This special issue of Labour History aims to interrogate the relationship between the history of indentured labour in the Pacific Ocean and the concept of oceanic mobility. From the 1960s onwards, major contributions in Pacific history and anthropology have focused on the influence that the labour trade and later forms of unfree labour have had […]
Contributors to this issue demonstrate the value of case studies in illuminating the experience of very different groups of workers and their workplaces. We start with Phillip Deery’s discovery that gasworkers in Victoria in the late winter of 1937 undertook an extended “stay-in” strike that caused considerable hardship and provoked internal conflict. In an episode […]
The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History is saddened by the loss of Lyndall Ryan, one of Australia’s most influential and admired historians. Her major contribution was in Aboriginal history, with an early study of Indigenous Tasmanians, for which she found herself and her work at the centre of the History culture wars […]
The work of the Perth Branch of The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History has been acknowledged by the History Council of Western Australia. Read about their award here.
In 2022, Labour History, the journal of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History celebrated its 60th anniversary. During the year, six seminars were held to showcase the work being produced in the journal and to discuss the past, present, and future of studies in labour history. The seminars were held online and recordings […]
In April 2022, the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History launched its new biannual magazine, Radical Currents, Labour Histories. The magazine brings together the latest research on labour history, book reviews, news and articles from across Australia. You can read the first issue online here.
The winners of Labour History’s five prizes for 2021 were announced at our 17th Biennial Conference in April. Congratulations go to Phoebe Kelloway, Daniel Hannington-Pinto, Katherine Keirs, William Burns, and Naina Manjrekar. CONTINUE READING …
We mourn the death of our friend and president, Stuart Macintyre. In the days since Stuart’s death there has been an avalanche of tributes and we reprint three of these below. Written by Brian Aarons, Tim Rowse, and Janet McCalman, they speak to the enormous influence of Stuart’s work and to his character and his […]
A 1995 special issue of Labour History revisited in 2020. With work from Indigenous scholars and activists. Read an interview with Ann McGrath, Kay Saunders, and Jackie Huggins, the editors of the original issue, as they explain why it remains so relevant today and why now was the right time to bring it back in to focus, […]
Labour History, no. 116 (May 2019) Maritime labour has a history as old as labour itself and is of continuing significance in the modern world. This issue includes a thematic, edited by Diane Kirkby, which recognises the vitality of maritime labour studies with articles on a range of topics: employment conditions on British steamships, Lascar […]