Wonthaggi In Victoria Poem by Francis Duggan

An old Town in Victoria with a colonial soul
Wonthaggi in South Gippsland where men once mined for coal
Where miners once took on the Government in their fight for a better wage
In historical Wonthaggi the Union came of age.

Wonthaggi in Victoria it has a glorious past
But back in the late sixties the changes happened fast
And Wonthaggi was the poorer when the coalmine closed down
Though life went on as usual in the old coastal Town.

The long dead miner's widow her hair is silver gray
She came from northern Italy in Europe far away
She says me come to this Country in nineteen thirty nine
And me husband was an Aussie and he worked in the mine.

She raised her five children in the forties and the fifties and in hindsight she recall
That the old days though quite hard days were her happiest days of all
And though some of her children and grandchildren in Wonthaggi live today
The old days were the best days for the one from far away.

To Wonthaggi in Gippsland the Seasons come and go
And the young boy with the football dreams of fame he yet might know
When he plays in the Grand Final where he plays his finest game
And in Aussie Rules forever his a legendary name.

Since the mine closed in the late sixties the changes have been happening fast
In Wonthaggi which still has strong links to it's colonial past
And the last of the old miners who came south from far away
Are now getting old and weary and have known a better day.