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A series of articles on Co-operation and the Politics of Consumption appeared in the November 2006 issue of Labour History contributing to our understanding of co- operatives and their role in past and present Australian society. These authors include Patmore and Balnave, Cutcher and Kerr, and Darnell. Also in November: A Look at the Right and the ALP between 1917 and the Early 1930s (Kirk); a piece on John Bernard Sweeney QC (Shaw); Workplace Activism in the NSW Branch of the FEDFA (Westcott); the Teaching Service (Married Women) Act 1956 (Dwyer), and more.

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56 1 The Coalminers of Queensland, Volume 2: A narrative history of the Queensland Colliery Employees Union: The Pete Thomas Essays By Pete Thomas and Greg Mallory

This book has been a long time in the making. Greg Mallory has brought together essays that Pete Thomas had written over a two-year period prior to his death to provide the basis for this book, which also includes an essay on Pete’s work in ‘left’ politics and the labour movement. Enquiries: Greg Mallory 0407 692 377 [email protected]

LAUNCH OF DVD – BUILDING UNITY This film traces the vibrant and turbulent history of Queensland’s oldest union, the CFMEU. From its humble beginnings in 1858, the Union has consistently been at the forefront of many of the industrial, social and political battles that have characterised the State. This documentary tells the stories of people who lived through these times; who struggled and won together. S A T URDAY 5 APRIL 2PM

Laurie Carmichael Room, Union House, 366 Upper Roma St., Brisbane

Contact: Jason Stein 3236 2355 or Greg Mallory 0407 692 377 [email protected]

2 55 Studies at the Tropical North He considers his most important Queensland TAFE. He is the author claim to be that of father to a CUC The Queensland Journal of several commissioned chorister. organisational histories, and edited of Labour History P eter Beattie's first book of memoirs, * * * * In the arena (1990). He has written No.6, March 2008 sixteen entries for the Australian ISSN 1832-9926 Dictionary of Biography. In 2007 he was awarded a Ph D from Griffith U niversity for his biography of Vince Contents G air. EDITORIAL Dale Lorna Jacobsen 5 Emeritus Professor Bob Ross,

retired academic, Hon. Life Member NTEUnion. Only his most trivial BLHA President’s Column Greg Mallory 6 a cademic qualification relates in any w ay to the title. Now living up the hill CONCERT REVIEW from Nimbin thereby fulfilling his Worth Fighting For! RedReunion 7 colleague/staff member's description of him, over many years, as a hippie. ARTICLES ‘Midnight Joe’ Bukowski: ’s Bitterest Enemy Brian Stevenson 11

The 1948 Queensland Rail Strike Ynes Sanz 23 Noticeboard The Eight Hour Day in Queensland Manfred Cross 37

Do you remember Paul Robeson's visit to Australia in 1960? BOOK REVIEWS 41 Ann Curthoys would like to contact anyone who remembers Paul Robeson's visit to Australia in 1960, as she is writing a history of the visit. Joe Harris Collection Dale Jacobsen 52

She is interested in hearing from those involved in the organising, or who met CONTRIBUTORS 53 either Paul or Eslanda Robeson, or who attended concerts, speeches, meetings, and other events. NOTICEBOARD 54 Ann can be contacted at: [email protected] 11 Boobialla Street, O'Connor, ACT 2602.

54 3 CONTRIBUTORS Queensland affairs and in the Labor Party organisation in this state. He is Dale Lorna Jacobsen is a freelance a committee member of the Brisbane writer living in the mountains of Labour History Association. Maleny in south-east Queensland, Ynes Sanz was a member of the prior to which she was an environmental scientist at Griffith student left at UQ in the early sixties University and a luthier. Dale is when she was Gail Foster. A poet Secretary of the Brisbane Labour with an enduring interest in the History Association. political, her Quandamooka Suite, reflecting on Brisbane past and present, won the 2005 Val Vallis Greg Mallory Greg Mallory is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department Award. Her latest unpublished of Industrial Relations at Griffith collection Fanny the Flying University. His book, Uncharted housewife celebrates the lives of mad Waters: Social Responsibility in and magnificent women. Australian Trade Unions, was Allan Gardiner works in the published in 2005. He has co- authored The Coalminers of Queensland Studies Authority and is Queensland, Vol 2: The Pete Thomas a QPSU member. He completed a UQ Essays with Pete Thomas, published doctorate in 1995 on Australian in December 2007. Greg is currently Communist literary activities. Allan is working on a book which is a series an ex-secretary of the Brisbane Labour History Association. of oral histories of some of the leading identities in the Brisbane Rugby League competition. It is to be Jayson Althofer teaches English launched in May 2009. He is also Literature at the University of working on a book on leadership in Southern Queensland and is a left-wing trade unions. member of the Public Memory Research Centre, under the auspices

Manfred Cross was a former Labor of which he recently began a member for Brisbane in the House of doctorate on the cultural politics of Representatives from 1961 until Lionel and Norman Lindsay. He also 1990, serving on many committees of works as coordinator of the Lionel the Parliament and acting as Lindsay Gallery and Library Collection at Toowoomba Regional Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Art Gallery. Defence and Trade and the House of Representatives Standing Committee Brian Stevenson is a librarian, on Aboriginal Affairs. Manfred has researcher and writer, and is currently been prominently involved in the Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island

4 53

Joe Harris Papers in Editorial Heritage Collection Dale Lorna Jacobsen John Oxley Library Welcome to the 6th edition of The box collection of the papers of Joe State Library of Queensland Journal of Labour Harris (perhaps best known for his Queensland History. book, Bitter Fight). It took me many days to work through, but each box It seems there are many important contained hidden treasures I didn’t According to the dust jacket of Bitter Fight, Joe Harris (1922–2002) was a Joe Harris (on the right) during Aldermaston anniversaries to celebrate or know I couldn’t live without. I have Peace March 1965 – Ipswich to Brisbane remember around this time, and four outlined this collection for your carpenter by trade, a militant socialist Photo Grahame Garner, Fryer Library b y nature, and an active trade unionist of them inspired articles in this further investigation. by calling. He was also a member of Queensland strike movements, journal: the Labor History Society, forever on elections and left wing lobby groups This is your journal. We welcome and movements; political badges, Brian Stevenson, who was awarded a contributions from members and the lookout for pamphlets, leaflets, documents, posters, newspaper bottles, ribbons from May Day Ph D for his biography of Vince Gair, anyone else who wishes to document c uttings, and photographs of anything celebrations; poster collection of relays the lesser-known story of his the history of Labour and other social r emotely pertaining to the working 1912 general strike, civil liberties, bête noire, Joe Bukowski in movements in Queensland. class movement in this country. It had gerrymander, peace and anti-nuclear ‘Midnight Joe’ Bukowski: Vince always been his ambition to rescue protests; news clippings and cutting Gair’s Bitterest Enemy; Award- I particularly wish to thank each books; slides; and a large range of winning poet, Ynes Sanz, looks back contributor to this issue, for their the documents of Australia’s working class and trade union history from subject files documenting local, at the bitter dispute between the professionalism in their writing and in t heir forgotten corners in union national and international issues. Australian Railways Union and the adhering to my strict cutoff dates. o ffices and basements. In this pursuit, Hanlon government in 1948; and You have made my job as editor a he was eminently successful. Topics covered include union matters, Manfred Cross documents the growth pleasure. I would also like to thank the labour movement, Australian of the Eight Hour Day in Queensland. Janis Bailey for her willing advice Labor Party, Vietnam Moratorium, and assistance. Recently acquired by the John Oxley Library, this collection of 50 boxes Apartheid, East Timor, South African There are four very interesting book c ontains: family papers; personal Springbok tour, political prisoners, reviews: Communism, a Love Story; The BLHA committee would also p apers; personal photographs; papers environmental issues, human rights, Many Ships to Mt. Isa; The Third like to gratefully acknowledge the re union involvement; papers re the civil liberties, nuclear disarmament Metropolis; and A History of assistance of the Search Foundation ; research and socialist, communist, and peace Queensland. And a pictorial record for their support in the publication of movement activities. of our recent and very successful this issue of the Journal. notes; drafts and master copies of unpublished and published works Rekindling the Flames of Discontent a uthored by Harris; personal I hope this valuable collection is as concert. Lastly, I can’t let a March issue of the c orrespondence with various useful to other people interested in Journal pass without saying: organisations; photographs of protest our past as it has been to me. During my own personal research in demonstrations and processions; the Heritage Collection of the John ‘Happy International Women’s Day!’ Oxley Library (State Library of ephemera such as flyers regarding Dale Jacobsen Queensland), I chanced upon a 50- * * * *

52 5

drawings abetted routinised slaughter which Queensland has been known in BLHA during the Great War, vindicated popular and official discourses what Vere Gordon Childe called ‘Red indicate its cornucopia of social Flag Riots and Pogrom by Soldiers’ passions, pathologies and ideologies. President’s Column in Brisbane on 24 March 1919 (see Although John Dunmore Lang (keen Evans’ The Riots) and onomatologist himself) had declared envisioned the extermination of that ‘Chartism … communism and Greg Mallory Communists and their fellow ‘Jewish’ stemmed from the Word of conspiracy-mongers (‘unmitigated God’, George Lansbury and William It i s very pleasing, as President of any book launch in conjunction with the Jew’ is usually bowdlerised from Lane found the colony ‘the very hell organisation, to report on its activism CFMEU Mining and Energy reprints of The Magic Pudding). In of competition’; Governor 1920 Norman’s ‘Billy Bluegum’s Musgrave’s aide-de-camp, William at such an early time in the year, Division, Queensland District Branch. however in the case of the BLHA we The third event is the launch of the Christmas Tree’ portrayed the lynch Shand, agreed it was more hav e already organised three major CFMEU (Queensland Construction law that many respectable employers’ Arcadia than workers’ eve nts to occur in the first third of the Workers’ Divisional Branch) DVD Queenslanders and other Australians paradise. Conservatives amidst and yea r. It is pleasing to see that the Building Unity. Members and wished fulfilled: beaming Billy after the Great War saw it as ‘the BLHA is working with unions and supporters have been advised of times Bluegum almost goosesteps from a most disloyal State’. was tree decorated with strange fruit transformed from ‘the Gibraltar of oth er organisations in a number of and venues of these events in our areas in order to preserve the history January Newsletter. including a Bolshevik, striker, Toryism’ to ‘Strikesville’ (decades of the labour movement in feminist and ‘Ikey Mo’. ‘And the soul later, Fred Paterson became Qu eensland. Incorporation issue continues on of Bill Bluegum atones, one may say, Australia’s only Communist / For the souls of the rest he has taken parliamentarian after serving in No doubt members and supporters The Federal Executive of the ASSLH away,’ cartoonist David Low Townsville’s Council) as ‘Queer pardoned Lindsay in another context. Queensland’ became a ‘Bolshevik wil l be aware of our Rekindling the called a meeting on 17 December in Flames of Discontent concert held on Sydney to consider further aspects of corner of the British Empire’ and, 9 F ebruary. As this column goes to this issue, particularly the issue of a The Lindsays’ lethal sentiments have given Labor’s Unemployed Workers pre ss I can report that Dale Jacobsen national register. The BLHA many forebears. Vigilantism, Evans Insurance Act, a ‘Loafers’ Paradise’. has performed a marvellous job in Executive, at its January meeting, proves, has stalked Queensland’s Other appellations – ‘Mongrelia’, putting together an outstanding line- decided to form a sub-committee history. Extra-judicial terror and ‘Piebald-Land’, ‘slave state’, ‘coolie killings, especially sanctioned or colony’, ‘Police State’, ‘Sunshine up of performers. The Queensland comprising the President, Vice- Council of Unions and the Woodford President and Assistant Secretary to practised by the representatives of State’, ‘Smart State’ – also signal Fol k Festival have provided financial make a formal response to the latest ‘law and order’, were calculated to deep-seated fears, fantasies and and overall support for this venture resolution. One of our major concerns eradicate Aboriginal ‘vermin’ from formations that have comprised and and we thank them for this. Our long- is the effect these changes may have the land and to contract and control reflected ways of life, struggle and term plan is to work with both these on The Queensland Journal of the hands whose slavery, unpaid and death in Queensland. Evans has waged, transplanted the economic historicised these with great élan, org anisations in order to stage a union Labour History. The Federal concert at the next Woodford Folk Executive has been informed of our revolutions of the bourgeoisie to insight and sensitivity based on Fes tival. The second event is the concerns and BLHA members will be Queensland. As Marx realised of the decades of acute research and lau nch of The Coalminers of kept informed by way of our genesis of the industrial capitalist, reconstruction. Qu eensland, Vol. 2: The Pete Thomas newsletter or e-bulletin of further ‘revolutions are not made with laws’. Jayson Althofer Ess ays. The BLHA is hosting this developments. The epithets and alternative names by

6 51 * * * *

‘Parliamentary robbery’ (Marx, emergency, extraction and extreme The AGM, thanks and CONCERT REVIEW Capital vol. 1) and the rapacity of the prejudice have constituted communication Eldorado Exploring Expedition Queensland’s race relations. ‘Stolen Worth Fighting For! ( Conrad, Heart of Darkness). The land, stolen wages, stolen children There was a slight change in the A Rekindling the Flames of p uzzle outlined in the conclusion form persistent themes in composition of the Executive elected discontent Event arises from the fetishism of the Queensland's legacy.’ So do at the recent AGM. Dale Jacobsen has commodity form: ‘A continuing Indigenous resistance to and replaced Ted Riethmuller as The large attendance at the East fetish for balanced budgets and remembrance of these thefts. Secretary and Ted becomes the new Brisbane Bowls Club on Saturday endless growth poses a conundrum Gainsaying genocide deniers and Treasurer. I would like to once again night 9 February showed that there is t hat perplexes energy, water, whitewashers, as did Roderick thank Ted for all his work as still significant interest in music and t ransport and health services.’ Tom Flanagan writing about ‘The “Rising” Secretary. Janis Bailey has stepped song coming from the folk tradition. O ’Lincoln has recently stated, ‘the of 1842–4’ in The Aborigines of down from the Executive and I would About 150 people heard the offerings growth fetish (understood as a drive Australia (1853–54), Evans observes like to thank her for her great of big names such as Leah Cotterell to accumulate) is inherent in the that Aboriginal retaliation against contribution to the BLHA. Janis was with Jamie Clark, Margret system’ (Overland Summer 2007). pastoral invaders in the 1840s largely responsible for making the RoadKnight and Helen Rowe. The T he alternatives, in the classic ‘assumed the contours of something journal a great success. Both Ted and Combined Unions Choir provided f ormulation, are socialism or approaching systematic frontier Janis have been responsible for support in the choral area. barbarism: the struggle for classless warfare’, while ‘Editorials at times making the BLHA one of the most society and transcendence of the openly advocated genocidal action’. active branches in the country. I thank Photos taken on the night show that fetishistic forms that govern us, or the In 1920 one official minuted, ‘the the remainder of the Executive for all the crowd, which nicely filled the common ruin of all classes and process of extermination seems likely their work over the year. Our new venue, had a good time and showed e cological oblivion. to continue’. Secretary, Dale Jacobsen, has thrown their appreciation of the performers herself in to a number of important with unstinting applause. They smiled E vocative descriptions of Extermination figures here in other jobs. She is currently responsible for with pleasure and laughed at the right Queensland’s ancient geology, forms too. The Lindsays, for instance, the journal, the newsletters, and the e- time (which was often) and generally geography and environment and of indirectly influenced the ‘ecological bulletins as well as performing contributed to the warm rapport that Indigenous civilisation before backlash’ that saved Queensland’s normal secretarial duties. The quality existed between the audience and the i nvasion open this arresting volume. koalas from extinction. Despite the of the newsletters and the e-bulletins performers, and so emphatically ‘ A truly proportional telling of even ‘routinised slaughter’ of the ‘fauna has been so good that I am finding it contributed to the success of the the human story of this place would war’ in the first decades of the last hard to report to members on concert. Some members of the grant [British, European and Asian century, anything that they have not already audience even sang along without colonists] only a small concluding ‘environmental activism was also read in either of our other being bullied. paragraph.’ Evans convinces that, on the rise, boosted by a publications. I think this is a very f rom Dutch raiding parties following sentimental attachment to the healthy state for the BLHA. Dale Jacobsen was the MC. She t he orders of Batavian authorities to koala as a national icon, brought to the role, not only her k idnap ‘full grown persons, or better popularised in the “Billy * * * * knowledge of music and the folk still … boys and girls’ to the Beattie Bluegum” illustrations of Norman scene, but the competence and energy regime’s declaration of a State of and Lionel Lindsay, and an that has made her so successful as the Emergency on Palm Island, featuring expanding local children’s new secretary of the BLHA. President d awn raids by Tactical Response literature’. Greg Mallory, a supporter of the folk G roup commandos (‘Old ways, new movement from way back, offered a technology’), violent states of These were the same brothers whose short welcome then the music began.

50 7 With a short break, the entertainment voice to other groupings of the the declaration of draconian State of continued until eleven o’clock. The performers. Emergency powers by Queensland’s CUC was the first on the stage and political rulers has been r ose to the expectations of the fans, as After the break it was Leah Cotterell unexceptional, but also as the t hey always do. in the spotlight. She let her hair down relatively recent political construction and, exuding energy and charisma, called ‘Queensland’ is shown existing Then came Margret RoadKnight, who showed us why her reputation is so in an apparently permanent state of has enriched the tradition that the high as a songwriter and performer, in crisis, ‘everything befitting living in concert was saluting. When she took a wide range of musical genre — extremis’. ‘Queensland’s is indeed a t he stage, there was a frisson of among them, heart warming songs of history of extremes, as the thrust of e xpectation because her reputation her hometown, Brisbane, written in evidence in this volume discloses’, w as obviously well established collaboration with Jamie Clark. Her and ‘Extremism itself aspired to among the audience. She knew she personality, her vocal range and become commonplace’ under Bjelke- was among friends so she was able to expressive stage presence left her Petersen’s kleptocracy. direct her formidable wit at deserved audience thrilled and excited. t argets. ‘What Shall I Wear to the Some statements seem to smack of R evolution?’ As with the other Jamie Clark was the guitarist who Queensland’s exceptionalism: ‘Its performers, words are important to accompanied the singers and like a capitalism was largely extractive and Margret because they hold meaning good accompanist was willing to use A state of emergency, foreign’, as if extraction (of natural and her articulation and mastery of his formidable talent to provide an resources and, vampire-like, labour- emphasis and timing ensured the appropriate setting for the vocals extraction and extremism power), along with alienation and m essage was understood. Perhaps rather than showcase his own talents. dispossession, were not the very k nowing her time in Queensland was The programme was packed, but it Review of essence of capital and the commodity d rawing to a close meant that the would have been nice to hear him economy everywhere. That economy audience had a particular regard and show off this undoubted talent. has never functioned on any other A History of Queensland appreciation. basis; whenever it progresses, The BLHA is proud to have staged By Raymond Evans alienation, exploitation and, H elen Rowe, who followed this concert, the second Rekindle the unsustainably, resource extraction

RoadKnight, also showed respect for Flames of Discontent event. We see Cambridge University Press must need likewise progress. ideas and the words used to express folk culture as very much part of However, Evans undercuts any sense them. Her beautiful voice allowed her labour history and we aim to rekindle Port Melbourne, 2007. of Queensland being a world apart by to express with great sensitivity the the flames again and again. $29.99, paperback, 328 pp. recognising ‘its historical totality’ and ISBN-13: 9780521545396 progressive sentiments that held sway development as inseparable from a that evening. Her agreeable RedReunion world system and ‘the extractive ‘The tradition of the oppressed p ersonality allowed her to use irony requirements of global capitalism’, ie teaches us that the “state of l ike a rapier, for example in the song its structural vampirism (eg ‘the emergency” in which we live is not the refrain of which goes: “We don’t London loan market continued the exception but the rule.’ Walter have no reds to hate no more”. Her pumping out Queensland’s life-blood’ stage persona was warm and Benjamin’s thesis resonates from the colonial period to years after e ngaging and the crowd responded. throughout Raymond Evans’ Federation). He reveals ‘extraction’ L eah Cotterell supported her in a compelling narrative history, not and ‘development’ as grotesque couple of duets and Helen added her simply because it demonstrates that euphemisms for practices like

8 49 Fairweather and John Molvig. He controversies that have surrounded The Cast of Worth Fighting For! also tries to make some suggestive Manifold in literary circles. ideas about cultural effects of the Performing before the p olitical context. He notes, for Although this book bears the marks Flames of Discontent silk e xample, that while early modernism of its birth as a PhD thesis (note the backdrop, handcrafted by and early urbanism went hand-in- careful narrowing-down of subject Annette hood for a hand elsewhere, in Brisbane the matter in the book’s sub-titles!) workshop at the Maleny ‘moderns’ tended to have an anti- Hatherell writes well and, more to the Folk Festival’s Union capitalist edge that saw urbanisation point, with that under-rated and hard- Stage. a s the tool of philistines. to-master ability to understand and L–R: Leah Cotterell explain a piece of serious literary art. Helen Rowe B ut his real aim – and achievement – Much as I, for one, admire that part of Margret RoadKnight is centred on a series of insightful the book, I chafe at the flimsy and J a mie Clark expositions of some major Brisbane bogus ‘theoretical’ claims. In fact, by literary works, including ones by concentrating on high art, and by G wen Harwood and Judith Rodriguez doing so as a literary critic, Hatherell a s well as works at the more famous cannot show how it felt and feels to end of high culture such as those by live in Brisbane for the majority of us Leah Cotterell weaves her David Malouf (including Johnno, of Brisbanites. For that, he would need web of magic, accompanied course), Peter Porter, Thea Astley and to have another look at the project by Jamie Clark on guitar Judith Wright. His ‘readings’ of these mapped out by British cultural w orks owe more to formal literary historians such as E P Thompson and c riticism than to any cultural studies Raymond Williams. In the meantime, t hesis. the literary history by Patrick Buckridge and Belinda McKay will Although readers of The Queensland deliver most of the promises of broad Journal of Labour History will be views made but broken by Hatherell’s i nterested in the chapters on radical book. a nd bohemian art, these reveal only occasional sidelights on published Allan Gardiner labour-oriented histories and cultural histories such as those mentioned * * * * above. However, Hatherell gives c areful attention to the work and life o f John Manifold, the famous C ommunist bard and resident of Wynnum North (not ‘North Wynnum,

as Hatherell maddeningly calls it). For a change, Hatherell’s sure touch In a stirring finale — the full cast, including the as an old-fashioned student of Combined Unions Choir, sing Worth Fighting For! ‘ English Literature’ means that he can written by Leah Cotterell. give an excellent perspective on the

48 9

The title, and the big-city picture of an older Brisbane on the cover of this book, led me to hope for an extension into cultural themes of other recent books on Queensland social history such as Radical Brisbane (edited by Ferrier and Evans) and Raymond Evans’ own A History of Queensland. These join other recent studies of radical art in Brisbane such as Connie Healy’s history of the New Theatre in Brisbane, Defiance. What is more, the same publisher, Press, has also just released a comprehensive work on Queensland literature, By the Book: A Literary History of Queensland, edited by Patrick Buckridge and Belinda Jane McKay.

Unfortunately, the purpose of Review of Hatherell’s book is more limited than the exhilarating task of a major work The Third Metropolis: of history. He claims that he has studied ‘cultural institutions’ and Imagining Brisbane ‘cultural production’ and produced a

through Art and work of ‘cultural history’ – all words from the lexicon of watered-down Literature, 1940-1970 French ’cultural theory’. I was in no mood to take these claims seriously, By William Hatherell having just re-read The Poverty of Theory, E P Thompson’s devastating critique of Althusserean ‘Marxism’. University of Queensland Press, True enough, Hatherell discusses St. Lucia, 2007. creative social circles – notably when painters, not writers, are concerned. $45, paperback, 320 pp. He covers old ground with his discussion of the Barjai art group but ISBN:9789792235436 also gives a good view of the groups around individual painters such as Ian

10 47 encountered despite having been the washing machines in a laundry where Vincent Clair Gair, Labor premier of subject of arrest from a number of the cheap labour was employed, so that Queensland, Democratic Labor Party world’s police forces. This is an the next morning the whole building Senator for Australia and a great i nteresting observation of racism in was covered in soap suds: many other things had a long Q ueensland in the post-war years. memory. It is likely that even if his I had to live and work there, boyhood contemporary, ALP and Pat arrived in Mt Isa in 1950 and especially on the east coast and AWU leader Joe Bukowski, had not worked for the Company (Mount Isa New York, to grasp the fierce been the bitterest of his many, many Mines) but was soon labelled a reality of the class struggle and to political enemies he would have t rouble-maker and decided to go out know how ruthless the employers remembered him as a sharp dresser in o f the town and mine independently. are, constantly on the attack early twentieth century H e did this for over ten years and against workers’ conditions and Rockhampton. Although the two despite having various ups and downs wages, and the need for the never shared a school, a boyhood town, a was able to make a reasonable living ending day to day fight with no year of birth, a deep involvement in for himself. His dream was to save up holds barred, for workers to Labor party politics, a palpable e nough money to build a Tahiti maintain what standards they detestation for Communism and a K etch, a small boat that would take achieve. pig-headedness unusual even for him sailing around the world. Pat This book is also important from an conservative Labor party politicos, would often visit Mt Isa to pick up ideological perspective. Pat mentions they were never, ever friends and supplies and became a local identity. the influence of the Industrial their association would prove Another interesting aspect to this Workers of the World a number of disastrous for the party. Gair’s career p eriod of Pat’s life was his name times in the book and it is evident that Who is this Bukowski? has been well documented, but Joe a ctually becoming Pat Mackie. He his style of union activism and ALP election pam phlet, Brisbane: Bukowski is but little remembered.1 w as originally a Murphy, became organisation was in line with the ALP, 1957 Given the explosive political events Eugene Markey, Pat Markey and wobbly tradition. He was a unionist Fryer Library Collection. that he helped to detonate, it should eventually Pat Mackie. The reasons first and foremost. He worked with not be this way. for all these changes are too involved communists, at one stage nearly t o go into here, but a lot had to do joining the Canadian party. He ‘Midnight Joe’ Always known as Joe, Rochus Joseph w ith misspelling of his names on pay maintained a position against forces Bukowski: John Bukowski was born at Mount slips, and the way he entered a that tried to eradicate communists Morgan on 7 August 1901. Joe’s number of countries. from the union movement. However Vince Gair’s Bitterest father, Joseph Aloysius, was a tailor when confronted as to his ideological Enemy with a legendary reputation in This is indeed a most interesting and position, he would clearly define Rockhampton and Mount Morgan i mportant book. It not only chronicles himself as a wobbly, working because of his craftsmanship and his t he life of one of Australia’s most tirelessly to improve the working and Brian Stevenson probity. Mount Morgan miners would f amous trade union figures, but living conditions of the rank and file. say that a job was ‘Joe Buck’ (Joe contrasts the styles of union activism His second book, Mount Isa, The ‘… big, bulky, ruthless Joe Bukowski, Bukowski) if they were satisfied that and organising in Australia and North Story of Dispute, chronicles this an ex-canecutter with hands like the timber reinforcements in a mine America. As Pat says when struggle in Mt Isa in 1964-65. hams and eyes as expressionlessly were safe.2 d iscussing some of the tactics used in bleak as a crocodile’s’ Alan Reid, d isputes in New York, which Greg Mallory Sunday Telegraph 5 May 1957. As a lad, Joe moved with his family included pouring excess soap into to Rockhampton. In the early

46 11 twentieth century, social divisions in pleasantry, may have been delivered After reading this book, I have Captain of Picket Captains on the that town were well defined during through clenched teeth and certainly formed the view that the Mt Isa New York waterfront during a the school years, as working class was filled with irony considering the dispute was a simple ‘walk in the lengthy strike. The pickets families struggled to find the money experiences the two would share over park’ for Pat, after his union encountered police on horses trained f or educational expenses.3 Thomas the next five years: involvement aboard many ships that to rear up at them and the police Hanger, a sixty-year veteran of It is nice to look back on those travelled the world and his rank and viciously swung batons at the Queensland schools, said of the boyhood days to which Mr file activism and full-time picketers. Armed gangsters were paid Rockhampton he knew in 1890 that Bukowski referred. They were organisational work in North to go in to the picket line to start the people ‘could be divided into two days, probably, when we America. After spending many years fights. The unionists threw marbles c lasses – the “haves” and the “have- believed that we had a lot of at sea, Pat settled in Vancouver prior under the legs of the poor horses in n ots” … I know of no place where the worries, but they were really to World War II and got married. He order to counter these gruesome d ivision was so marked.’4 days of freedom from troubles was an active unionist in the British charges and the pickets held their and tribulations or any full Columbia Seamen’s Union, which own against the thugs and gangsters. As one of nine children, another appreciation of just what worries had a significant victory in winning Rockhampton boy named Vincent and troubles mean. 8 union hire coverage from the In many parts of the world Pat had C lair Gair was aware of economic powerful Canadian Pacific Railway. various differences with the police a nd class differences. Over sixty Gair’s career has been After working in the shipyards for which led him to spend time in jail on years later he recalled, probably with comprehensively documented.9 The some time, Pat took on the role of a numerous occasions. His final year in some acerbity, that the tailor’s son decade and a half of his life after full-time organiser with the aim of North America was spent in a number Joe Bukowski was sartorially superior school was largely unremarkable. ‘organising the unorganised’. of Montreal prisons on charges to his contemporaries.5 Gair eked out a living as a railway However World War II took Pat to indirectly related to his union clerk, seasoning his drab vocational sea once more; this time transporting activities. Pat was deported back to R ecords of St Joseph’s Christian existence with Labor party activities, war materials to Europe. New Zealand but in 1949 ended up in B rothers School show that both boys as president of his South Brisbane Sydney. He heard there was money to went there, but not at the same time.6 branch and as a campaign manager. In this short review it is difficult to do be made from mining at Mt Isa and They certainly knew each other justice to Pat’s life. Pat was born in he decided to work his way up from during their schooldays. Gair recalled Bukowski’s years after St Joseph’s New Zealand, but his father was Sydney. He stopped off in Brisbane i n 1977 how ‘Bukowski’s bullying were much more colourful and Australian. Pat went to sea very early and worked as a painter for a few h ad made life a misery for those boys, adventurous.10 He worked in his in his life, mainly because he wanted weeks after obtaining the job through such as Gair, who were smaller and father’s tailoring business for a short to get to America. However, from the union which was based at the physically weaker than himself.’7 time, but headed out west. He was 1934 to 1949, the many difficulties he Brisbane Trades Hall. An incident Forty years later, on 14 January 1952, working as a station hand on Acacia encountered along the way took him with the Brisbane police triggered his Gair, as acting premier, addressed the Downs near Aramac when he tried to to numerous places: back to New early departure to Bundaberg. In a nnual delegate meeting of the AWU enlist. Naively, he tried to enlist at the Zealand, Australia, Panama, Tahiti, Bundaberg he observed police a t Bukowski’s invitation. As he Aramac township but was recognised Hamburg, London, Antwerp, Mexico, pushing around and arresting an w elcomed Gair, Bukowski recalled and sent away. He subsequently Vancouver, Montreal and New York. Aboriginal man. When he followed how he and Gair had known each enlisted at Rockhampton under a false During these times he not only threw the police to their station to complain other as lads, significantly, ‘as name and underwent the training. On himself into intense union activity, to the sergeant of the brutality handed members of opposing groups in the day he was to set sail, the but married, fell in love a number of out to the Aborigine, he was R ockhampton.’ deception was exposed, and he was times and wrestled professionally. threatened with arrest. Pat claims that discharged. More than likely it was a One of Pat’s most notable it was the most brutal act towards a Gair’s reply, adequate as a social blessing in disguise. Every one of the achievements was, in 1946, to be the fellow human being that he had ever

4162 1415 reckoned with in the industrial world. men who was in young Joe’s hut but Walsh was able to document it. His strength lies in his formidable during training was killed in action. He produced and read into the combination of his magnetic parliamentary record a letter, dated 4 personality with high abilities in three Joe returned to station life, and May 1942 and containing the claim, functions of leadership: in clearly worked at just about any job available from the then Federal minister for analysing the workers’ situations: in on the stations – cook’s offsider, supply and development, Jack democratising their organization: station hand, wool presser and dog- Beasley, to Clarrie Fallon, then and in brilliant powers of oratory, netting fencer. Surprisingly, he did Queensland state secretary of the enabling him to unite the rank and not give shearing a try, feeling it was AWU. Beasley, however, noted that file and fire them with unshakeable not his line. He managed his father’s ‘no evidence was obtained that he loyalty. He becomes the object of Dawson Valley cotton farm and [Bukowski] was an active worker in punishing hostility from all the forces impressed no less a personage than that body.’ 11 of the establishment, union former premier with bureaucrats as well as employers, the high standard of food, Bukowski seems to have never who feel their interests threatened by accommodation and conditions on the specifically denied the allegation or his existence. Bukowski property. challenged the genuineness of the Review of document. Uncharacteristically, he let The above quotation, written by He returned to the mines at Mount the accusation go, which was wise on Many Ships to Mt Isa: Elizabeth Vassilieff in the Preface to Morgan and was one of the several counts. There was no litigious Pat Mackie’s the book, is an excellent description volunteers who worked for 16 to 18 remedy as the accusation was made in of Pat Mackie’s attributes. In the mid- hours without pay to get to the seat of Parliament. It dropped from the autobiography: 1990s some close friends and I had the ‘big fire’ there in 1920, but such public consciousness almost as the His work and travels the privilege of spending several was the damage that the mine needed words were spoken and seems not to before the Mt Isa Dispute hours in a Sydney pub with Pat. years of reconstruction. Undeterred, have been recorded or reported During this time we heard many Joe made for New Guinea as a gold anywhere except in Hansard, so its of 1964-65 stories of his most interesting and prospector, but was not one of the ephemeral nature did his reputation turbulent life. Prior to this I had only lucky ones, turning instead to rubber negligible damage. He was only

Pat Mackie with known Pat as the main union leader in growing. He later returned to accused of membership, not activism the 1964-65 Mt Isa strike and as Queensland and took to canecutting at or militancy, so if the accusation was

Elizabeth Vassilieff Australia’s only self-declared wobbly Gordonvale, Tully, Babinda and true, it behoved Bukowski to simply

S eaview Press, South Australia, (member of the Industrial Workers of South Johnstone. be quiet about a youthful and the World). The stories we heard that idealistic aberration. 2002 afternoon were a small sample of the It is likely that as a very young man, ones that are recalled in his Bukowski was a member of the Even if he was briefly among their $45 paperback, 386 pp. autobiography leading up to the Mt Communist Party. Treasurer Ted midst, he was fighting the Communist ISBN: 1740081811 Isa dispute: Many Ships to Mt Isa. Walsh made the accusation in the last influence on the canefields by 1934 This book was published in 2002, and parliamentary session of the Gair when he impressed Clarrie Fallon, H e (Pat Mackie) sees his own needs is essentially a condensed version of a government in June 1957. Vitriolic state secretary of the AWU, so much very simply, voices them fearlessly series of tapes, recorded in 1967, that accusations and counter-accusations with his anti-Communist activities and becomes a phenomenally were edited by his long-term partner rained on both sides during that that Fallon invited him to become an effective workers’ spokesman and Elizabeth Vassilieff. memorable period, and this one organiser. trade union organiser, a power to be seemed more laughable than most, Joe Bukowski was a big man

44 13 physically. Even at 50, he was 105 kg him of being indolent in his pursuit of I had expected to meet a fiery-eyed be familiar, at least at some level, 12 and still ‘amazingly strong’. He improved conditions for the workers swarthy Italian and not the sandy with the names of the various showed no reluctance to use his size under his charge. In the five years he headed, blue-eyed Australian with a characters referred to. In particular and strength to intimidate and coerce was in Ayr, he prosecuted 500 cases diffident manner and somewhat the various leading figures in the w orkers, even those ostensibly on his for award breaches. He earned the halting speech.’ (p166). CPA, as well as elsewhere. side. ‘I’ve slapped Communists down nickname ‘King of the Burdekin’ wherever I’ve been – in Mt Coolon, while organising at Ayr, but in the But how successful did I find With my background this wasn’t a Ayr, Home Hill, Mackay, Bundaberg enthusiastic verbiage of ALP Sparrow’s book? In general, quite problem for me, but I can see that it and Brisbane’ he recalled. When publicist ‘the name represented to successful. might be for some potential readers. F rank McManus, later a DLP Senator most workers a genuine tribute to him commented to Bukowski on the for his forthrightness and his It certainly has some interesting Bob Ross s everity of his methods against unfailing capacity to back his aspects. Even some quite trivial, like Communists, Bukowski replied: statements with appropriate action.’ the chapter headings, that each * all quotations, except the one ‘Brother, when I go out to fight the includes a quote from within the marked # are from the book itself nightman I don’t put on my dress The AWU transferred Bukowski from Chapter (eg ‘3, World War I: ‘You s uit.’ Nor was he subtle in dealing Ayr to Bundaberg where he served as don’t want to be disloyal, do you?’) – # personal communication, Edgar with non-Communist workers who Central District Secretary. Ever to intrigue the reader? Ross – no doubt a view influenced by would not co-operate. He bragged to energetic, he found time to put down the interaction between his father McManus of signing up reluctant Communist influence here, Sparrow moves back and forward in (Bob Ross) and Baracchi, referred to workers for the AWU in northern simultaneously concerning himself time, but in a quite successful in the book. (part of the AWU’s with the renovation of the nurses’ manner. Southern Queensland District, but in quarters at the local hospital: an * * * * a state where unionism was not overstepping of the boundaries which In the book the author, compulsory) ‘because they know that earned him a rebuke from the Home understandably, is relying on his own if they don’t, we will throw them in Secretary . However interpretation of events and is quite 13 the river.’ He also earned the irked Hanlon was, however, it did not explicitly (in the overarching sobriquet ‘Midnight Joe’, from the stop him from asking Bukowski to ‘Introduction: “such a passionate hour in which he was wont to call on help with the restructuring of the hope ...”.’) drawing lessons for our 14 recalcitrant workers. Bundaberg Hospital Board. In 1941 society today. But, of course, you Bukowski became the Southern may not always agree completely

In a more legitimate use of his District Secretary of the AWU, with his line; I certainly didn’t at all

physical capabilities, he reputedly looking after the needs of over 25 000 times (Jeff Sparrow, whom I don’t

impressed miners at Mt Coolon, cane members. think I’ve met, might well respond – loaders at Home Hill and canecutters when he sees my name: ‘well you on another farm with demonstrations Communist influence in the wouldn’t would you’). Throughout, of his physical strength: filling trucks Queensland union movement peaked Sparrow treats his attitude as the at a greater rate than the miners and in the immediate post-war period. obviously correct one. That may or

loaders were able to, and levelling an After the disruptive meat industry may not annoy you. Again, in general area of sugar cane larger than the strike of 1946 the AWU and the it didn’t worry me much. professional cutters could in the same Merthyr branch of the ALP urged the time. creation of an official industrial group But my main problem with the book However, no one could ever accuse structure within the unions to combat is that it seems to require the reader to

14 43 one of the attractions of Sparrow’s romances. ASIO classified him as “a the Communist party, considered to become accustomed to a world in book! person of bad moral character and have been a major agent provocateur which the AWU exerted a strong violent and unstable political views”; during the strike. But the groups that influence over the government of the The rest of the above quote?: ‘ ... and some of his colleagues secretly were subsequently established were day, and saw no reason why this t hen went to gaol for inciting unrest agreed.’ (p6) One, at least, described ineffective in preventing the 1948 should not continue. in the civil population.’ And that was him as a ‘dilettante’. # railway strike, which the ALP in actually earlier than his affair with Queensland believed, as an article of During this time, under the watchful communism; in the period when However, the book quotes radical faith, was orchestrated by the and encouraging eye of Bukowski, (Sparrow reports) he was influenced playwright Betty Roland as claiming Communists. Accordingly, in July the industrial groups were successful, b y the writing of H G Wells (and that ‘Guido was not a seducer, at least 1948, responsibility for the creation, with control within some, though not o thers) to be committed to ‘guild not in any conventional sense. His maintenance, advancement and all significant Queensland unions s ocialism’ and was active in the anti- charm ... lay in his “gift of being able control of ALP industrial groups moving from Communists to war movement (World War I – he to efface himself, to put aside his throughout Queensland was placed in groupers.16 Industrial groups apart, was later involved in similar masculine aggressiveness and become the hands of a heavyweight other factors such as a prosperous movements around World War II). the listener, the sympathetic, gentle, committee, consisting of Joe economy and pervasive reports of understanding recipient of Bukowski, Ted Walsh, the ALP’s Communist aggression and human B ut, intertwined with his political confidences”.’ (p64) ‘When Guido state organiser and a former deputy rights violations in Russia and China activity, each influencing the other, is looked at you with that rapt premier, and Tom Rasey, a Brisbane contributed to an overall decline in the story of Baracchi’s affairs with expression, so peculiarly his, he made City Council alderman and former the status of Communism and 17 the numerous women in his life, and you feel you were the only person of Queensland president of the Communists in Australia. In 1954 which takes up much of Sparrow’s importance in the world’. (p75) Transport Workers’ Union.15 one writer was confident enough to b ook. claim that much of the power that the But ‘... throughout Guido’s life, By 1951 Bukowski became state Communists had obtained in T he book claims that it was one of affection and fidelity remained quite president of the AWU. Previously the Australian unions over the preceding Baracchi’s earliest women (Lesbia different matters, ...’ (p65) ‘ ... when ALP governments of Forgan Smith twenty years had been wiped out in 18 Keogh) who introduced him to a new infatuation struck Guido and Hanlon had worked in close the last three. communism; as he introduced some ‘everything that’s happened is consultation with AWU leaders such o f his later conquests, in particular forgotten and he’s oblivious of as Clarrie Fallon, but with the Despite the success of the industrial K atherine Susannah Prichard, who anything but his irresistible desire to accession of Vince Gair to the groups, their activities were then became, for many decades, the be with the new beloved favourite. premiership after Hanlon’s death on questioned at the 1953 Queensland Communist Party’s leading literary And it must be all or nothing.’ (p85) 15 January 1952 the nexus was Labor Party convention. Frank figure. broken, however the consequences of Waters of the Amalgamated Postal You will probably have built a picture the change would not be immediately Workers Union accused the groups of A s Sparrow says: ‘He [Guido] was of Guido Baracchi by now, so may be apparent. However, for the next few being financed by employers. n ever an average party member ...’ as surprised as I was by the quote years a struggle between Gair and Bukowski replied, somewhat ( p6). In fact ‘...he remained as unlike (from Betty Roland again – she did Bukowski would be a given in Labor unconvincingly, that some of the the stereotypical communist as one write many memoirs!): ‘On first party politics. Gair was not an AWU grouper funds came from pub 19 could imagine, a gentle Marxist as au acquaintance [Guido] left me member, and had rejected an raffles! Years later Joan Riordan, a fait with poetry as proletarian unimpressed. Not at all good looking, invitation to join them decades financial administrator in the AWU d ictatorship and an activist who of middle height and rather mild in before, so he felt no obligation to office under Bukowski’s direct i nterspersed his political obligations manner, nothing like the flamboyant kow-tow to Bukowski or any AWU supervision, testified that his fund with a series of complicated figure I had expected him to be ... leader. Bukowski, however, had raising methods, if not much more

42 15 sophisticated, were on a much larger Queensland with any grouper or ‘Communism - A Love Story’??? scale. He would canvass business Movement sympathies. Unfortunately Well? Yes! contacts whenever funds were for Bukowski’s old sparring partner, required for a campaign, and all Vince Gair, the Premier of Sparrow’s book is a study of Guido m onies raised were kept in a black Queensland, he demonstrably had an Baracchi (1887-1975) and his metal cash box for which only abundance of both. relationship with Communism. That Riordan had a key.20 is the ‘Love Story’; with the normal The general events leading up to the vicissitudes of any love story. On 5 October 1954 in Sydney, Queensland Labor party split in 1957 F ederal Labor Party leader Dr H V have been comprehensively covered As the ‘blurb’ on the back cover of E vatt made one of the most fateful elsewhere,22 but it is herein necessary the book says: ‘Meet Guido Baracchi, s peeches in Australian political to highlight some instances where the playboy communist who lived a history. Evatt blamed his recent Bukowski’s irrational behaviour and life as vivid as any soap opera.’ electoral defeat on disloyal increasing paranoia played a part in Victorians, epitomised by the making a difficult situation Baracchi’s love affair with ‘ Movement’, a shadowy alignment immeasurably worse. It was communism incorporated the w ithin the party that, like the unfortunate for the Labor party that complete period of the effective industrial groups, was anti- two individuals were in powerful influence of the Communist Party of Communist, and considered by many positions where they needed to co- Australia: an organisation that, with a to be getting too powerful. Evatt’s operate, but were so different in small group of fellow radicals in the speech did not mention the groups, personality. Gair was pompous and socialist movement of the time, he but by early 1955 previous concerns one very much to stand on his was involved in establishing – and about them had increased dignity, while the bullying, crude, Review of from which he was expelled twice; dramatically. loutish and blustering Bukowski was such expulsion (of a leading figure in low on the social graces. According the Party) being a far from unique Bukowski sensed a shift in the wind. to a prominent Liberal of the time, Communism – experience. He did a complete U-turn on the Thomas Hiley, Gair’s: A Love Story g roups, repudiating them in a pomposity made it physically And Baracchi’s background? As remarkable speech to the annual impossible for him to take Joe Sparrow tells it: ‘His father ... a delegate meeting of the Queensland Bukowski’s rude and insulting By Jeff Sparrow Florentine gentleman, professional AWU on 17 January, claiming his approach without feeling astronomer ... The young Baracchi support for them was a pretence so he mightily offended … Joe was played in his father’s observatory, could get information on their a respecter of nobody. Vince, Melbourne University Press studied at Melbourne Church of a ctivities. ‘His switch from outright on the other hand, would have Melbourne, 2007 England Grammar School, read law s upport for the Groups to outright been quite unforgiving of at the University of Melbourne ...’ o pposition … took exactly twenty- anything that affronted his $24.95, paperback, 330pp. *(p5) four hours’, recalled B A Santamaria dignity as premier. And the 21 many years later. Bukowski pledged two were just oil and ISBN: 978 0 552 85347 6 No. Certainly not your typical both the AWU and himself to support vinegar.23 communist. And, if not actually the anti-group forces in the southern surprising, certainly an unusual s tates, and thus by implication to fight The ‘oil and vinegar’ clashed bitterly character to be in love with against anyone in the ALP in in the aftermath of the 1955 ALP communism. But, of course, that’s

16 41 The Holidays Act of 1912 saw a about removing working conditions conference at Hobart, which Gair, campaign. Bukowski’s doctor ordered name change from EHD to Labour achieved from the Labour Walsh and most of the Queensland him to rest. Opposition leader Frank Day. On 22 May 1915, the first Governments of 14 years. delegation boycotted. Bukowski, Nicklin claimed Bukowski ‘has been majority Labour Government in incandescent, demanded that the so distressed that he has become Q ueensland was elected with T J The Industrial Arbitration Act of boycotters return their expenses.24 physically ill.’30 Ryan – MLA for Barcoo, barrister – 1929 restored a 48-hour week, The QCE meeting of 22 March 1955 as leader. abolished the Eight Hour Day, and was ugly in the extreme, with Walsh It would have done Bukowski’s the statutory basic wage. reportedly threatening to punch mental condition no good when the In 1916, the Industrial Arbitration Act Bukowski. It was at this juncture that QCE rejected a vote of no confidence p assed the parliament. Drafted by E G By 21 May 1931, the basic wage fell Bukowski gave an indication that all in the premier 31-23, and the state T heodore – MLA for Chillagoe, to its lowest level at £3/14/- for adult was not well with his health. He parliamentary Labor party, in a m iner, union official, Treasurer and males and £1/19/- for a female. claimed that Walsh would not have grotesque compromise, supported the Secretary for Public Works – together threatened him physically six months decisions of the Hobart conference with T D McCawley – Crown Every government in Australia was before and said to him: ‘You now but, bizarrely, also endorsed Gair’s Solicitor – the Act established a Court swept from office in the early years of know of my illness and you want to leadership.31 Bukowski had to o f Industrial Arbitration, provided for the . fight a man who has a foot in the continue to seethe for the time being. a n Eight Hour Day, a 48-hour week grave.’25 Late in March 1955 he revealed that and a basic wage. On 11 June 1932, a Labor he and Gair had agreed to discuss government won office led by Bukowski’s mental health was also sectarianism in the party, but because On 1 March 1921, the Basic Wage – MLA for cause for concern. As early as 1952 of a ‘remark’ by Gair he had never took effect at £4/5/- for male workers. Mackay, house painter. Jack Egerton, secretary of the been near him since.32 Gair was T he long quest for an effective Trades Boilermakers Society, had always capable of a snide remark, and a nd Labour Council was achieved on The Industrial Conciliation and complained of Bukowski’s there was never any indication that 1 2 April 1922 with the Eight Hour Arbitration Act of 1932 restored the unwarranted and unwanted Bukowski was willing to quickly Celebrations Committee merging into 44-hour from 1 July 1933, the Eight interference in the Society and said forgive even a minor verbal slight. It the TLC. Hour Day and the basic wage. In ‘… a reminder that “those who the was no sort of a way for a working September 1947 the Commonwealth Gods destroy they first make mad” relationship to operate. A week later, unions occupied the Arbitration Court agreed to a 40-hour might not go amiss.’26 Early in 1955 n ew Trades Hall near Upper Edward week to take effect from 1 January Bukowski himself revealed that he The two also clashed over the Street. On 30 October 1924, the 1948. ‘went berserk’ at a meeting of the Industrial Court. Gair neglected for Industrial Arbitration Act was inner party executive.27 In 1980 Denis years to appoint anyone to replace W amended to provide for a 44-hour In 1983, the National Wage Case Murphy would gently comment that J Riordan, a former AWU secretary, week. gained a 38-hour week. Bukowski’s ‘behaviour between 1956 when he retired from the Court in and 1958 [suggested] instability and a 1952. Queensland unions hoped that S ix months before the Wall Street Manfred Cross certain paranoia developing in his someone similarly sympathetic to the 28 c rash – which marks the on-set of the personality. Brian Costar later labour movement would be Great Depression – and following claimed that Murphy’s descriptions of appointed. Finally, in February 1956 considerable industrial trauma, the Bukowski’s mental health problems Gair appointed John McCracken, Country-National Government was ‘err[ed] on the side of charity.’29 The former Public Service Commissioner e lected on 21 May 1929, led by A E two aspects of his health problems, to the Court to ease the backlog. M oore – MLA for Aubigny, farmer mental and physical, came together McCracken, never a friend to the and dairy factory proprietor – and set during the 1957 state election unions and in poor health – he died

40 17 o nly seven months later – was not a The Court granted a 10 per cent – MLA for North Brisbane, barrister with Horace Tozer – MLA for Wide popular appointment. reduction from 1 January 1956. Many and Chief Secretary. Trade Unions Bay, barrister and Colonial Secretary shearers refused to work at the new had previously registered as Friendly in 1895 – introducing the Shops Early It was widely believed that Bukowski rates, but the UGA found scabs who Societies. In 1888, Thomas Glassey – Closing Bill, which passed the t hought he should have the vacancy, were willing to do so. Unions refused MLA for Bundamba and coal miner; assembly and was deferred for six b ut that Gair believed Bukowski to be to handle ‘black’ wool obtained under elected as a supporter of Griffith but months in the Legislative Council. t otally unsuited for the job. Certainly the new rate. There was a standoff for recognised as the first Trade Union t here was no place for bullying and months, and the railway department member of the Queensland In 1896 Tozer introduced a Factories bluster in the overseeing of experienced a serious loss of freight Parliament – unsuccessfully moved and Shops Bill which passed the n egotiations between employers and revenue. Gair remained calm. ‘Wool an Eight Hour Day amendment to the Parliament and limited the working u nions in the restrained and is not perishable. We will move it if Address in Reply. S W Griffith week in shops to 52 hours. n otionally impartial atmosphere of and when we can.’36 returned to the fray in 1889, t he Court. During the shearers’ strike, introducing an Eight Hour Day Bill, In the following year, Frank B ukowski demonstrated many It was several months before Gair which passed the Assembly but was McDonnell – MLA for Fortitude instances of an ‘irrational and acted, and then only with great rejected by the Legislative Council by Valley, draper – introduced a Shops i llogical approach to court behaviour reluctance. Millions of pounds in 14 votes to four on the second Early Closing Bill, which reached the a nd case presentation.’33 wool lay in warehouses in reading. Reintroduced in 1890, the committee stage. Real progress was Queensland. It was only too easy for Bill met with the same fate. made in 1900 when Justin Fox S eeing that there was ‘nothing doing’ his enemies to condemn him but Gair Greenlaw Foxton – MLA for w ith regard to a Court appointment, had his wider duties to consider, and 1889 to 1891 saw the demise of the Carnarvon, solicitor and Home Bukowski declared, probably with a he did. He had no wish to interfere Trades and Labour Council and the Secretary – introduced the Factories d isinterest that was feigned and and did not fully believe he had a formation of the Australian Labour and Shop Bill, which passed both c ertainly with an air of menace: right to do so. He wrote in a private Federation whose General Council in houses. It fixed the closing hour for Personally, I’m not interested in letter at the time: March 1891 at Barcaldine endorsed most shops at 6pm on the first four any Court appointment. But if I I have tried my utmost to solve an Electoral Platform which included days of the week, 10pm on Friday were, and if, as has been this dispute, even though it is a statutory Eight Hour Day where and 1pm on Saturday and provided suggested to me … Mr Gair one in which I should not really practicable. First May 1891 saw Eight that females and persons under 16 would never consent to me be interfering … However, as Hour Day celebrations held at were not able to work more than 52 being appointed on personal Premier of this State I cannot sit Ipswich, Barcaldine and Charleville. hours a week. lines, then something is wrong. idly by and see the economy of Very.34 Queensland completely The Eight Hour Day continued to be From 1901 the EHD celebration took 37 disrupted. celebrated in Brisbane on 1 March place on the first Monday in May. A The 1956 shearers’ strike provided 1891 and 1892, but inclement notable victory occurred on 14 f ertile ground for discord between the Although ever since it has been said weather in those years and major August 1911 in the Sugar Industry t wo men and formed a backdrop for that he approached an old adversary, floods in February 1893 saw the EHD strike when the Amalgamated a nother round of their long-running federal Country Party leader Artie transferred to 1 May. Eighth February Workers Association, led by c lash.35 The end of the Korean War Fadden, for help in transporting wool, 1894 saw the first Trades Hall opened Theodore and McCormack and e liminated the need for the military Gair initially communicated with the in Turbot Street: the scene of many supported by the Waterside Workers, stockpiling of wool. Wool prices fell, Australian Woolbuyers’ Association, EHD banquets. and Seamen and Transport Workers, s o the United Graziers Association, which then contacted Fadden.38 secured better conditions for sugar f eeling the pinch, applied for a 15 per Bukowski was little concerned with We turn to the Queensland Parliament workers including the Eight Hour c ent reduction in shearers’ wages. such details and saw conferring with for the closing years of the century Day.

18 39 Normal School 1860-1862, soiree and ball. the class enemy in the matter of leaning Trades and Labour Council. Government House 1860-1862 and neutralising the effects of a strike as After this development, Bukowski Parliament House 1864-1866 and 1865 set the pattern for following unforgivable. He said in a broadcast had little need to manipulate matters, railway workers at Ipswich years but there were no processions from the ALP radio station 4KQ: ‘As as the circumstances that culminated w orkshops 1866; but the bank between 1868 and 1874, due to the a Labor Premier Mr Gair should in Gair’s expulsion from the party on collapse of 1866 and depression in depressed economy. Processions understand that once a man steps 24 April 1957 and subsequent the building industry saw the resumed from 1875 to 1878 and across the line against the people electoral defeat on 3 August were concession withdrawn. On 16 March lapsed again from 1879 to 1881. within the Labor Movement, it is well in motion. 1861, The Brisbane Eight Hour Day very, very hard to step back again.’39 A nniversary Union was formed by a Better economic conditions in the With the death of Harry Boland in m eeting in the North Australian 1880s saw a resurgence of trade- On several previous occasions during July 1956, Bukowski became H otel. union activity with the procession and the strike it appeared very close to president of the QCE, which, added sports programme resumed in 1882 settlement, but deliberate provocation to his AWU position, gave him With minor name changes, the EHD and events held for the first time at from Bukowski inflamed the situation almost unlimited power in the Union continued to be the focus of the Exhibition Grounds in 1883. again.40 , Gair’s deputy Queensland labour movement. No u nity in the trade union movement premier, later confirmed that the one could have been surprised when u ntil 12 April 1922 when the In 1874, an Eight Hour Day Bill was government would have intervened he voted, along with 34 others on the Queensland Trades and Labour introduced in the parliament by C H much earlier had they not needed to Queensland Central Executive of the Council was formed. Buzacott – MLA for Rockhampton, consider the palpable antagonism party, to expel Gair, and it is easy to 41 compositor and newspaper proprietor. between Gair and Bukowski. Anne imagine his eyes, generally ‘as Celebration of the Eight Hour Day on The Bill was given a first reading McMurchy saw Bukowski’s ‘vendetta expressively bleak as a crocodile’s’ 1 March commenced in 1862 and the only. against the graziers’ as ‘a minor, but lighting up, at least momentarily, at t wo following years, followed in vital component in his plan to the humiliation of his bête noire. But 1 865 by the first EHD procession in Two years later, in 1876, Buzacott demonstrate to the Labor movement, the ALP was decimated at the state Brisbane. introduced a Statute Day for Labour and Premier Gair in particular, who election in August. An embittered Bill, which reached the committee the real “boss” of the ALP in Gair suggested facetiously in Members of six unions: painters, stage and lapsed in the 1884–1884 Queensland was.’ Bukowski held the Parliament later that year that ‘The c arpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, session. Sir Thomas McIlwraith – AWU in such a grip that ‘he was able [Country-Liberal] government should p lasterers and mechanics, assembled MLA for Mulgrave, civil engineer to continue his tirades, containing build a monument to him as the at the Foresters Arms Hotel in Ann and entrepreneur, a former premier, always a proportion of half-truths and founder of the only Tory government Street, Fortitude Valley and, carrying then in opposition – introduced an distortions …’.42 Tom Hiley, Liberal since 1929.’44 their distinctive banners, marched to Eight Hour Day Bill, which also only politician of the day, had a similar Queen Street and by George and received a first reading. view and saw the strike as ‘irritation After such a defeat, it was inevitable M ary Streets to the Australasian tactics against Gair.’43 that others in the party would react to S team Navigation Company’s wharf September 1885 saw the formation of Bukowski’s shortcomings. Bukowski a t Eagle Street where they embarked the first Brisbane Trades and Labour The strike was settled, and the was suspended as QCE President on the Settler for a picnic at Eagle Council and the achievement of an outcome was a victory for the after an incident at a December 1958 Farm Flats. They were accompanied Eight Hour Day by members of the shearers, on whose side Gair Christmas party in which he was by a band, and after lunch a sports Queensland Typographical ostensibly was. But the dispute accused of insulting behaviour p rogramme commenced, followed by Association for the printing industry. strengthened, to Gair’s detriment, the towards a woman – future Labor a cricket match. The day’s activities In 1886, the Trade Unions Act was hitherto unlikely alliance between the alderman Jean Howie. There was concluded with a fruit-and-wine introduced by Samuel Walker Griffith conservative AWU and the left- some talk of a set up, but Manfred

38 19 Cross, former Federal Labor member deterioration of his health which, for Brisbane was present and recalled according to the journalist, was in 2007 that Bukowski was heavily accompanied by ‘a clearly apparent intoxicated and slurring his words. deterioration, too, in his normal lifelong attitude of friendliness and Bukowski’s local ALP branch, Oxley goodwill towards people generally.’ in Brisbane, refused to renew his The article said that ‘he became a membership, and the last year of his man with whom it was easy, far too life was a lonely one. He was found easy, to pick a quarrel’, and claimed d ead on the bathroom floor of his that when he died there were more A nnerley residence early on the writs for defamation and the like m orning of 19 January 1960. He bearing his name than anyone else. probably died within five hundred ‘Their existence could well be a metres of Gair, who lived just around reflection of the dreadful toll that ill the corner. No comment from Gair health took of once-easygoing, s eems to have been recorded, but tolerant, genial Joe Bukowski.’ The P remier Frank Nicklin paid tribute to article was a sad coda for a difficult, Bukowski as someone who had troubled man who would quickly be worked very hard on behalf of the forgotten. 45 Eight Hour Day demonstration, Brisbane, 1908 worker. Photo courtesy State Library of Queensland (image number 39507) Endnotes G air’s former Attorney General, Bill The Eight Hour Day Power, a friend of Bukowski’s before 1. See, however, the entry by Harold Day became universal or wide spread t he split, made up his differences with Thornton on Bukowski in the Australian in Queensland because economic circumstances saw him after the debacle of 1957, and Dictionary of Biography. the concession withdrawn, or never came in for some criticism when he 2. Who is this Bukowski? ALP election Led by the Operative Stonemasons gained, until the shorter working attended his funeral. In 1961 Power pamphlet, Brisbane: ALP, 1957. Fryer Society in the eastern colonies, an week was enacted by parliament. said darkly, mysteriously and Library Collection. Eight Hour Day was gained for 3. Frank Nolan, You pass this way only u nfortunately without elaboration: stonemasons working on major, Given the hot summers in sub- ‘I’ll say this, Joe Bukowski was once: reflections of a trade union leader, ed D J Murphy, Stafford, Q: Colonial mostly government projects, in New tropical Brisbane, it is not surprising honest. He didn’t take any of the Press, 1974, p 14. South Wales from 1 October 1855, the first union formed, in what blood money that was being offered 4. Thomas Hanger, Sixty years in Victoria from 21 April 1856, became Queensland at the end of around at that time to help bring our Queensland schools, Sydney: Wentworth, Queensland from 1 March 1858 and 1859, was the Operative Stonemasons 46 government down.’ It could be 1963, p 2. South Australia in 1873. Union formed on 18 January 1858. a rgued, however, that Bukowski had 5. Anne McMurchy, ‘The Queensland Negotiations with John Petrie and c heerfully helped to destroy Gair’s Shearer’s Strike of 1956’, Bachelor of The shipwrights of Hobart achieved Joshua Jeays, constructing a new gaol political career – at least temporarily Arts Honours Thesis, University of the Eight Hour Day on 26 February at what became Petrie Terrace, – for free. Queensland, 1977, p 29. 1890 and finally unions in the mining achieved an Eight Hour Day from 1 After Bukowski’s death, a poignant 6. Brian Stevenson, ‘Queensland’s Cold industry of Western Australia March 1858. and revealing article (albeit without a Warrior: The Turbulent Days of Vincent obtained the Eight Hour Day in 1896. b yline) appeared in the Sunday Truth Clair Gair, 1901-1980’, Ph D Thesis Probably the Eight Hour Day Griffith University 2007, p 236. of 24 January 1960 on the sudden This is not to say that the Eight Hour continued in the construction of the

20 37 7. Anne McMurchy, ‘The Pastoral 2004. Strike, 1956’, in D J Murphy, ed. The big 18. H E Weiner, ‘The Reduction of strikes: Queensland 1889-1965, St Lucia: Communist Power in the Australian Trade University of Queensland Press, 1983, p Unions: A Case Study’, Political Science 257. Quarterly vol 69 no 2 June 1954. 8. Worker 4 February 1952. 19. Labor-in-Politics Convention 1953, 9. See Brian Stevenson, ‘Queensland’s pp 57-61. Cold Warrior’, op cit. For shorter 20. Gavan Duffy, Demons and democrats accounts, see Brian Costar’s entry on Gair p 48. in the Australian Dictionary of 21. B A Santamaria, Against the tide p Biography, and his ‘Vincent Clair Gair: 100. Labor’s Loser’ in D J Murphy, et al, eds, 22. For the fullest treatment ever of the rd The premiers of Queensland¸ 3 ed, St split, see chapters 6 and 7 of my Ph D Lucia: University of Queensland Press, thesis on Gair, op cit. See also Brian 2003. The notes and drafts used for the Costar, ‘ “For the Love of Christ, Mick, doctoral thesis on Gair are at the Fryer Don’t Hit Him”: The Split in Library, University of Queensland in an Queensland’, in Brian Costar, Peter Love eponymous collection, reference number and Paul Strangio, eds, The great Labor UQFL433. The material is listed fully on schism: a retrospective Melbourne: the library website. Scribe, 2005 and D J Murphy ‘The 1957 10. Details of Bukowski’s career to the Split: “A Drop in the Ocean in Political late 1940s are from Who is this History”’ in D J Murphy, R B Joyce and Bukowski?¸ op cit, except where Colin A Hughes, Labor in power: the indicated. Labor party and governments in 11. Queensland Parliamentary Debates Queensland 1915-57, St Lucia: University 11 June 1957, p 41. of Queensland Press, 1980. 12. Ken Hardy, ‘The Strong Man of the 23. Thomas Hiley Interview 1:2/17. Anti-Red Camp’, Truth clipping, no date, Suzanne Walker, National Library of but 1951 from context – in Bukowski Australia, 1974. news clipping file, John Oxley Library. 24. Telegraph 21 March 1955. 13. Frank McManus, The tumult and the 25. Courier Mail 23 March 1955. Walsh shouting, Adelaide: Rigby, 1977, pp 100- had previously resorted to physical 101. violence in a political context, having 14. Mark Hearn and Harry Knowles, One provoked a fight and delivered the first big union: a history of the Australian blow in a clash with the independent Workers Union 1886-1994, Cambridge: member for Townsville, Tom Aikens, in Cambridge University Press, p 250. 1944. (Ian Moles, A majority of one: Tom 15. Executive Committee, Queensland Aikens and independent politics in Central Executive, ALP, Minutes, 13 June Townsville St Lucia: University of 1946, 2, 3, and 8 July 1946. Cited in Queensland Press, 1979, p 138.) Walsh Douglas Blackmur, ‘The ALP Industrial was a burly man, and reportedly had, at Groups in Queensland’ Labour history no the age of twenty, ‘arms like gumtrees 46 May 1984, p 91. [and] legs like church pillars.’ Truth 17 16. Blackmur, ‘The ALP Industrial January 1954. Groups in Queensland’, pp 99-100. 26. Egerton to Schmella, 20 October 17. Robert Murray, ‘Looking Back on 1952, Australian Labor Party. Evatt and the Split’, Quadrant October Queensland. Papers. Industrial Groups

36 21 File OM.CM/1/33, John Oxley Library. 46. Bill Power, ‘For Labor – Unity at all 27. Courier Mail 29 January 1955. Costs!’, Sunday Truth 23 April 1961. 28. D J Murphy, ‘The 1957 Split’, op cit, p 507. * * * * 29. Brian Costar, ‘Vincent Clair Gair:

Labor’s Loser’, in D J Murphy, Roger Joyce, Margaret Cribb and Rae Wear, eds. T he premiers of Queensland. 3rd ed. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2003, p 283. 3 0. Courier Mail 29, 30 July 1957. 3 1. Courier Mail 26, 31 March 1955. 32. Telegraph 28 March 1955. 33. Anne McMurchy, ‘The Queensland S hearers’ Strike of 1956’, op cit, pp 123- 1 24. 34. Worker 31 December 1956. 35. Anne McMurchy, ‘The Queensland S hearers’ Strike of 1956’, op cit: Anne M cMurchy, ‘The Pastoral Strike, 1956’, op cit: B J Guyatt ‘The Labor Government and the Queensland S hearers’ Strike of 1956’, Labour History n o 33, November 1977. 36. Telegraph 21March 1956. 37. Gair to Jack McGinley 27 September 1 956. Gair Papers, Series 1 C orrespondence Box 1 Folder 4, National Library of Australia. 38. Western Star (Roma) 12 October 1 956. 3 9. Worker 10 September 1956. 40. This was the view of Jack Egerton, then secretary of the Boilermakers S ociety, but later secretary of the Trades a nd Labour Council. Anne McMurchy, ‘The Queensland Shearers’ Strike of 1956’, p 88. 4 1. Ibid, p 63. 4 2. McMurchy, ‘The Queensland Shearers’ Strike of 1956’, pp 75, 78. 43. Thomas Hiley Interview, op cit 1 :2/18. 4 4. Queensland Parliamentary Debates 21 November 1957, p 1250. 45. Courier Mail 21 January 1960.

22 35

Acknowledgements Remembering Grateful thanks to Connie Healy for permission to use her interview and to Takver for allowing me to mine his site at www.takver.com for facts. For details on sources and further reading see below. The 1948 Queensland Rail Strike

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of all the old comrades and departed decent cops, including my late father, PC Henry Foster of the London Sixty years ago this March Metropolitan Police.

References R aymond Evans and Carole Ferrier (eds) Radical Brisbane an unruly history V ulgar Press Melbourne 2004.

Ross Fitzgerald Fred Paterson: The People's Champion UQ Press Brisbane 1997.

D oug Olive The Queensland Railway Strike Pamphlet reproduced on Takver's R adical Tradition at http://www.takver.com/history/railq48/railqld.htm

Connie Healy Lunchroom to Boardroom interview Oral history Project on Women in the Labour Movement at http://media.library.uq.edu.au:8080/lunchroom/transcripts/Healy.html

C laude Jones Ted Englart - The workers will win Tribune, 17 March 1982 at h ttp://www.takver.com/history/englart/t_engl01.htm

John Nebauer A Communist in parliament: the story of Fred Paterson, Green Left Weekly, 7 October 1998 at http://www.greenleft.org.au/1998/336/20192

N eale Towart, Workers on Line History Pickets and Police 7 September 2000 at http://workers.labor.net.au/70/c_historicalfeature_police.html St Patrick’s Day bloodbath: railworker Jack Grayson, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online bashed by police. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm

Jack Grayson, (ARU Mayne Junction, later secretary of SPD ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/18/2036356.htm Brisbane) Edward Street near Central Station. St Patrick’s Day, 1948

Photo: Courtesy RTBU, John Oxley Library and The courier-Mail * * * *

34 23 For the Sixtieth Anniversary of The Queensland Railway Strike February – April 1948

by Ynes Sanz

1 Lessons from the past 'Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' George Santayana.

The scapegoats trail after us as we look back and sometimes it's right to feel fear but some are just painted in red or in black like bogeys to frighten a kid. One person might look and be able to see, another might never learn sixty years down the track the same issues still burn but some of the young may have no idea so this is one yarn they should hear.

There are those from those times, though their ranks may be thin, that remember it like yesterday, the Names are the names of their loves and their mates, the hard times were the times that they shared. So for those who live on and for those who are gone – the big hearted men whose bodies gave in – we assert once again: No-one struggled in vain we're still learning, today, from back then.

24 33 5 'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.'

'New South Wales police officers who took off their identification badges during APEC . p rotests will escape punishment ... State Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione ordered an inquiry, which has found that officers had real concerns about the pins on badges being used against them. Mr Scipione has rejected the idea that officers were following instructions when they chose not to wear badges.' (ABC News Sep 18, 2007)

I was a London Bobby, 25 years at the game, used my truncheon just the once, in Hitler's War, to bash flat the end of a bombed out gas main. Yes, I voted the Tories in year after year then shipped out to Brisbane for a new life over here a ten-pound-pommie with a hundred dollar dream a middle-aged migrant in a fresh young State where I read Frank Hardy when it wasn't too late even I could see things weren't quite how they seemed. These young coppers learn courage and skills from the best and the tricks and 'the joke' from the worst it's 'son you just watch me I'll show you round the neighbourhood' don't they know that's not the meaning of the old term Brotherhood? Then they fret about a pinprick when what they ought to fear is the injury done to The Force around here when the high-ups fail to protect its good name they run a quick inquiry and turn the other way – you can see it's a twist on the old number game that some of them have always been a bit too keen to play. Yet ever since the 40's cops have sat down to eat food bought with wages that the workers won with boot leather and blood. Ted Englart arrested 16 March 1948 I'm an old bastard now but not too blind to look around Photo: Tribune and see that truth is truth and lies are lies – wherever they are found.

Opposite page: Strikers ‘fight amongst themselves’ Photos courtesy John Oxley Library and The Courier-Mail

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2 The Fallacy of the Short Sharp Struggle

'There comes a time in the life of every man when he comes up against what he considers t o be an injustice so grave that he cannot tolerate it, and he begins to kick. If he is in an organisation, he kicks in an organised way.' Fred Paterson, MLA, speaking in the Queensland Parliament.

We thought it'd be a short sharp struggle but we found out how far we were wrong. We thought that ALP stood for workers' rights but Hanlon put the kibosh on that. We thought we could discuss it man to man but we didn't count on slave laws. We thought it was all over bar the shouting but Caucus wouldn't even listen to our voice. We though we'd see an end at the picket line but Chifley told our members they could starve. We thought we'd be alright with a lawyer in our ranks but then we got the Paterson Bill. We thought massed marches would crown it Hanlon's bully boys knocked that one on the head. We thought it couldn't last past the bashings but we read in The Courier there were none. We thought our would let us see the light but then they forced Rowe into hiding for a while. We thought our comrades' jailings would see the matter closed but 'A Friend' paid up, and that unbarred the door. We thought we'd secured an agreement, but the Commissioner tried to renegue. We thought that the judgement would come through on time but the Court said 'we'll just make 'em wait'. We thought it'd be a short sharp struggle, but experience showed we were wrong. Every one of us learnt: To be in it to win it, we were in for the long, long haul.

26 31 4 Helpful Hints for the Activist Housewife

'Well, we went in to see Mick in the goal, and it was rather horrific ... The v isitors were in little cages, and so were the prisoners opposite, and there was a n arrow passageway between and you could only communicate between the passageway with a guard walking in between ... However, whilst he was in goal I spoke ... at a public meeting that was held up in Wickham Park, you know, demanding that the Government should release the five prisoners from goal ...' Connie Healy.

W omen of Brisbane! Want to play your part in the struggle with confidence and style? Here are some handy hints as we march towards the brave new 1950s:

1 There's nothing like a nicely-ironed apron to wear to a political rally

2 Remember the benefit and beauty of perfect posture when leading a march beside a cardboard coffin

3 Nothing gives greater pleasure than a woman's well-modulated voice when addressing a public meeting

4 Remember to keep your knees together and your ankles crossed if you find yourself seated on an elevated stage

5 Always remember your womanly modesty of speech when a policeman knocks you down and calls you names

6 Impeccable manners will go far in negotiating a visit to your husband in jail

7 Never underestimate the gift of being able to make a perfect cup of tea especially when your husband has just got out of hot water

30 27 3 The Legal Notepad as Political Weapon

"I saw a plain clothes detective bashing into one of the members of the procession, with a b aton. So I went over and called out to him to stop. He took no notice of me so I decided that I would take notes to refresh my memory. I had just lifted my pen to write on my legal brief which I had in my hand, when I was struck down by a policeman's baton, and taken unconscious to the ambulance". Fred Paterson.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury! Consider, if you will, the humble legal pad (although the evidence on this point is not clear: some say there was a legal brief, some mention a notepad but in any case its purpose is not in dispute.) Consider, I say, this yellow-striped, commonplace object, (perhaps, you may think, not the only such object in this sorry affair) whose mere presence on a street in our city would seem to have inflamed the ire of government and driven a police officer to strike down from behind a man engaged in the lawful pursuit of observing a workers' march. Now consider if you would what kind of man reacts like this to the sight of the simple tools of the Law? There can be only one response. (Here I quote a well-worn maxim: 'Acta exteriora indicant interiora secreta) The man who commits such a craven attack must himself have much to fear from the very presence of such a lowly symbol of the law. 'A dream defence' I hear you murmur ... Ah, ladies and gentlemen, I'm inclined to agree, but I know in my heart that is all it will ever be I lie here instead in my hospital bed and dream up the things that I might well have said though I know they will never be heard.

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