THE equal rights issue is all about fair play. It is like a huge rock boulder that is slowly rolling along. The message to all male chauvinists is you either accept and go along with it or get crushed by it.
In Eric Morris' TV interview he said 90 per cent of free miners were against women/female free miners. There were 17 free miners at the AGM on Saturday October 20, 2010, 90 per cent of 11 is approximately 15 which means that out of approximately 200 free miners it is more like three and a half per cent who are against.
Eric Morris does not represent all free miners. I have spoken to 20 free miners who are not against women registering. I could say I represent more free miners than Eric. There are more females eligible to register.
There is nothing in the act that mentions mining qualifications, only mining experience, which I have. As a young girl I helped my father at Clearwell Caves Ancient Iron Mines. At that time Mostyn Walkins often visited for a chat. We also went to his house and Puzzlewood on many occasions.
One of the things I found fascinating was that Mostyn, born in 1885, as a young man had spoken to old men who were young men when the 1838 Act was being composed. We were able to get first hand information on the controversies at that time.
These old men had also spoken to the old men back in the 1700s when many women were working in the mines. So just by speaking to Mostyn we were able to get information from those times over 200 years ago. Much better than studying old musty, out of date, documents written by people with a political bias. – Elaine Morman, free miner.