A Labour History Day in Ballarat
Members and friends of the Melbourne Branch are invited to join us for a Labour History Day in Ballarat on Sunday, 10 March. We’ll convene at Ballarat Trades Hall, 24
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Review: David Marr, Killing For Country: a family story
By Michael McKernan David Marr, Killing For Country: a family story (Black Inc, 2023). pp. 432. Paper $40.00. This is a very hard book to read. I had to take
Continue readingReview: David Marr, Killing For Country: a family story
The 1962 Victorian Beer Ban
On Friday 8 December 1962 the Victorian Trades Hall Council’s Disputes Committee placed a complete ban on the export of beer from Victoria. This led to an immediate shortage in NSW towns bordering the state and left more than 10,000 cartons of beer sitting on docks and in warehouses. The action not only provided crucial support for brewery workers in their fight for improved wages but also marked a new step in the long running fight against the federal government’s anti-union ‘penal powers’. … Continue readingThe 1962 Victorian Beer Ban
Michael McKernan on Ryan Cropp’s Donald Horne Biography
In June 1977 Donald Horne came into my office – we were on the same corridor – quite early in the morning. He was clutching his copy of Historical Studies. I was pleased as I thought he was about to congratulate me on my first article in Australia’s premier history journal and I was quite proud of my achievement, too. … Continue readingMichael McKernan on Ryan Cropp’s Donald Horne Biography
Peacemonger, Owen Wilkes: International Peace Researcher
The recent publication of a book of essays honouring the life of legendary New Zealand peace researcher and activist Owen Wilkes is a must read for historians of social movements, those who were active in the anti-nuclear and peace movements of the seventies and eighties, as well as those growing numbers who today carry on the resistance to escalating militarism. … Continue readingPeacemonger, Owen Wilkes: International Peace Researcher
Citizen Love – teacher, activist, scholar, and friend
Our dear friend Peter Love is no more. His involvement with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History spans fifty years. For the last thirty-five of those years, Peter has been president of its Melbourne Branch. He personified his ‘communitarian civic ideal’ with an ‘unassuming nationalism, simple decency and a willingness to place the public good before private benefit’. Befitting a man who operated according to the ‘Old Mates Act’ and practised noncontractual reciprocity, his friendship circles were large. He will be sorely missed. … Continue readingCitizen Love – teacher, activist, scholar, and friend
Book Launch: ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’
Join authors Evan Smith, Jayne Persian, Vashti Jane Fox and Jeff Sparrow in the launch of ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’. Friday 31 March at 6:00pm-7:30pm Catalyst Social Centre 144-146 Sydney Road, Coburg. Free drinks and nibbles will be provided before and after the talk. RSVP essential. … Continue readingBook Launch: ‘Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia’
The La Trobe Three
Barry York ‘La Trobe Students Freed’ – so ran the billboard of the Melbourne Herald newspaper fifty years ago in its late afternoon edition on 4 August 1972. That edition of
The Union Leader Who Dared to Dream
Tom McDonald (1926-2022) By Michael Easson Tom McDonald was a building union leader and building industry reformer, superannuation pioneer, pro-Moscow communist turned “broad left” warrior, and celebrated elder of the