History Archives

Activism and Campaign History: Start Here

Activism and Campaign history – A range of resources about the history of First Nations, social and labour movements in Australia and beyond.

ten dvd covers of movies about social movements struggles and leaders

Films and Documentaries about Social Movement Struggles, Victories and Leaders

Be inspired with this list of movies and documentaries about social movement struggles, victories and leaders – Selma, Milk, Silkwood, Norma Rae, Gandhi and more.

A large group of men on strike sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in front of one of the opera house sails. Some are wearing hard hats

How Workers Defeated Anti-Strike Laws in the 1970s

Read an excerpt from the book, Without Bosses: Radical Trade Unionism in the 1970s, about workers retaining the right to strike.

Aboriginal Change Makers: Stories of Aboriginal Self-determination and Empowerment

Stories and event about the role of Aboriginal Change Makers in the fight for equality and a more just society for all of us.

A 89 year old woman wearing a hat, knee length coat and dress stands in bare feet in the water of a bay holding an umbrella standing in front of a pile of dumped sand being tipped out of a truck

Fighting for the Foreshore: The Campaigns to Protect Mounts Bay and Kings Park

Read an account of Perth’s first two major conservation campaigns, the preservation of Kings Park bushland and the survival of Mounts Bay.

Women Fighting Back in the Depression Years

Read about the role that women played in unemployed movements during the Depression Years in Australia in this book excerpt by Janey Stone.

screenshot of book cover called Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985. There is a collage of various book covers.

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1986

Radical Science Fiction – Watch videos from a symposium held in 2022 focused on the links between sci-fi and forms of activism.

a drawing looking a line of people walking along a path that leads to the end of a rainbow. The sun is shining and there are green fields.

Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline

The first book to bring together a large collection of neurodiverse contributors to talk about events that shaped the movement, and which they themselves were involved with.

silhouette of hand putting a voting ballot into a box

Elections and Activism: Case Studies

A collection of case studies of how activists have intervened in elections collated by The Commons Social Change Library.

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.

Anti nuclear poster. Text says For a nuclear-free and independent Pacific. Stop French tests, US out, USSR Stay Out! The image is a nuclear symbol overlaying an illustrated aerial view of land and clouds. Text in other language is - Kia toituu te mana o te Moana-niu-aa-Kiwa: raahuitat kia waatea i ngaa Nuukrina whakahaehae whakamootii. La matua fa'asaina le fa'aaogaina o aupega malolosi e ai le nuclear bomb i le pasefiak atoa

From Protest to Politics: The Effectiveness of Civil Society in shaping the Nuclear-free Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

A case study about what made anti-nuclear activism successful in Aotearoa New Zealand between the 1960s – 1980s.

Change Makers (Text on orange background)

ChangeMaker Chat with Ernie Cortes: Community Organising

A chat with one of the biggest names in US community organizing, Ernie Cortes, including history, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) & Saul Alinksy.

A crowd of protestors at marriage equality rally. There are colourful rainbow flags, banners and in the foreground three people are holding signs that say Vote Yes with a green tick.

Marriage Equality Campaign Timeline and Reflections

A timeline of events related to the Australian campaign for marriage equality along with reflection and analysis related to Australian, Irish and US campaigns.

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.

7 protesters on a road block a police vehicle during the 1982 Nightcap forest blockade in NSW, Australia.

Om gaia dudes: The North East Forest Alliance’s old-growth forest campaign

This book chapter by Aidan Ricketts is about the key moments and positive sides of the old forest growth campaign in northern NSW in the 1990s.

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 […]

A collage of 6 images that relate to community organising including a photo of Saul Alinksy, and people protesting.

So, what is community organising?

Community organising is a way of building people power that focuses on building the capacity, skills and leadership of the people involved in making change. This article explains community organising and its history.

a collage of covers of films about women and social change

Films about Women & Social Justice and Change

An inspiring list of feature films and documentaries about women and social change including Women of Steel, Suffragette, Mission Blue, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry and more.

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