During the Scottish autumn of 1891, Irishman, Lucan Hayes, a coal miner, loses his wife to childbirth. In his darkest hour, he meets prostitute Meg-Anne Dunn. This brief encounter would alter their lives forevermore.
Lucan must find a way to rais...
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espace.library.uq.edu John Moffat
John Moffat (1841-1918), mine owner and entrepreneur, was born on 26 May 1841 at Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland, son of James Moffat, starcher, and his wife Elizabeth, née Loudoun.
If you want to find out more about John Moffat you can Google him but, I want to tell you a story, which was told to me by my father.
Back in the height of Irvinebank it was said that at night, when each mining family said their prayers, they added, 'God Bless John Moffat,' before saying, 'Amen'.
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In the 1960's my father worked with the Electricity board as a Live Linesman. He and the men he worked with erected power poles and lines through the rugged terrain to Irvinebank. They would sit under the huge fig trees, across the road from the School of Arts building, to have their lunch and watch cars pull up in front of the monument that was erected in honour of John Moffat. Old men would get out of the cars, stand in front of the monument and pee on it. After seeing this happen a few times, curiosity got the better of my father and his workmates. On seeing another man do this, they went and asked him why?
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The old man said, "God Bless John F&#%ing Moffat". He then went on to tell them that Moffat bought claims from the hard working Tin Scratchers, (men who toiled all day in the harsh environment in search of tin on the waterways and topsoil) for a pittance. If they didn't sell the claim to him, then he wouldn't buy the tin they found from them, to be processed in the battery, so they had no choice but to sell to Moffat.
True story, who knows? The history books say Moffat was a wonderful man but those 'Old Timers' apparently thought otherwise.
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Photo above - Irvinebank - A recent bat plague that stripped the old fig trees nearly bare.
By now some of you who are friends with me on Facebook will know that I have connections with Irvinebank. My very close friend of 47 years, lives there and I often visit her. The town always intrigued me and hence why I wrote 'Children of Toil'.
There are only about 90 to 100 people living in Irvinebank now. To get there you have to drive on a dirt road, which the townsfolk love because it keeps people away. Moffat's house is now a museum, the School of Arts building is still in use as a hall and many old miner's cottages are still lived in. Even Mango Cottage (pics in previous chapters) is still lived in. The old National Bank building is being renovated. See pic below.
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