Another random blast from my past...

[Kev Murphy]

Circa 1970/71?  daylight savings introduced in SA
By now, most of you know the scope of my humour...

I was working at the Blast Furnaces/Wharf area for BHP at Whyalla... night shift. Midnight (REAL time) to 8 am (7am daylight saving hours)
Bonus was we were paid for an 8 hour shift, although only there for 7 hours. Swings and roundabouts, I had to work a 9 hour shift for 8 hours pay a few months later.

Sunday overtime was a 6 am start for the boys who had been at the workers club until closing at 1.30 am (real time)
Allow them time to travel home, half plastered, and time to settle in bed, only to have to rise at 4 am in time to start work at 5 am (REAL TIME!)... so understandably, the shift workers on Sunday overtime, were still a bit seedy....

I spent a couple of hours rigging up a pair of electro-mechanical timer switches, and an electric horn.
the device was hidden inside the overhead air ducting system, 15 feet above the workshop floor. This air ducting ran the length of the Electricians, the Boilermakers, and Fitters and Riggers workshops... about 100 metres. Had an outlet vent every 5 metres....

Each of these timers had a 3 minute clockwork delay. At the end of the first relay time-out, a relay was energised which set the second timer. After that timer ran out, it switched the relay to reset the first one, and at the instant that occurred, the horn gave a short 'BIP!' ... every 6 minutes..... It was such a short 'BIP', and echoed out of each and every air duct... so it wasn't obvious WHERE the noise came from.

As I was leaving the workshop at end of my shift, I plugged in the power.

Around 2 hours later, I had a phonecall from the leading hand "OK YOU SMART !... only YOU would pull a stunt like this?... would you PLEASE tell me WHERE the you hid the ing thing... and WHERE the HELL IS IT POWERED FROM, BECAUSE ITS DRIVING US NUTS!!"

[alans1100]

Overtime was a little different down at the finishing end........on afternoons we'd do midnight to 4am a couple days a week and (12 hours total), sometimes they'd asks us do an extra 4 but not often. Good thing was all the overtime was double time on the seven day roster.

I also remember a tale about a guy who got married. They stripped him and then tarred and feathered him......not sure if it's true but from what you put in your post it probably was..........lol

I worked there and left just before the 38 hour week came in about 1972/3

[Kev Murphy]

I was shifted from the BOS plant and rolling mills in 65 to the blast furnaces, for construction of no 2 furnace, relining of no1, and construction of the coke ovens.

[alans1100]

I started at the Pellet Plant and then transferred to the finishing end. I started work for them during their computerised system install, once completed those on the shift work had first preference in transferring out......so I went from 5 day rotating roster to a 7 day one.