Pike River Day V1
For 5 days New Zealanders have lived on the edge and 24 hours ago the news nobody wanted to hear came through. On the whole I have been very impressed with the actions of the New Zealand Police, the media with a few exceptions, politicians of all colours but throughout this tragedy a true Kiwi hero has emerged.
Peter Whittall the guy in the blue shirt and CEO of Pike River. He has only been in the job since September up until then he was the companies operations manager. He employed most of the guys who died. They were his friends.
His leadership was amazing. He has explained thing simply and well the whole way through he remained focused on trying to get to the miners. Yesterdays explosion would have devastated him, before work this morning I read a few blogs and http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/ Keeping Stock pointed out that we have found our New Zealander of the year. That he is an Australian matters not a bit. He is one of us now as are the Australians, Britons and South Africans who have died with their New Zealand brothers at Pike River.
These are the men who fell at Pike River and this is from Chris Trotters blog http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
Remember them in the light.
For these were New Zealand boys,
Born to sunlight and the Tasman’s thunder.
Pressed black in the earth’s embrace,
Whose richness these miners carved
Out of the mountain’s chest.
Under a fleeting sun.
Rummaging in the fern with dog and gun
For the wild pig and the running deer.
The rictus of disbelief.
Of ragged breaths indrawn
Over jagged reefs of pain.
Their laughter and fierce joy
At discovering along this smoky coast
First kisses, proud promises, wedding days.
That Death and Darkness
In the deep confer and grimly
Draw a line beneath our Twenty-Nine.
Think of the coal they hewed
Burning white hot
In the world’s furnaces.
Their labour forged.
Lift your faces to the sun
And know the quality of our loss
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