Vote

Oral History

Oral History - Billy Wal...
- Interview audio - ...
- Interview transcri...

Linked To

Series

City of Sydney oral history collection, 1982 - ongoing

Collection

Our City

Related items

Pictures for cities: a visual history of South Sydney project: Aboriginal history, 1984

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This item is licenced for use under a Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International) copyright license. It allows users to copy and share the item in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided the item is not changed in any way, it is attributed to the City of Sydney and the author/creator (where known), and a copyright notice is included. Full licence terms are available from Creative Commons. No warranties or other rights are provided by the licence.

Tools

Download Add to Collection Contact us about this Citation for this item

Oral History - Billy Wales, 1983

Descriptions

Unique IDOH-000568SeriesCity of Sydney oral history collection, 1982 - ongoingInterviewerLucy TaksaGeoff WearyProject namePictures for Cities - Geoff Weary CollectionThemeOur CityDate of interview1st January 1983Date qualifierexactFormatAudio - CassetteSummary of interviewBilly Wales was 91 years old at the time of recording, and he is hard of hearing, so the interview is relatively short.

Billy spent 44 years working on the railways as a driver, retiring in the 1950s.

He participated in the 1917 general strike, and remembers receiving a telegram that simply said ‘“Victory in sight, stand firm.” He recalls, ’and that’s all we did. We stood firm until the strike was over.’

At that time, Wales was stationed at Narrabri. He says after the strike, he bought a Lily White medal from the union as a token of his participation, although if he wore it to work, he would have lost his job. After the strike Wales lost all his seniority in the workplace, although he says he knew or remembers little about what was going on and why they were striking.LanguageEnglish (eng)Digitised recordYesBorn digital itemNo

Oral Histories, Items

Interview audio - Billy Wales

Interview transcript - Billy Wales

Billy Wales, 1983. Photograph by Geoff Weary

Contributor

SurnameWalesGiven namesBilly

Characteristics

SoundStereoDuration (hr:min:sec)00:15:23

Access

Subject tagsStrikePublic access statusRestricted original (digital copy available)

Relationships

CollectionOur CityRelated itemsPictures for cities: a visual history of South Sydney project: Aboriginal history, 1984

Menu

Oral History - Billy Wales, 1983