AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF LABOUR HISTORY (MELBOURNE BRANCH)
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
15 October 1970 is infamous as the date of one of Australia’s worst industrial disasters. A span of the Westgate Bridge, then under construction, collapsed. 35 workers plummeted to their deaths below. Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 played havoc with plans to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the tragedy. The annual pilgrimage of remembrance to the memorial plaque was cancelled, but the anniversary was still appropriately observed, with the Memorial Committee’s live stream Facebook event, 3CR’s documentaries from 1990 and 1995, Channel 9’s documentary feature, and Sam Wallman’s magnificent eight-panel artwork. … Continue readingONE SONG – MANY LIVES: Remembering the Westgate Bridge tragedy
On 18 September Moratorium marchers encountered a determined effort by the police to reassert their ‘dictatorship of the streets’. This might have been expected to occur most virulently in Brisbane and Melbourne but it was in Sydney and Adelaide that the police were most vicious, attacking demonstrators with pre-planned clockwork precision. … Continue readingThe Gloves Come Off – The 1970 Moratorium and the Limits of Tolerance
The green bans preserved much in the built and natural environments and prompted important improvements to the culture of town planning, and environment and heritage legislation at State and federal levels. Mundey’s impact was profound. His commitment to the working-class and conviction about its vital ecological role made him an especially effective force for good. … Continue readingJack Mundey
Melbourne’s Moratorium demonstration of 8 May 1970 was the city’s largest public gathering ever and the highpoint of a movement that had been steadily building over a number of years
A HISTORY OF THE BAKERY (OFF-CAMPUS CENTRE OF THE MONASH UNIVERSITY LABOR CLUB 1968-1971) By Ken Mansell. The Yeast is Red is a case study of the Australian new left of the
Frank Bongiorno Many of us owe a very great debt to Dr Sigrid McCausland, whose untimely death on 30 November 2016 has been widely mourned by her many friends
Call for Papers Brisbane, 23-25 September 2017 Convened by the Brisbane Labour History Association (BLHA) on behalf of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH) Today, the
Continue readingWorkers of the World: the 15th Biennial National Labour History Conference
By Rowan Cahill A discussion of Peter Linebaugh, The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day (Oakland: PM Press, 2016). Writing in 1896, not long before his death,
Continue readingLinebaugh: metaphors, rebellion, and socialist dreaming
A message from David Cragg, Victorian Trades Hall Council On 11-12 May 1916, the THC convened an All-Australia Trade Union Anti-Conscription Conference at the Melbourne Trades Hall. (Please note that this
Continue readingCENTENARY OF TRADE UNION ANTI-CONSCRIPTION | WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 2016