This was broadcast on 'Workers Power' on 4ZZZ on the 4th May 2021.
Brisbane Labor Day indeed Labor Day all over Australia began its existence in the campaigns to win the eight hour day. So the initial push for the eight hour day in Australia was led by stonemasons down in in Melbourne, particularly the stonemasons working on the the Law Faculty building at the University of Melbourne University.
So, first of all, in the 1850s, they tried to talk the construction bosses into agreeing to an eight hour day and when talks broke down on that there was one British immigrant and former Chartist James Stevens who was working on their construction site at Melbourne Uni. And basically he organized his co workers and said, we're going to walk off and they did. They downed tools and walked off the job on the 21st of April 1856. And they marched to Parliament House and along the way they were joined by workers from other sites, other construction sites.
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