![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He had to fulfil many functions, be able to bargain with the cane farmers on the team’s behalf, make sure that the pay and working conditions were satisfactory, and that the barracks supplied for the living quarters were of reasonable standard. The success of a full season would depend very much on the success and organisational ability of the ganger. The team would consist of eight or nine men, often young single males or older drifters, travelling by truck from cane farm to cane farm, cutting the harvest by hand at piece-work rates or for an agreed sum for the overall crop. A team of itinerant cane-cutters would come together at the beginning of the season, usually assembled by a recognised leader known as a ganger, on the understanding that the team would stay together for the seven-month season. Indeed, so much has changed in terms of social attitudes and working practices since Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was written in 1953, that I thought it might be interesting to take a backward glance. ‘The world of itinerant cane-cutters in Australia is now a thing of the past – together with the sort of hotel that catered for male drinkers only in the public bars, and relegated female customers to the side entrance marked ‘Ladies’ Parlour’. A note from Summer of the Seventeenth Doll playwright Ray Lawler ![]()
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