But for Weston’s Gary Dickey, coal mining was the only career he wanted and he knew he would be miner for all of his working life.

The recently-retired miner driver reminisced about the memorable moments and developments he has seen in the industry since he walked in and asked for work in 1972.

“There’s been a lot of changes,” he said.

“If you wanted a job back then, you’d walk in and see the manager.”

Workplace health and safety was non-existent in those times, with Gary saying there was very minimal paperwork compared to now.

“You just jumped on a machine, had a bit of a glance at it, made sure she had fuel and away you went,” he said.

“Now you’ve got to do your paperwork all the time.”

That’s one part of the job Gary surely won’t miss.

“This blooming paperwork,” he said.

“Boy did we have some last year, I hated it.”

But there are a lot of things he will miss about the job at Bloomfield Mine, where he worked for 38 years.

Working for the company held some close family ties for Gary, his father and two uncles worked at Bloomfield for most of their lives.

Gary said he has been very lucky working for the company, as his job was safe even through the underground section closing and the downturn over the past few years.

“That’s where I’ve been very fortunate,” he said.

“They’re [Bloomfield] a very, very good company to work for,” he said.

He is optimistic about the future of mining and believes it will bounce back.

“The coal industry has always had its ups and downs,” he said.

“It will come back; when that is, is another story.”

The mateship is Gary’s best memory of his time in the pit, something that he noticed particularly in his 22 years working underground.

“You had that real bond underground,” he said.

“You look out for one another more.”

And the hardest part of leaving for Gary was saying goodbye to his afternoon crew.

“I was alright until I said hooray to the afternoon shift boys,” he said.

“I just felt like something had been pulled out, I had an empty feeling.

“They’re a good pack of blokes, terrific blokes.” 

While many people may think finishing up with work may be a good thing, it wasn’t an easy thing to do for Gary.

“It’s a major thing,” Gary’s wife Mollie said.

“You don’t realise how big of a thing it is to go into retirement.”

“It’s such an adjustment.”

But after 43 years in the mining industry, and 48 years in the workforce, he decided it was time to hang up the boots.

“I’d had enough, that will do me,” he said.

Gary and Mollie don’t have many plans besides a bit of travelling, but Mollie said she knows her husband won’t be sitting still.

“I don’t think he’ll let the grass grow,” she said.

“I think he’ll always be doing something.”