Arch Tudehope remembered as Qld unionist, miner who helped expose Black Lung crisis

Arch Tudehope is being remembered as a proud father, great mate and a titan unionist who fought passionately until the end for those suffering with dust lung disease.

Arch Tudehope is being remembered as a proud father, great mate and a titan unionist who fought passionately until the end for those suffering with dust lung disease. Picture: Fiona Harding

Arch Tudehope is being remembered as a proud father, great mate and a titan unionist who fought passionately until the end for those suffering with dust lung disease.

His family, friends and unionists are “celebrating” Arch’s life at a memorial in Brisbane on Wednesday.

He died at age 75 on May 8, leaving behind wife Trish and children Kelly, David, Megan and Bronwyn.

Childhood friend Peter Ramage said Arch, who was a life member of the Collinsville museum ‘Coalface Experience’, was a third generation “Collinsville-ite” who arrived in the Whitsunday region town with his parents from the fellow North Queensland mining town of Mt Mulligan.

IM Holdings Limited director Buchanan (centre) presenting "The Story of Collinsville" mural to Workers' Club President Arch Tudehope (right). With them is Isa Mine Company artist Glen Graham. Picture: Mimag, Mount Isa Mines Limited, February 1985

“He was a great mate,” Mr Ramage said.

“Our parents worked in the mines, we came through schooling into the mines and more or less lived and breathed mining.

“Back in them days, we talked about mining around the kitchen table … about the hardship and the struggle.”

Mr Ramage said he believed it was Arch’s passion for helping others plus the hardships he witnessed his parents live through that compelled Arch to become the president of what was then known as the Queensland Colliery Employees’ Union.

Now known as the mighty CFMEU, current president Stephen Smyth followed in Arch’s footsteps, a man he admired.

“I worked with Archie for decades at various levels,” Mr Smyth said.

“He was a true blue, he was more than just a workmate, he was a friend.

“He was certainly a unionist, a comrade.”

Lifelong union member Arch Tudehope standing at the site of the Collinsville mining disaster.

Mr Smyth said Arch was “bigger than life” and unafraid to use his articulated, loud, and confident voice to stand up for miners and sometimes give others a “dressing down”.

He recalled the time Arch led a three-day strike at a mine after workers were told to seal a section that was on fire.

“The manager knew what was going on,” Mr Smyth said.

“He said, ‘We’re sitting on the surface and we’re not going to work until they sack this bastard.

“It took three days and they sacked him.

“The action sometimes taken by a single individual who doesn’t think something is right and they feel uneasy, can stop a disaster or a catastrophic event … he was ballsy.

“He never left you wondering what he thought, whether you were a friend or a foe.”

Arch Tudehope speaks at the dedication of a new monument to Collinsville miners. Picture: Lori Neilsen.

Mr Smyth helped present the lifelong CFMEU member with a Miners’ Flame Safety Lamp last year – a “significant” nod to those who campaign for the industry’s health and safety.

Arch was one of three founding members – alongside former Mirani MP Jim Pearce, and former editor of National Union Mining Energy communications, Patty Gorman – of the Black Lungs Victim Group.

CFMEU president Stephen Smyth presenting a Miners' Flame Safety Lamp to lifelong unionist Arch Tudehope. Picture: Contributed

Mr Smyth said the BLVG worked “hand in glove” with the CMFEU to “blow the lid” on black lung disease and secure a “one stop shop” for sufferers with free screening and ongoing support, and for some, financial compensation.

Arch lobbied at every level, from the miners in their communities up to the premier in parliament, to make screening a reality with about 500 miners already tested with the Heart 5 mobile X-ray and CT machine and an estimated 25,000 retirees still to go.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart said Arch was “tireless and dedicated” to campaigning for the establishment of the Mine Dust Health Support Service.

Mr Stewart described Arch as a “stalwart and guardian of Central Queensland” who “did not compromise” and “always sought better for the world”.

The BLVG is now known as the Queensland Resources Dust Support Group having brought other industries into the fold.

“People respected (Arch’s) view, his vision and his leadership,” Mr Smyth said.

“He was a one of a kind forward thinking union leader that came through the 70s, 80s early union days.

“It was tough, there were a lot of disasters.

“He certainly leaves behind a legacy for those lives that he touched.

“He will be sorely missed.”