Glossary:

Since September I’ve had to learn two new languages; Australian and Mining. Here is a selection, by no means comprehensive, of the words I’ve learnt both above and underground. This list is still quite short and I'll be updating it as I remember new words.

Crib: food/lunch/snacks.
Crib-time: when you have ‘crib’. Officially, this is 40mins a day but actually closer to 2hrs.
Crib-tin: tin for carrying food for crib plus a wide array of miscellaneous items that may or may not be useful. This includes porn, porn and sometimes porn.
Smoko: a short break, usually mid-morning, has nothing to do with smoking.
Shifter: adjustable wrench, more commonly used as a hammer to ‘shift’ stubborn fittings.
Bull hose: 3” black rubber hoses that are near impossible to connect/disconnect without the use of a ‘shifter’.
Bat-bags: plastic bags that hang from the roof, each must contain a minimum of 6kg of ‘stonedust’. Often used for target practice and great for slicing with a knife when someone is working underneath.
Stonedust: limestone dust, used to prevent explosions due to coal dust. Is sprayed everywhere in coal mines, most ends up inside your overalls or in your eye.
Arvo: afternoon or “beer o’clock”.
Doggy: dogwatch or night-shift, see ‘doggers’.
Doggers: people who don’t turn up when promised or who turn up, drink all your beer then leave.
Rib: the walls in a mine and the area at the base of the walls for example: “chuck that bull hose in the rib”.
Rib-borer: a small, handheld, air powered drill used to drill 4ft holes in the rib or floor. Underpowered and often useless due to lack of a ‘turtle’.
Turtle: either a small metal oil container used to lubricate rib-borers or a stream of gas bubbling up through a puddle. Both can usually be found on the floor, the former under several feet of mud.
Vent tubes: 4m x 0.7m fibreglass tubes used to ventilate the working face. These are always located at least 3 pillars outbye when there is no Eimco available. Handles are invariably broken.
Eimco: now known as LHDs or load-haul-dumps these machines are the workhorses of the mine. Normally driven by the least competent person available.
Inbye: towards the working face, fresh air at your back.
Outbye: away from the working face, towards pit bottom, fresh air in your face.
Pit bottom: Area at the bottom of the drift where all men, vehicles and supplies are organised and dispatched. The favourite hangout for useless gits like fitters, leccos, drillers and bludgers.
Fitters: mechanics, responsible for keeping all machinery working. Can often be seen racing around in their ‘ute’ but rarely seen working.
Leccos: electricians, responsible for keeping all electronics and power supplies working. Never around when needed.
Drillers: these guys operate the drill rigs that take core samples and drill gas drainage holes. Biggest bludgers in the pit.
Bludger: someone who doesn’t work or shirks their fair share of the work. Often used to describe dole-scum, politicians, leccos and drillers.
Ute: a ‘utility’ vehicle, otherwise known to the rest of the world as a pickup truck. Often driven by ‘hoons’ and tricked out to the max with alloys, lowered suspension and tinted windows.
Hoons: the chavs of Australia, see ‘ute’ and ‘stupid-fucking-redneck-bastards’***.
Soft-cock: derogatory term used to describe someone who won’t stand up for themselves or who doesn’t follow their words with action. Otherwise known as a complete pussy.
Drug bus: not an enterprising young drug dealer who delivers but a minivan that turns up randomly to test mine workers for illicit substances. Randomly turns up after every major sporting event.
Out-of-service tag: Supposedly a tag to inform others that a piece of machinery is broken, how it is broken and what to do about it. In 95% of all cases this is summed up quite eloquently in a single word: “fucked”.
Feds: mine workers/ lazy bastards
Staff: managerial level workers/incompetent bastards.








*** I may have made that last one up….