The document provides a warning about potentially offensive or disturbing content in future posts. It then begins a multi-part story about the author's experiences working in various mining jobs in Australia as an 18-year-old woman in 1985. In the first part, she describes the living and working conditions, including tiny shared living spaces, loud air conditioners, rampant drinking and drug use, and sexual harassment. She recalls frequently being pressured to join late-night parties and having her underwear stolen and displayed.

1. 1 | P a g e
Women in Boots #1: Tardis Time
Warning:”Some of my posts from here on in may disturb some viewers. Names
of people and placeshave been changed or omitted to protecttheir identity.
There may be offensive language. Mild language is acceptable and will be
included in its entirety. There may be any or all of the following:
Broad generalisations.
Statements deemed ‘notpolitically correct’.
Brutal facts, home truths some viewers may not wantto hear.
All views expressed in my posts are mine only and are not a reflection on any
company or clientpast or presentthat I am or will be affiliated with.

2. 2 | P a g e
The ‘data’ here (insertopinions) has been accumulated over 3 decadesof
personalon site experience and every story, scenario or recollection is true, not
a ‘fictitious story’ to add value as has been suggested in the past. Truth is
stranger than fiction.
If you the reader are notwilling to acceptthe above please abandon your
desire to carry on reading. If you decide to carry on reading and are then
offended, tuff sh#t you were warned so do notcome crying to me after the fact.
Regular readers, thiswarning shallremain at the start of all of my posts on this
forum, justskip it and hook in to main piece.
PS I know it is the wrong ‘tuff’ thatmay happen too.
CheersHard HatMentor.”
Hi Team,
Firstly if you have not read the ‘intro post’ to this series here it is below, it is a
fastread and I feel it would be helpful to give you the bigger picture before
you hook into this one 
www.linkedin.com/pulse/women-boots-intro-post-drewie-dionne-drew-aka-
hard-hat-mentor?trk=pulse_spock-articles

3. 3 | P a g e
Postnumber 1 for the ‘Women In Boots’ series, how excitement! Ready?
Ok so let’s time travel back to my 18th
birthday
1985. Itwas my firstday on a copper mine in
South Australia. My Mum was working there and
got me a job as a cleaner. Itwas very much a case
of who you know not what you know. The good
folk who work in essential services areamong
some of the hardestworking I haveever met. The
very term says it all. Feeling a little off? Have no
energy? Care factor of zero? We all have days like
that, I don’t care who you are, we do. Well that is
justtough shit if you work in essential services. The rooms need cleaning, the
food needs cooking and the dishes need doing regardless, and oh don’tyou
hear about it if any of the above are even slightly under par. To this day I leave
‘gifts’ on my pillow for the cleaners, take the time to thank the chefs and
kitchen hands every single day for looking after me when I am on site. Hope
you do too, if not, start today I say.
The roster was not too bad, 3 weeks on 1 off. The dongas weretiny, no
ensuite. (Though those of us in the game at the time knew no different) The
girls had their own ablution block. Mind you the guys used to go into our loo
when they werepissed and have a huge dump thinking it was hilarious. They
also used to steal our underwear and bras from the line and the dryer. Oneof
my bras ended up on a machine in the workshop with allsaying it was found in
the back of ‘Tim’s car.’ The louder the denials the more convinced everyone
was of the truth, I gaveup after about 4 times.

4. 4 | P a g e
The air conditioners in the dongas were so
loud and rattled the whole room. Had to
get up and give them a bash during the
night to at least lower the level of the
shaking a little. To this day I cannot sleep
in silence, causes all sorts of grief at home.
Having a jaw crusher in the background for
years probably added to that too. Speaking of walls you could literally hear
your neighbour fart, even a very quiet fart, they were so thin. Heard all sorts of
‘interesting’ things going on.
The drinking and drugs wererife on site. No testing back then. I was no saint,
even spiked the orangejuice with vodka one Christmas day. Hey I was
18...Needless to say no one let on, yet the OJ vanished faster than ever before,
had the boss stumped. No one was injured that day, for the record.
The number of times I wokeup with 3 or 4 guys in my room sitting on the end
of my bed trying to convince me up to come back to the ‘party,’ as I had left
early to get somesleep, was out of control. The door locks were broken, many
things were broken. They had no ill intent, justfreaked me out as you can
imagine.

5. 5 | P a g e
So many memorable moments there. I was banned from playing pool in the
wet mess in my shorts. Itwas 40 plus degrees most of the time (Celsius for our
international readers) I only owned the clothes I owned. My shorts were very,
very short. Genuinely had no idea whatI was doing to the guys, sinceI
wouldn’t‘put out’ they didn’t wantto see it anymore. Be mindful whatyou
are putting out there by your choice of clothing. Right or wrong it is a fact. Just
friendly advice, take it or leave it, have a think about it. Tight, tight jeans, low
cut tops… whatare you saying? The way you behaveis more important I guess,
yet couple that with highly revealing attire and it is the perfect storm. This next
piece of ‘advice’ not so friendly.
‘If you are doing it on purpose, trustme when I say it will end
in tearsin the long run. Itis not professional and it will put us
back years in our hope to be taken seriously. Oh and it pisses
those of us off who have worked so hard to giveyou the right
to flaunt sexual crap in front of guys so far fromtheir family
for so long. So pull your head in or leave site, you don’t belong
and you are not welcome.’ HHM
We had chicks come to site who were blatantly there to sleep with many,
some even charged for the privilege. Made me sick. Not my business yet it
made it all the more difficult for thoseof us just trying to make it in a world
which was hard enough as it was.
What also made/makes me angry is this ridiculous notion that all women were
on site to ‘bag a rich miner.’ Possibly not so prevalent now days, yet I still hear
it. My come back was “No, I am here to get rich and they can try to bag me.”

6. 6 | P a g e
Well that was a hell of a side bar or one of my famous ‘tangents,’ so back to
the story. My goal was always to get out of essential services. Whenever some
ars#hole ‘frisbeed’ the plate from the return counter into the big sink I was
washing the dishes in (as it was hilariousto see me get drowned) I justtook a
deep breath and remembered the end goal. I was a smart mouthed little thing
then – as opposed to? – and yes I ‘give it to em’ when they did that, yet like
everything else back then being a chick, the louder you complained the more
they did it, whatever it was. If you justignored ‘it’ they got bored and stopped.
There was always a line in the sand of course, you had to pick your battles and
little pranks like that were small fry compared to some of stuff that went
down. Mind you my tongue was bleeding most of the time from biting it so
very often.
Things were different when not ‘on the clock.’ I ‘gaveas good as I got’ and then
some. Found out pretty quickly that smartarse blokes can give it but are
pussies when it comes to taking it back, especially from a little girl. (That fact
has never changed justquietly) I thought “I havetaken your crap all day at
work. This is my time now.” We live and learn. Blokes are actually fairly easy to
‘influence’ without having a battle. (I didn’twrite manipulate) and in a manner
which takes far less energy. Can be done with respect, which is always a smart
move, if you do it rightthey don’t even know it has been done. Not hard, make
them think they came up with the idea, let them take all the credit. Easy. (One
of many other strategies all women havepretty much mastered I would think.)
Guys out there, do you have a daughter, a wife, a mother, a girlfriend? Then
you may have an idea what I mean. Do not think for one minute that the
professionalwomen on your team are not using every tool in their kit on you…
as you are on them, whata wonderfulworld welive in. GOLD!!

7. 7 | P a g e
Putting a few mine sites together here for the sake of time; in Western
Australia on a gold mine now. Roster 6 weekson 1 off. Pretty prevalent roster
then for an operational FIFO site.
Working remotely appeals to somewho are quite
happy to get away fromtheir ‘real life.’ As a
woman it was heartbreaking to meet some men
who hated us being there. (Remember talking old
schoolhere.) I usually say ‘hate is such a strong word’, yetthere is no other
word for it, it came out of their very pores, screamed at you in their body
language even when they tried to mask it and be at least civil. Many were
angry as they had a rough break up or divorceand ‘that bitch is taking most of
my money I am earning here anyway’. Theway those particular guys treated
the chicks on site would blow your mind. Itwould never be tolerated in this
day and age. Blatant sexual, psychologicalharassmentand someof the worst
cases of bullying I have ever seen and I haveseen plenty. Portions of it even
came fromthe bosses. Allof it ignored, no one held accountable. Their world.
Toughen up princess or get out. We supported those who suffered as best as
we could, tried to make the ‘leaders’ hear our plight, to no avail. I survived as I
grew up in a rough neighbourhood, camefrom a broken home, bla bla, on top
of someof the background in the intro post. Many did not. Itbrokethem and
brokethem very badly. I started to understand why someof the women on
site were so ‘manly’ sworelike bloody troopers and you wouldn’t wantto
meet them in a dark alley if they wereangry at you. They were the generation
before me and I cannot even begin to imagine their journey. There were
‘ladies’ on site who survived of course. Yet they didn’t mix it on the frontline
as much, more in the office environment etc. Italso seemed if you dressed and
acted like a ‘lady’ should then someof the heat came off. Being a tom boy and
taking no shit, I took plenty of heat.

8. 8 | P a g e
Gave it back like a flame thrower. I evolved to settle into the middle ground
whereI hang out today. It is a good place, took sometime to find.
Taking the tardis to the present day: If someone offends you on site ladies, let
them know and give them a chance - only one - to adjusttheir behaviour,
don’t justrun off and ‘report’ them withoutthem even knowing they have
offended you. For me that too will put us back years. (Naturally if it is an
obvious off the scale unacceptable attack that everyone knows in today’s time
is justthat, then do what you feel is appropriate.)
Ok back to the story or weshall be here for years! The next goal came pretty
rapidly, out of the cleaning and kitchen and into the laboratory. Sample prep to
start, up there on the hard yards scale. Hot, dusty, loud, boring, took a toll on
the body. Yet done with pride anything is satisfying and justkept thinking
about the next goal. That came super- fast, into the ‘wet lab’ no dustyet very
stinky chemicals. Boring. Monkeys can do it - no offense monkeys - yet to
trouble shooton the AA, to careenough not to cheat, especially on night shift,
that takes more effort. A critical role working in a lab, accurateresults are so
very important, can be game changers. Still the cheating that went on in the
lab, on the plant, well everywherewas mind numbing. My work ethic did not
allow that. The abandoned posts on nightshiftdue to sleeping were legendary.
Joints smoked in the crib room. (Not me of course) Need I go on?
We must wind up here. Thosetangents took up our time, I shalllet them often.
We shall carry on in post#2.

9. 9 | P a g e
Hit the finish line with some positive mojo.
The bonds you makewith people on sites is very hard to describe. Especially
when you spend the likes of Christmas and New Year with them. When many
other very special and important milestones in your and their lives are being
spent with your crew instead of your family and friends, it ties you together in
a way no one else will ever understand. (Exceptprobably those in the forces
and other occupations that take you away I guess, yetthat is on a level I will
not profess to relate too, totally different ball game.) They really do become a
surrogatefamily. There are times when some very serious possibly life
changing events are happening at home and you justcannot be there. The
supportoffered by your crew in those times shows a side of humanity that
makes me so very proud to be human. Even somewho may never havegiven
you the time of day or wereperhaps mean to you at times, show their true
colours. Thosecolours are vibrant, illuminating, blindingly comforting.
We shall explore this further in the next post. Including the fact that the
‘gender’ gap melts away at those times. We are all one, as we should be,
sacrificing and celebrating together (all the other crap is forgotten.) That is a
huge part of what keeps me in the game. To be with those special souls who
‘get it.’

10. 10 | P a g e
Hope this one was not too long for you. If you are here, then perhaps not.
As always this is all justmy humble opinion, I shareit in the hope it may
resonateor assist.
FIFO = For IncredibleFolk Only: There will be a positive acronym on every post.
Please let me know your thoughts. See you again on #2.
‘Likes’ are lovely, ‘Comments’ arecool, and ‘Sharing’ is caring.
Stay safe, keep smilin’
Only use your power for good.
Cheers Drewie and Hard Hat Mentor 