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On 15 October 1970, dozens of workers were mid-construction on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge when it collapsed in what is still Australia’s deadliest industrial accident. Thirty-five men were killed as countless more workers and families were left forever changed.
Young Scrapper is a mouthy labourer born into the construction union. When he’s teamed up with veteran welder Vittorio, his attitude starts to improve. But as disquiet mounts about working conditions and questionable safety measures, their lives are put on the line. With increasing pressure to get the bridge finished, the engineers scramble to placate the workers and keep things moving, but none of them have ever built a steel bridge before – let alone one this size. When the structure comes crashing down, who will take the fall?
Dennis McIntosh is a playwright, writer and educator whose work explores the politics of labour and working-class life. After a long working life in manual and industrial labour, he returned to university aged 40, an experience he describes as “living life twice.” His academic research has informed his creative practice, including an honours thesis on manual work, family relationships and language; a master’s thesis on shearing and social realism; and a PhD examining tunnel work and representations of blue-collar labour in literature. His published works include Beaten By a Blow and The Tunnel (Penguin Books), both based on his own memories. His plays include I Is Maggie, about migrant women working in an industrial laundry, and West Gate, which examines the 1970 bridge collapse that killed 35 workers. Dennis works as a teacher and has taught in remote Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory and Queensland, and now teaches literacy in a diverse learning hub at a multicultural school.
