Gavin was 14 when he emigrated with his family to Wollongong, New South Wales, and started work at Kemira Colliery in 1967. As a deputy and undermanager he worked there and at Old Bulli and Corrimal in the Southern District gaining his statutory tickets.
He decided longwall mining was the way of the future in Australia and that he should travel overseas to learn more about the technology involved. AI&S set up a secondment with Gullick Dobson in Wigan, England. The secondment went by the way and he eventually spent 14 years with Gullick, working in most of the world’s major coal mining countries.
He eventually became export sales manager with Gullick prior to going back to the United States, where he had previously spent four years, as vice president sales and service of Gullick’s American subsidiary, G D Inc. He joined Arco and returned to Australia as longwall manager for the newly commissioned Gordonstone Mine in 1991.
After a short spell at Gordonstone, Gavin joined BHP in the very early days of the design and sinking of Crinum mine. He went on to manage Crinum before returning to Wollongong in 2001, some 24 years after he had left for what was supposed to be a 12-18 month spell overseas. Back in Wollongong, he was manager at West Cliff before a short spell at Newstan prior to taking his current role with Centennial Coal as general manager (southern operations).
ILN:What is your earliest mining memory?
GT: Being brought up in a mining village I have many early memories of coal mining. The guys coming home from shift with their “takity bits” (hobnail boots for the uneducated) hitting the pavement, playing on the village bing (spoil heap) and being with my grandad and his mates listening to “tall tales and true” of the good old days in the pit, to name a few.
ILN: What made you choose mining as a career?
GT: Guess it was in the blood.
ILN: When was your first underground visit?
GT: November 1967 when I commenced work at Kemira Colliery after leaving high school. Interestingly Graeme (Horrie) Owers the current engineering manager at Tahmoor started work on the same day at Kemira.
ILN: What was your favourite job in a coal mine?
GT: I have been fortunate in that most jobs I have had I have really enjoyed, but in the main, anything to do with longwalls is what I have enjoyed the most.
ILN: What was your least favourite job?
GT: While with Gullick in 1979, changing legs on an old six-leg chock on the face at Mid Continent, Colorado, USA. This job was undertaken in mid-winter at a mine, L S Wood #3, whose portal was 12,000 feet above sea level. During that particular winter, over 114 inches of snow fell on Hunter Mountain, the large hill the mine was located on, and the effective temperatures on the face were always well below freezing. I have never been so cold in all my life.
The mine owner, John Reeves Snr, used to joke that the best foreman he had on the hill was Jack Frost. He wasn’t kidding; it was the only place where you used to fight to keep on the tools or drive the shearer to keep warm.
ILN: Who, or what, has most influenced your mining career?
GT: Three people have had a large influence on the direction in my coal mining career. Fred Wright (UMIC, Old Bulli Colliery), who convinced me to keep studying for my certificates of competency; Jimmy Finn (deputy, Corrimal Colliery), who kept me on the straight and narrow as a very young deputy (21-years-old) and undermanager (23yo). Finally, Les Arnott (sales director, Gullick Dobson), who taught me one hell of a lot about longwalls.
ILN: What do you consider your best mining achievement?
GT: I managed a British government-funded steep seam installation that was supplied to Tangshan Colliery, Tangshan, Hebei Province, China in 1984. I headed up the team that designed, installed, commissioned and operated the longwall unit, which was initially installed at 27 degrees in a 2.8m seam and we finally mined up to a maximum 50 degree incline. This was the first mechanised steep seam face in China and I think the whole team had a great degree (no pun intended) of satisfaction in being part of a success story.
While I have been part of other teams that have achieved success, I think I gained more personal satisfaction from this project due to the dedication of the team involved, the technical complexities of the task and working in a different culture, with at times, some funny and interesting language difficulties. All I will say on culture is the conversation on a coal-face, no matter where you are in the world, degenerates, some times faster than others but the same topic will always rear its ugly head.
ILN: What do you see as being the greatest mining development during your career?
GT: The advancement in longwall technology. My first longwall face experience was at Kemira in 1968 and when I look back at the triple-strand 18 mm AFC, the single-drum AB 16 hydraulic shearer, and the old six-leg Gullick 510 ton chocks with hydraulic control through a single valve handle, it pales into insignificance when compared to today’s technology.
As a point of interest, Kemira at various times held world record production with this face.
ILN: Do you hold any mining records?
GT: Through the years I have been fortunate to have been associated with a number of teams that have established new bench marks in safety and production. While we all wish for higher levels of consistent achievement, I reckon there must be something wrong with you if you don’t have a buzz out of smashing records.
In my time at Crinum, Keith Weise (The General) and his longwall teams broke every Australian longwall record and it was great to be a part of their success.
ILN: Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?
GT: Taking over Tahmoor is a significant challenge and it is my fervent desire that, along with the newly formed management team, we bring success to Centennial Coal from this operation. There is much to do but so far we have kicked a few goals and the direction we have laid out appears to be having some success.
Apart from making Tahmoor successful, I would be absolutely delighted if I was involved at an operation where we had no significant injuries. There is no reason in this day and age why we should be hurting anyone below ground.
ILN: What was your most embarrassing moment in a coal mine?
GT: Still too embarrassed to talk about it and I hate to think of the ribbing I would take if certain people happened to find out.
ILN: What was your scariest time in a coal mine?
