Jessie Hansen interviewed by Rob Willis for the Rob and Olya Willis folklore collection [sound recording]

Folkloric recording.

Hansen speaks of her early years in Scotland as part of a large close family with 2 brothers and 4 sisters in the early 1900s; first job in Glasgow, Scotland as a machinist (dressmaker); arriving in Australia in 1926 with her sister and brother-in-law on the TSS Bendigo; her first impressions of Wonthaggi where she worked for the first 12 months at theMine's General Manager's home on a wage of 2 pound per week; no secondary industries in Wonthaggi in the 1920s ; having started her own business as a dressmaker; being married in 1928 to a New Zealand miner who was a strong unionist; becoming a member of the Women's Auxiliary, who supported the miners and the community- women were more militant than some of the men.

Hansen speaks of her work as the Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary and the Pensioner's Committee; the town being a "good labour town" even though it was felt that the Labour government was against the miners; travelling in Victoria to speak about the strikes and the conditions that the miners had to endure; a strong Women's Auxiliary in Wonthaggi which had been formed in 1934 by Mrs Agnes Chambers- people wanted to hear the women not men talk about conditions; boycotting the shops in 1928 and the reasons for doing this; work done by the Auxiliary, making food and clothing parcels for the needy, methods of raising money; recreational activities included dances, picture theatre, community singing and being in the Minstrel Singers; distinction between the Workers and the Gentlemen's Clubs.