Suggest an edit to this item

Format: Photograph

Image Tags

Add

Show tags

no tags yet

Linked To

Organisation (eg business)

Strongman Mine

Map

Add

Comments

Add

no comments yet

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License

This licence allows you to download this work and share it with others as long as you mention us and link back to us, but you cannot change it in any way or use it commercially.

Donate to West Coast Website

Tools

Full size thumbnail Fit to screen Fit to width Fit to height Rotate 90 degrees Zoom to 100%

Show Text / Transcription Show keyword hits Highlight keywords Download Add to My Collection Like this item Contact us about this Suggest an edit to this item Citation for this item

This helmet was worn by miner Donald Ross (1923-2015) in the Strongman Mine in the 1950s.

About this image

DescriptionThis helmet was worn by miner Donald Ross (1923-2015) in the Strongman Mine near Greymouth in the 1950s.
Donald was an avid workers’ rights advocate. He led his first protest march at Whangarei Boys High when he was 16 years old when he objected to the school master burning pupils' belongings found out of place. He studied law at university in New Zealand after he left school but his education was cut short by World War II, when he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Even though Don studied law, he spent most of his working life as an industrial worker. He was a miner between 1955–64, and also worked in forestry.
The Ross family remember Don as a person who led from behind and didn't like the spotlight. He was a 'subtle persuader' who always advocated for equality and justice. He was the New Zealand Trade Union Secretary between 1948–54, a member of the New Zealand Workers Union, and a writer, editor and publisher for 'Struggle' magazine.
Manufacture of helmet

The helmet was made by the Thetford Patent Pulp Manufacturing Company in Norfolk, England. Founded in 1879, the company produced pulpware until the 1950s when production shifted to modern plastics. Thetford pulpware was a distinctive patented papier-mache-like product formed from recycled paper, rags (such as jute bagging) and/or wood pulp.

During its heyday in the 1930s, the Patent Pulp Manufacturing Company produced more than 150 different items, ranging from kitchen basins, baby baths, flower troughs, miner's helmets, aircraft fuel tanks, to powder puff bowls and pin boxes. Pulpware was water resistant and considered unbreakable, used for domestic items and safety helmets which could withstand heavy blows. Cheap, waterproof, durable, and light, it was a perfect product for wartime Britain and was well suited to families with young children because it was perceived to be unbreakable.

Raw materials (paper, rags and wood pulp) were blended with lime and then shredded in 'rag engines' before being placed in 'formers' which would give the object shape. Water was squeezed out using a hydraulic press and items were left to dry in an oven, before receiving its smooth surface from a stamping machine. Items were then soaked in linseed oil and resin, painted and varnished before being sent across the world.

Gift of Donald Hugh Ross and Marion Lesley Ross, 2008Date of Photo1950sMap^[1]External LinkTe PapaContributorHeather Newby

Shown in this image

Location (city or town)West CoastPersonDonald RossOrganisation (eg business)Strongman MineEventThis helmet was worn by miner Donald Ross (1923-2015) in the Strongman Mine in the 1950s.

Category Information

Category TagCoal Mining

From Facebook

Date Created13th November 2022CommentsBrian McIntyre
Interesting to finally learn what they were made of. They did have an appearance of being made of a light pressed cardboard type of material

Heather Newby
Brian McIntyre yes.. sort of plastic like.. but not quite. Reminds me of the stuff we used to make recorders from at school.

Brian McIntyre
Interesting to finally learn what they were made of. They did have an appearance of being made of a light pressed cardboard type of material

Heather Newby

Brian McIntyre yes.. sort of plastic like.. but not quite. Reminds me of the stuff we used to make recorders from at school.

Carol Scott
Andrew Scott

Heather Newby
BrianJoyce Hassan
mine got destroyed in a roof fall of coal at surprise mine reefton 1968

Barbara Burton
Wonderfully enterprising!

Ian Buchanan
They are very comfortable

OCR Text Transcription Edit Edit +-Close

Editing is temporarily disabled

Cancel Edit

Start typing here to find a location	Latitude	Longitude	Zoom	Actions

loading google map....

Save Cancel

Menu

This helmet was worn by miner Donald Ross (1923-2015) in the Strongman Mine in the 1950s.

Editing is temporarily disabled