Where's 'Generation X'?: Labour History: Themes, Comparisons and Directions, University of Wollongong, 30 September - 1 October 1996

Abstract

'Labour History: Themes, Comparisons and Directions' was a two-day conference held at the University of Wollongong on 30 September 1 October 1996. The conference was organised by the Labour History and Industrial Relations Research Centre at the University of Wollongong, other sponsors included the Asia Pacific Research Centre and the lllawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. The aim of the conference was to assess current and future Comparative and Regional labour history. Just as importantly, the conference-goers also gathered to pay tribute to Robin Gollan and his enormous contribution to Australian labour history. The conference program was neatly divided over two days. On Monday the proceedings addressed The Current State of Australian Labour History'. In the evening the conference dinner was held, celebrating, in some quarters merrily, Bob Gollan's achievements, the main focus being his involvement with labour history. The next morning the spotlight shifted to the related consideration of 'Comparative and Regional Labour History7. The boutique flavour of the conference worked well. Rather than having to make difficult choices from a smorgasbord of sessions, participants were able to relax with a set, but extremely stimulating, menu. The Monday's history began with Stuart Macintyre's keynote speech on current research in labour history. Following this the audience enjoyed sessions on Trade Unions in Labour History7, 'Aborigines in Labour History7 and 'Women in Labour History7. The presence of Mike Dwyer, president of the South Coast Labor Council, as a discussant in the Trade Union session added a touch of Wollongong spice to the proceedings. Both discussants and summarisers in these sessions added their impact, allowing considered response to the main speaker. Throughout the conference question times were lively, and occasionally terse, demonstrating that a gathering of labour history adherents is no guarantee of consensus, or even harmony. Despite self-confessed ennui with his topic Stuart Macintyre spoke clearly and concisely on The Present State of Labour History.7 Macintyre intimated that any assessment of labour history in its international context could not help but note the discipline's current concerns with both its (epistemological) base and its future. These dual concerns are, of course, not distinct, but closely related. Such matters are also undoubtedly a feature of contemporary Australian labour history, as evidenced in Terry living's recent collection and, indeed, at the conference itself. Nor are these questions canvassed solely by academy-based supporters of labour history. Jeff Shaw, New South Wales Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, recently alluded to the question of what (rightly) constitutes the discipline. Launching Glenn Mitchell's book on the Building Workers Industrial Union late in 1996, the Minister strongly argued the importance of that work, and, by implication the work of others whose main focus is union history, to the very essence of labour history. Shaw supported his argument with a reiteration of living's point that '... labour history is 185