Jim Comerford immigrated from Scotland to Kurri Kurri with his family at the age of 9, after his father was blacklisted at a Scottish mine.  

Jim's career in mining started when he was just 13, and went to work as at pit boy at the Richmond Main Colliery. At 15, Jim Comerford witnessed the violence of the Rothbury Riot. This had a great impact on his life as he wrote a book about the event and became a lifelong union advocate. At the age of 29, he was the youngest person elected to the miner's central council. 

Jim Comerford was President of the Miner's Federation from 1953 to 1973. He later became a Convocation Scholar and writer-in-residence at the University of Newcaste. In 1996 a memorial Wall commemorating victims of mining tragedies in the Hunter Valley was unveiled in Aberdare, as a tribute to him by the United Mineworkers Federation. 

Source

Stephens, Tony. "From pit boy to legend". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 November 2006. Web. 4 July 2013. <http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/from-pit-boy-to-labour-legend/2006/11/07/1162661682712.html?page=2>