Eight Hours: The Victorian Trades Hall, Australian Unions And The International Labour Movement
Title
Description
The Victorian Trades Hall from its inception stood at the center of the Victorian labour movement: a headquarter for the unions, a launching point for parades and protests, and a location for culture, the arts and education to flourish. However, the needs of the unions and working society did not remain static for long; as their demands grew and changed, so too did the Trades Hall building, and the Trades Hall Council it housed. But the Hall was not only concerned with local matters: causes as diverse as the promulgation of the federal Labor Party, the progression of Irish republicanism in the 1920s and again during the Troubles in the 1980s, and the growing tide of fascism in 1930s Austria, captured the attention of Trades Hall representatives.[vi] The Trades Hall Council made its position on local, federal and international issues heard domestically and around the world. This collection highlights the long and diverse history of the Trades Hall building, its involvement in the Victorian labour movement, and moments where the gaze of its denizens were cast further afield. To find out more about campaigns run by the local unions through the Trades Hall, see ‘Living Well: The Fight For Minimum Wage, Living Costs and Fair Working Conditions’, ‘Militant Labour: Strikes, Protests and Agitation,’ and ‘Women and the Unions: From Tailoresses to Equal Pay.’ To explore the Trades Hall Council’s relationship to the Federal Government, see also ‘War and Conscription: Referendums, Returned Servicemen, And The Fight Not To Fight’ and ‘Focus: The Communist Party Ban’, two cases in which the Trades Hall vociferously opposed causes strongly championed by the Federal Government.
Collection Items
April-May 1856: The First Eight Hours Banner Unfurled
12 May 1856: Grand Celebrations At The First Achievement Of The Eight Hour Day In Victoria
1875: Balance-Sheet Of The Eight-Hour Anniversary Committee
23 April 1883: Glowing Recollection Of The Origins Of The Eight Hours Movement In Melbourne
26 November 1884: Victorian Trades Hall Building To Be Extended, All Unions To Meet Under One Roof
16 April 1898: Victorian Trades Hall Supports Federation, Condemns Federation Bill
13 April 1910: Australian Labor Party Elected To Majority Government For The First Time
1 March 1921: Victorian Railway Workers Express Support For Irish Railway Workers Killed In War Of Independence, Accused Of Sinn Féin Sympathy
The article includes the full text of the motion passed by the Victorian…
18 April 1923: Irish Republican Delegation Sympathetically Received At Trades Hall
The minutes detail a sympathetic response from Council to the anti-Treaty Republican campaign in Ireland,…
6 April 1927: Eight Hours Day Procession Largest On Record
9 March 1934: Trades Hall Supports Austrian Socialists Facing Fascism, Calls For Australia To Socialise Means Of Production
1935: Trades Hall Council Sets Down Regulations For Itself
1948: Trades Hall Council Recommends Bank Nationalisation
12 March 1949: Press Remembers First Eight Hours Day In Light Of Increasingly Irrelevant Anniversary
13 October 1949: Trades Hall Discusses Report From International Labour Organisation Conference
- Director-General's Report
- Financial and Budgeting Questions
- Committee on Application of Conventions and Recommendation's Agenda
- Committee on Industrial Relations' Agenda
- Committee on Wages' Agenda
-…
1 May 1982: Communist Party Members March With Union Parade On May Day
1 May 1895: Eight Hours Day Anniversary Parade Continues
September 1987: Letter To The Editor In Metal Worker Magazine About Aid For Irish Republicans During The Troubles Prompts Controversy
The letter includes a report from Ard…