For almost four months during 1891, central Queensland was preoccupied with a feud between shearers striking against working conditions and wealthy squatters. Recognised as one of Australia’s first major industrial disputes, the strike occurred during the overseas-induced depression of the 1890s.
Economic instability overseas impacted on falling wool prices in Australia, creating tension between the shearers and the pastoralists who proposed a reduction to the shearers’ wages, which then stood at £1 per hundred sheep shorn.
The shearers retaliated by refusing to supply their labour – a crippling blow to the wool industry. In February 1891, the centre of the strike shifted to Barcaldine, the terminus of the rail line from Rockhampton and at the centre of the Mitchell district, the richest pastoral area of the colony.
In response to the strike, the pastoralists introduced non-unionist 'free labourers' or 'scabs' who received the protection of police and troopers. Unionists staged parades and public protests with many arrested and jailed. At Barcaldine, the police station was guarded by infantrymen with fixed bayonets as 120 mounted infantry surrounded the union office, arresting the strike committee. They were charged under obscure British legislation with conspiracy and sedition.
Thirteen of the union leaders were brought to trial at Rockhampton and sentenced to three years at the St Helena Island prison. Despite the strength of union protest, the strike was unsuccessful although it hastened the call for a political movement to represent the interests of working people, leading to the creation of a Labor party.
|
