Working conditions in the outback of Australia were perforce harsh and testing. Transfielders had to set up hostels, starting absolutely from scratch, miles away from inhabited areas, in the wild, with scant knowledge of local laws and regulations, starved of resources, facing loneliness and missing their families, having to communicate in broken English.
However, Transfield employees bore the discomfort of pioneering life with resignation, concentrating instead on the positive side of their condition. As a Croatian employee put it, "Security and continuity of employment has been made available to people just dropped into the country and left to fend for themselves... They live in a foreign country away from their family and friends. Transfield has provided a home away from home... So, migrants work. It helps, among other things, to dull the pain of social deprivation... I see the Company's interest and mine as one".
Video: De Gregori on working for Franco.