Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 419
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[Page 419]
206
contributions to the Communist Party in addition to their Union dues.
It was also remarkable how great a sense of loyalty the labourers had for every member of their gang. I have known them to complain bitterly about a man who was loafing on the rest of the gang, or who had filthy habits in one of the tented camps, but if the Foreman dared to sack him the rest of the gang were all up in arms at once and threatening to walk off the job collectively. I regret to say that to cope with this predicament and the activities of the "commos", one had to use low cunning and use the rapier rather than the broadsword, and I finally got rid of these undesirables by gradually letting them all into a quarry gang where the rates of pay were the highest and then after a suitable interval of time closing down the quarry indefinitely: one could safely lay them off as a redundant gang, but not individually.
Although I was happy enough in my service with the Main Roads Board (afterwards Department of Main Roads) I had an ambition to get into private engineering consulting work; into a practice of my own or in a partnership in the city. So when in 1928 I was approached on behalf of a group of some of Sydney's leading and best-known company directors to take over the design and erection of a factory to make a special Swedish cement product, for which they had acquired the Australian manufacturing rights, I saw an opportunity to establish myself professionally with influential businessmen who were directors on the boards of many well-known companies. I was also offered a much higher salary for what I hoped would be in any case just a step towards an independent practice.
So I gave the Board notice of my resignation. At a special meeting with me one evening the three Board members appealed to me in vain to reconsider my decision, and also offered me higher emoluments and better status. But in the end they wished me good luck and said that if at any time I wished to come back they would be very glad to see me again.