miners. Also the progression from bord and pillar mining to today’s modern longwall systems.

ILN: Do you hold any mining records?

KW: Records are not an individual thing they result from team effort. I certainly have been involved in plenty of records, however records are only made to be broken. Two that come to mind are cutting 226,000 in a week off the wall and pulling 45 shields in a shift on a longwall recovery.

ILN: Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?

KW: To retire healthy. I am very satisfied with what I have achieved from being a mineworker to managing one of the top Longwall systems in the country.

ILN: What was your most embarrassing moment in a coal mine?

KW: Having to explain to the Mine Manager at New Hope that a practical joke with an Undermanager had gone horribly wrong. At the pit bottom area of a new set of drifts a crosscut was partly flooded after a weekend closure and there were two small dams near the portal entries. The undermanager was told that the dam water had leaked into the workings and he reported it to the Mine Manager. What had happened over the weekend was that a pumpout line from the drift face to the dam was not isolated and the water had syphoned back through the pumpout line into the working face.

ILN: What was your scariest time in a coal mine?

KW: While developing a pillar extraction panel at New Hope in the early seventies, the continuous miner holed into some old workings that contained a significant amount of water. The ensuing noise and chaos is still etched in my mind, and fortunately nobody was injured in this high potential event. I didn’t realise I could move so fast.

ILN: What is your worst memory of coal mining?

KW: Being involved with a mining fatality, on my first shift in a development crew as a relief faceman, at New Hope Colliery in 1971.

ILN: Do you think that the day of the fully automated remotely operated face is near?

KW: No, not yet. Although huge technology gains have been made in recent times, I still believe there will be a need for human intervention in the foreseeable future.

ILN: What major improvements would you like to see on longwall operations?

KW: To keep improving on safety performance and to be more consistent with productivity by improving availability and utilisation.