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People’s History of Australia

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25.01.2022 In 1971, Australia exploded with protest against a sporting tour by the white supremacist Springbok rugby union team. Tens of thousands took to the streets and directly disrupted Springbok matches, while thousands of unionists made the tour almost impossible by refusing to staff flights that carried the Springbok, work in hotels that allowed them to stay, or supply restaurants that served them. How was such an incredible campaign organised, and what can anti-racists learn from it today? Tune in to our third podcast episode about the 1971 Springbok tour early next week to find out!

25.01.2022 On this day 16 March 1974, 50 feminists in Sydney broke into two abandoned houses in Glebe and opened them as the Elsie Women's Refuge, Australia's first refuge for women escaping domestic abuse. Within a few years, hundreds of independently-run refuges had opened across the country.

23.01.2022 Our second podcast episode is live, with acclaimed author Nadia Wheatley. Tune in to hear the amazing story of the tens of thousands of unemployed people who organised suburb-by-suburb in Sydney in the Great Depression to secure food and housing for everyone, whether they could afford it or not.

22.01.2022 Australia, 1931: millions are out of work and the world is in the grip of economic crisis, but the unemployed are organising and those in charge of society and the press are FREAKING OUT. Tune in soon for our upcoming episode on the Unemployed Workers' Movement during the 1930s!

21.01.2022 On this day 11 September 2000, thousands of people came together in Melbourne to blockade a meeting of the World Economic Forum, which brought together the heads of the world's 500 most powerful corporations. Defying the largest police operation in Victoria's history, protesters effectively shut down the conference and forced the then prime minister, John Howard, to sneak into the venue via a small boat on the Yarra.

20.01.2022 On this day 15 May 1969, Victorian tramways union leader Clarrie O’Shea was jailed for refusing to pay fines his union had been hit with. Over one million workers across Australia went on strike, and within a week O’Shea had been released and the anti-union Penal powers laws, which criminalised strike activity, were rendered dead.

19.01.2022 We have a new People's History of Australia poster! This one, made by Nic Robertson of the Workers' Art Collective, celebrates a strike by 300 migrant women in Brunswick, Melbourne, in 1981, which saw the strikers win huge pay increases and smash gender and racial stereotypes. Listen to this inspirational story on our first-ever podcast episode below: http://www.peopleshistory.com.au//episode-1-the-brunswick/

15.01.2022 New podcast episode dropping next week! Tune in to learn about the life and times of Nick Origlass - Balmain ironworker who brought thousands out on strike just to have him reinstated as their union delegate, pioneering environmentalist, and later, the legendary Trotskyist mayor of Leichhardt Council who led protests in his ceremonial robes and got arrested in the name of every progressive cause in the country.

14.01.2022 On this day 24 September 1945, thousands of Australian waterside workers began refusing to service military vessels that were being used to reimpose Dutch colonial rule over Indonesia following Japanese surrender in WWII. With their supply lines choked by union boycotts and facing intense guerrilla resistance, the Dutch were defeated and Indonesia became independent in 1949.

09.01.2022 Episode four of our podcast is live! Listen in for the remarkable life story of Nick Origlass, who fought the fascist New Guard on the streets of 1930s Sydney, brought thousands of Balmain ironworkers out on strike just to have him reinstated as their union delegate, then became the revolutionary Trotskyist mayor of Leichhardt Council in the 1970s and led protests in his ceremonial robes.

08.01.2022 Check out this amazing graphic by Sam Wallman of the Workers' Art Collective for our upcoming podcast episode on the Unemployed Workers' Movement in 1930s Sydney! The episode launches Thursday night, so stay tuned!

08.01.2022 On this day 26 March 1997, 250 students occupied and took over the administration block at the University of Technology Sydney. Despite being evicted by riot police and police dogs, the students succeeded in preventing UTS from introducing upfront fees for undergraduate courses.

02.01.2022 Content warning: rape On this day 25 April 1983, 300 women marched silently through central Sydney holding a banner reading "In memory of all women of all countries raped in all wars". Despite 160 marchers being arrested, the action succeeded in generating enormous publicity.

02.01.2022 On this day 24 June 1978, one of the most famous riots in Australian history took place, when hundreds of LGBTIQ people fought back against police attempts to shut down Sydney's first ever Mardi Gras. Despite 53 arrests and the publication of arrestees' names and addresses in the Sydney Morning Herald, the movement went on to win massive gains over the ensuing decades. Tune in early next year for our upcoming podcast episode featuring a participant who was there on the night!

01.01.2022 Our third podcast episode is live! As protests against racism rage across the globe, tune in to hear how tens of thousands of people around Australia in 1971 waged a massive campaign to stop a sporting tour by the white supremacist Springbok rugby union team, with thousands turning out to directly disrupt matches and unionised workers refusing to staff flights carrying the Springbok or work in hotels allowing them to stay, striking a massive blow against racism in Australia.