Eight Hours: The Victorian Trades Hall, Australian Unions And The International Labour Movement

Title

Eight Hours: The Victorian Trades Hall, Australian Unions And The International Labour Movement

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
A photograph of a banner published in the early Victorian illustrated newspaper The Australasian Sketcher reading "8 hours labour 8 hours recreation 8 hours rest"

12 May 1856: Grand Celebrations At The First Achievement Of The Eight Hour Day In Victoria
This handbill commemorates the first Eight Hours Procession, celebrated just weeks after Victorian stonemasons, for the first time in world history, established an eight-hour day. Extravagant entertainments and a banquet dinner entertained over 1200…

1875: Balance-Sheet Of The Eight-Hour Anniversary Committee
Document of the receipts and expenditures documented by the Eight-Hour Anniversary Committee in 1875, noting the celebration elements of the day, such as bands, repairing the banners and various expenditures of the day.

23 April 1883: Glowing Recollection Of The Origins Of The Eight Hours Movement In Melbourne
Newspaper article relating the Origin and Progress of the Eight-Hour Movement in Melbourne

16 April 1898: Victorian Trades Hall Supports Federation, Condemns Federation Bill
This article shows that the Trades Hall declared itself as against the Commonwealth Bill of 1898. Although the article does stipulate that the Hall was in favour of federation generally, it stipulates that the Bill was seen to be undemocratic, with…

13 April 1910: Australian Labor Party Elected To Majority Government For The First Time
The Labor government of 1910 was not only the first time that the Labor Party, the political wing of the labour movement, born in the Melbourne Trades Hall, had a majority in the lower house of Australia, but also the first majority of any party in…

1 March 1921: Victorian Railway Workers Express Support For Irish Railway Workers Killed In War Of Independence, Accused Of Sinn Féin Sympathy
Newspaper coverage of a 1921 Victorian Railways Union motion expressing sympathy with Irish railway workers killed by the British state during the Irish War of Independence.

The article includes the full text of the motion passed by the Victorian…

18 April 1923: Irish Republican Delegation Sympathetically Received At Trades Hall
A meeting item introducing an Irish Republican delegation visiting Melbourne to speak to Victorian Trade Unionists about the Irish Civil War.

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
Account of the Eight Hour Day procession in Melbourne April 6 1927, the largest on record.

9 March 1934: Trades Hall Supports Austrian Socialists Facing Fascism, Calls For Australia To Socialise Means Of Production
This article gives an account of a resolution passed by the Trades Hall Council which shows support to Austrian socialists after they were repressed by the Austrian government. It also stipulates a warning given by the Council to Australian workers…

1935: Trades Hall Council Sets Down Regulations For Itself
This text created in 1935 highlights the various rules of the Melbourne Trades Hall council. It includes but is not limited to: names of delegates, administration assistants, secretarial assistants, the powers of the council, business, building and…

1948: Trades Hall Council Recommends Bank Nationalisation
Presents the argument against big-business - mostly for 'the control of credit is tantamount to the control of government'; 'the private banking system has failed to use the power inherent in the control of credit in the interests of the community'…

12 March 1949: Press Remembers First Eight Hours Day In Light Of Increasingly Irrelevant Anniversary
Explains the waning significance of the 8-Hour Day Movement and Anniversary, especially in relation to 'Labour Day'. Describes Labour Day processions through the city streets, and brief history of the 8-Hour Movement. Identifies Welshman, James…

13 October 1949: Trades Hall Discusses Report From International Labour Organisation Conference
Agenda Items Covered in Report:
- 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
"A May Day March in Russell Street Melbourne, in 1982. The Victorian Trades Hall building and a branch of the Commonwealth Bank on the corner of Victoria Street are visible. Communist Party of Australia Women's Collective members carry a large…

1 May 1895: Eight Hours Day Anniversary Parade Continues
This image depicts the parade celebrating 139 years since the establishment of the eight hour working day. The parade travelled from Trades Hall through much of the city and this photograph was taken just outside of the Victorian Parliament building,…

September 1987: Letter To The Editor In Metal Worker Magazine About Aid For Irish Republicans During The Troubles Prompts Controversy
Letter to the editor by Australian Aid for Ireland (AAI) publicity director and union member Gerard Steele in the September 1987 issue of 'Metal Worker', the newspaper of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union.
The letter includes a report from Ard…
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