Interview with Jack Ovington

Audio recording and transcript of Jack Ovington's 1979 interview with Bernard McNicholl for the Coal Tyee History Project. Ovington shares details about his family's history including how his father was an experienced coal miner with a second-class ticket. He talks about how his family arrived in Canada in the early 1900s, first moving to the Merritt area before settling on Vancouver Island. Ovington recalls details from his childhood and school days and he talks about what it was like to live in the South End. He started working at the Morden Mine when he was 16 years old, and he recalls how he felt on his first day. Initially, he ran the winch underground, but he soon changed to working above ground on the locomotives that transported the coal to Boat Harbour. Ovington talks about how he acquired his different engineer's tickets, his army service, and how he worked all over the province servicing power plants. He concludes the interview by talking about the Vancouver Island Coal Miners' Strike, sharing a story about how his father, who was a mine manager, was warned that there might be trouble.