Category: Labour History

ONE SONG – MANY LIVES: Remembering the Westgate Bridge tragedy

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

The Gloves Come Off – The 1970 Moratorium and the Limits of Tolerance

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

Jack Mundey

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

CENTENARY OF TRADE UNION ANTI-CONSCRIPTION | WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 2016

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