Coping...Isolation and transience in a new Australian mining town

1979, 93 Minutes

Part of the series Three Communities, which examines in detail the social interactions of communities living in three different regions across Australia: Wellington, NSW; Leinster, WA; and Spring Hill in Brisbane, Queensland.

Coping...Isolation and transience in a new Australian mining town is the study of four women’s lives in the remote mining company community of Leinster in Western Australia. 

The community is examined through the lives of four women - Carol, Diane, Julie and Sheila - who meet through the local branch of the Country Women’s Association.

Particularly for the wives and partners of miners, life in Leinster is fragile, threatened by isolation, the transience of friends, the newness of everything around them and the extreme temperatures of a desert climate. Club activities dominate much of their daily lives and provide a sense of purpose and companionship in a remote, and unfamiliar environment.

© 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia