Browse Items (10 total)

Are we Medieval_The Worker_2 January 1904_p3.pdf
This article from Brisbane publication The Worker rebukes derisive comments published by a London journalist mocking Australia’s legislation concerning workers as a reversion to medieval trade laws. Responding to McKenzie’s quip that…

SMH 1901 Mon 7 May Eight Hour Day[1].pdf
The writer credits the craft guilds of medieval England for the eight-hour system, including the Saturday half-holiday. The latter was supposed to be devoted to archery practice, which eventually ensured English mastery of the bow and arrow and their…

A photograph from c. 1911 of a large crowd lining Argent Street in Broken Hill to watch a Labor Day procession of men carrying union banners. Union banners have a medieval predecessor in the banners used by guilds (an association of craftsmen in the…

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 1898 Wed. 5 Oct Eight Hours Day Song.jpg
Working or labour songs were a feature of nineteenth century (and later) union gatherings and processions. The songs and communal singing evoke peasant or folk traditions. The song gives the workers the high-ground because they resort to moral rather…

Geelong Trades Hall Building.jpg
‘Labor Omnia Vincit’ (work conquers everything) is a historically significant slogan associated with the American and English labour movements. It was also the motto of the Knights of Labour, a group started in the 1860s in America. The…

Federated Municipal Employees depicted with a FME banner drawn by four horses at a trade union parade in Ballarat, 1920. Some historians consider trade unions to be the successors of medieval guilds. For information regarding the Federated Municipal…

Photograph portraying a 1912 parade celebrating the Eight Hour Day. Trade unionists are in the parade showing their support by bearing a medieval inspired banner. Some historians consider trade unions to be the successors of medieval guilds.

1901 Federation Procession.pdf
This article written by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 2010 displays a collection of primary source materials pertaining to the Australian Federation Parade in Sydney in 1901. Of particular interest are the groups of people present…
Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2