History - Australia - The Commons Social Change Library

an old black and white photo of a procession of people walking along a street outside a hotel with text on their roof that reads Royal Hotel

Beer Strikes: A History of Hotel Boycotts in Australia, 1900-1920

Watch this video presentation about beer strikes and the history of hotel / pub boycotts in Australia in the early 1900s.

Australian Actions at Different Points of Intervention

Australian examples of actions that intensify impact in terms of ensuring visibility, challenging opponents, and disrupting narratives.

workers sitting on steps outside Opera House

The 1972 Sydney Opera House Work-In

Learn about the Sydney Opera House ‘work-in’ carried out by construction workers who expelled management & continued work under workers’ control.

a group of men in work clothes covered in coal dust wearing hard hats with miners lamps on the hats

The Nymboida Coal Mine Takeover, NSW, 1975–1979

How workers at the Nymboida coal mine in NSW resisted mass sackings by taking over and running the mine themselves in 1975. firstly through an occupation and then via union ownership.

Lines of Resistance: What can the Old Left offer today’s creatives?

Lines of Resistance: A Symposium on Media, Arts & Activism that profiles research on the role of media and visual arts in activist movements.

an illustration of a pair of scissors opened up to cut under the title which reads The Barber who read history

A Shelf of Reds: Neglected Radical Historians

Australian radical historians and activists, Rowan Cahill & Terry Irving, share a selection of books about radical Australian history.

The flag of the Torres Strait Islands. It features a white Dhari (traditional headdress), with a five-pointed white star beneath it. The background is dark blue, with green stripes at the top and bottom of the flag.

Torres Strait soldiers stage stay at home strikes, 1943

Torres Strait Islander soldiers strike to end discrimination in the army during World War Two.

Torres Strait Islanders hold maritime strike against pearling industry, 1936

Torres Strait Islanders refused work in the Native Affairs pearling fleet due to racial discrimination and held a maritime strike in 1936.

Protest poster - Aboriginal Australians in protest holding a sign that says No mining on sacred land. The wording on the poster says We, The People of Noonkanbah call for support.

Noonkanbah 1979: When Unionists Stood up for Aboriginal Rights

The Noonkanbah dispute was an important chapter in both the struggle for Australian Aboriginal rights and union solidarity in the 1970s-80s.

black screen with white writing - why would activists archive

Activist Archiving: Start Here

A list of articles and ideas from the Commons Librarians about resources to explore in archiving your work in social change.

Protesters blockading at Bentley in NSW against the coal and gas industry in 2014. A landscape view of the blockade with the sun on the horizon creating a beautiful light over the site with many people and colourful flags. Protestors have climbed tripods. There is a person dressed as an angel at the top of one. Text over the top of the image says Blockades that changed australia

Blockades that changed Australia

Blockades that changed Australia including Jabiluka, the Bentley blockade, S11, Nookanbah and the Knitting Nannas.

The Australian Movement against Uranium Mining: Its Rationale and Evolution

Historical overview of the Australian movement against uranium mining, focussed on two major campaigns: Roxby and Jabiluka.

A group of people walking down the street holding banners and protesting. One big banner says Stepping Out for Peace, People for Nuclear Disarmament. Two protestors at the front are dressed in clown costumes.

Stepping Out For Peace: A History of CANE and PND (WA)

Introduction Stepping Out For Peace is an oral history of activism carried out by Western Australian groups People for Nuclear Disarmament (WA) and its forerunner the Campaign Against Nuclear Energy. It includes a detailed and heavily illustrated account of campaigns from the 1970s onwards against uranium mining, nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, and militarism. In doing […]

Podcasts About Decolonisation, First Nations Justice and Invasion Day

People’s History of Australia-podcast and blog looking at Australian history from the perspective of ordinary people fighting together for a better life.

Reconciliation in the forest? An exploration of the conflict over the logging of native forests in the south west of Western Australia

This 2004 book looks at why two Western Australian social movement organisations on opposite sides of the logging debate continued to contest WA’s forest policy for so long. It contains insights into why the Western Australian environment movement was successful in some aspects of forest protection.

anti nuclear protestors on USS Worden ship with protest banners saying No Nuclear Weapons

Project Iceberg: Fremantle’s response to visiting nuclear warships in the 1980s

A history of the unique nonviolent civil disobedience activities of a group of mainly Fremantle residents aimed at visiting US nuclear warships between 1983 and 1985.

Man standing on top of iron fence waving flag outside a building.

Stories of Unemployed Activism from Radical Melbourne: 1906-1982

Introduction Four stories about actions – demonstrations, pickets, eviction resistance and occupations – that the unemployed people of Melbourne carried out from 1906 to 1982. These stories come from the Radical Melbourne 1 & 2 books by Jeff and Jill Sparrow, published by Vulgar Press in 2001 and 2004. The books feature dozens of stories […]

Tag