Wonthaggi In Victoria

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.