Australian Labor History

Abstract

The genesis of Australian labor history was linked to the strength of the Australian labor movement before the outbreak of World War I. By 1891 over 20 percent of the New South Wales work force was organized. Forty five percent of the Australian workers were trade union members in 1914. In the early 1890s trade unionists formed Labor parties, which won govern ment at the federal level and in several states by the outbreak of World War I. Labor's success in Australia attracted the interest of many overseas commentators, including Sidney and Beatrice Webb and Lenin.1 Some participants in the Australian labor movement believed it was their duty to document these events for others. In 1888, the centenary of white settlement in Australia, several trade unionists produced The History of Capital and Labour in all Lands and Ages. The book reviewed not only the history of labor in Australia, but also developments internationally since antiquity. John Norton, unionist and later publisher, wrote a nation alist introduction, celebrating Australian democracy and labor's role in building and preserving it. This link between nationalism, democracy, and the labor movement remained a theme in Australian labor history. Other important participant labor historians included W. E. Murphy, George Black, and William Guthrie Spence.2 Prior to World War I, labor history found no place in Australian universities. British tradition dominated history, as a positive science com