Flying Miners (ATOM Study Guide)

It's a world where the money is good, but the costs are great. Isolation, loneliness and heartache – these are the realities of working out in the wilderness, thousands of kilometres from home. Flying Miners tells the stories of the men and women at the frontline of Australia's mining boom.

A snapshot of a special time in Australia's history, Flying Miners puts a face to the men and women working at the coalface. Over 100,000 workers currently hold a unique place in Australia's mining industry. They're called FIFOs: Fly In Fly Out miners. Making money – and lots of it – can make ordinary people do extraordinary things. If the price is right, it can turn teachers into truck drivers, accountants into labourers and high-school dropouts into highly skilled drillers.

Curriculum Links

This study guide, which covers widely divergent topics and issues, is mainly aimed at middle and upper secondary school levels, with relevance to English, Media Studies, History, Social Studies, Current Affairs, Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, Economics and Business.