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The Northern Territory's One Big Union

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The Northern Territory's One Big Union The Northern Territory’s One Big Union The Rise and Fall of the North Australian Workers’ Union, 1911-1972 Bernie Brian Bachelor of Arts, University of Wollongong Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Northern Territory University Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Law, Business and Arts Northern Territory University 2001 Declaration I hereby declare that the work herein, now subm itted as a thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by research at the Northern Territory Univ ersity, is the result of my own investigations, and all references to ideas and work of other researchers have been specifically acknowledged. I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis has not already been accepted in substance for any other degree, and is not being currently submitted in candidature for any other degree. _________________ B.Brian In Memory of Dr Alistair Heatley 2/9/1939-17/10/2000 Terry Robinson 16/1/1915-17/1/2001 Contents Declaration Abstract i Acknowledgments iii A Note on Language v Conversions vi Abbreviations vii Introduction 1 Chapter One ‘all the firebrands have come this way’ 1911-1915 29 Chapter Two The Price of Beer and Other Grievances 1915-1918 55 Chapter Three The One Big Union 1919-1927 79 Chapter Four ‘Be lawful, be orderly, but stick to the verandah’ 1927-1931 103 Chapter Five ‘The “Red” element have hounded Secretary Toupein out of the movement’ 1932-1935 130 Chapter Six ‘the decided policy of the union is arbitration and conciliation’ 1935-1940 152 Chapter Seven ‘a potentially grave danger to internal security’ 1940-1945 181 Chapter Eight ‘Is there any solution to control of the Union…?’ 1945-1952 210 Chapter Nine ‘I am not satisfied that Darwin merits different treatment from other remote and tropical parts of Australia’ 1952-1972 244 Conclusion 281 Appendix One Maps 291 Appendix Two List of NAWU Secretaries and Presidents, 1927-1972 293 Bibliography 295 Abstract This thesis examines the contribution of the labour movement to Northern Territory (NT) history by investigating the origins and evolution of the largest and longest surviving trade union, the North Australian Workers’ Union (NAWU). To do so, it is also necessary to study those unions preceding the NAWU because they developed the structures, practices and leadership that were incorporated into the NAWU when it was formed in 1927. The study also attempts to uncover Darwin’s working class past and to shift the preoccupation of NT historiography away from stories of pioneers and settlers. It is essentially an organisational history, but one influenced by ‘new’ labour history. That is, it attempts to draw out the relationships between the union, its membership and the community from which it emerged. By contextualising the union within the broader community of the Territory, something of the cultures of the working class beyond the walls of the union office and Arbitration Court will be revealed. The thesis challenges two themes that have emerged from the few existing histories of the Territory union movement, namely its militancy and its racial tolerance. Neither of these conclusions is upheld by close examination of the historical record. When unions did resort to militant action it was often a defensive reaction against management attempts to erode established wages and conditions. More often than not, these disputes were resolved through the channels of the arbitration system. At times, Territory workers were involved in supporting civil rights for non-Anglo-Irish workers but at other times, racist bigotry was at the forefront of union discourse. For nearly 40 years the union barred members of the so-called ‘coloured’ races from membership. For the most part the union movement was not interested in the plight of Aboriginal workers except for when they competed with ‘white’ union members for jobs. The only exception to this was when members of the Communist Party were leading the union in the period immediately after the Second World War. There is much that is different about the Territory from other parts of the country – a harsh environment, geographic isolation, a weak and distant state authority, limited amenities and i an ‘undisciplined’, male dominated, itinerant working class. However, this thesis suggests that the evolution of the NAWU and its predecessors was mainly influenced by national factors for three main reasons. Firstly, from 1911-1978, the Federal government administered the Territory and for most of this period the government was the main employer. Secondly, by virtue of the Northern Territory Administration Act, the Commonwealth Arbitration Court/Commission was responsible for regulating wages and conditions and settling industrial disputes in the Territory. Thirdly, the majority of workers in the Territory were from elsewhere and they brought with them the ideas and practices of the union movement from other parts of Australia and the world. ii Acknowledgments A study of this magnitude is very much a partnership between many different people and organisations. Firstly I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Lyn Riddett, the late Dr. Alistair Heatley and Professor David Carment, for their support, encouragement and ideas over the last six years. I also want to express appreciation for all the Northern Territory University staff I have had dealings with during the course of my enrolment. It is a fine university and a very supportive environment in which to do postgraduate study. I sincerely hope that one day sanity will prevail in government circles and the NTU will get the support it deserves. I do not wish to mention them all by name but I do want to acknowledge the friendship and support I received from all my fellow postgraduates at the NTU. However, special mention must be made of Bill Wilson and Sue Stanton. I shared an office and many ideas over the last few years with Bill and Sue helped me understand the complexity of race relations in the Territory. I hope one day her grandfather, Jack McGuinness (NAWU President, 1955-58, 1962-62), gets the recognition he deserves for his contribution to the Territory labour movement and the fight for Aboriginal civil rights. I also want to thank Mickey Dewar and Julie Wells for their encouraging feedback on early drafts. Thanks to Barbara James who shared with me her knowledge and enthusiasm for Territory labour history. Thanks also to all the people who gave their time to be interviewed for this thesis – Bill Donnelly, Brian Manning, Col Friel, Terry Robinson, Curly Nixon, Jack McPhillips, Baylon Ryan, Bill Ivinson, Kath Mills, Jeanette Toupein and Sheila Clarke. I would also like to express my appreciation of the staff of the various archives and libraries consulted during the course of this research. Special mention should be made of the wonderful work of Francis Good and Linda Pugh in the Northern Territory Archives Oral History Unit. With great patience and perseverance Linda listened to my poorly recorded tapes and somehow made transcripts out of them. Part of the research for this project was funded by a Northern Territory History Award so I want to thank the selection panel and my referees. iii In April-May 1999, I was fortunate to have participated with thirteen other postgraduates in the Visiting Fellows program, ‘Writing Histories/Writing Cultures’, at the Centre for Cross- Cultural Research at the Australian National University. I want to express my appreciation of the principal convenors, Dr. Ann McGrath and Professor Ann Curthoys. The ideas presented at the three-week program gave us the confidence to be more creative in our writing. I hope I have lived up to the expectations of the program’s convenors. Thanks also to Kay Graham of Stringybark Farm, Rylstone, for the use of her scanning equipment to reproduce the photos in the thesis. Last but definitely not least, special thanks to my partner Deb Sorensen. Without her support, encouragement, patience and proof reading, I would not have got this far. In Darwin, Kempsey and Rylstone, Deb has lived with this thesis for as long as I have and I am grateful for her ongoing companionship. iv A Note on Language 1. When writing Territory history, it is difficult to avoid using racialised categories such as ‘white’, ‘coloured’, ‘half-caste’, ‘part-Aboriginal’ and ‘full-blood Aboriginal’. Such categories are not based on biology but are socially constructed and as a result have arbitrary meanings that change over time. While modern scholarship has tried to avoid the use of such racist language, there are times when the use of less value-loaded replacements leads to imprecision. For example, ‘white’ cannot be replaced by ‘European’ because at different times southern Europeans were not considered ‘white’. At other times, southern Europeans and other nationalities such as the Indians (as British subjects) were considered ‘white’. Explaining this apparent flexibility in the characterisation of ‘whiteness’, Andrew Markus writes that ‘Racial consciousness’, being a ‘construct of the imagination’ is ‘unfettered by definite boundaries’.1 A racial group’s positioning in the social hierarchy would often (but not always) be determined by whether that group was competing with ‘white’ workers for employment.2 Problems also emerge with the term ‘half-caste’, defined as people of mixed parentage with one parent ‘white’ and one parent Aboriginal. The term was used both as a term of racial abuse and as a term of identity by ‘part-Aboriginal’ people themselves. In some cases ‘coloured’ was a broad term to describe all non-Europeans, including ‘half-castes’. However, not all ‘coloureds’ were ‘half-castes’, as their parents could have been, for example, of Asian descent. During the period covered by this thesis, the term ‘Aborigine’ referred to ‘full- blood’ Aboriginals not ‘part-Aboriginals’ or ‘half-castes’.
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