The First Two Hundred Years

1788-1849  In this period New South Wales was settled as an English penal colony after the landing of Captain Phillip on 26th January, 1788.  The majority of First Fleeters, the convicts, certainly deserve to be called workers, and their struggles were a lead up to unionism in Australia.  Some notable occurrences were:

1791 Convicts Strike: demanding daily issue of rations, not weekly issue.

1804 Castle Hill Rebellion: protest on conditions and rations.

1822 James Straighter, convict shepherd sentenced to 500 lashes, one month solitary confinement on bread and water, and five years penal servitude for ... "inciting his Masters' servants to combine for the purposes of obliging him to raise the wages and increase their rations".

1828 Masters and Servants Act of NSW provided that ... "servants could be imprisoned and have their wages forfeited for refusal to work or for destruction of property, and that Masters found guilty of ill-usage should be liable to pay damages up to 6 months wages".

1829 Typographers, supported by carpenters, successfully strike for payment in sterling, against currency reform, which threatened the value of wages.

1830 Shipwrights union formed.

1831 Boatbuilders union formed.

1833 Cabinetmakers union formed.

1838 Society of Compositors strike and win wage increase of 5s5d per week.

1840 Society of Compositors campaign to restrict the number of apprentices.  The government uses convict compositors as strike- breakers.

1843 Economic depression leads to the formation of the Mutual Protection Society to protect the interests of the middle and working classes of N.S.W

1844 The Early Closing Movement seeks the reduction of working hours from 14 to 12 per day.

1848 Political activity of the working class leads to the formation of the Anti-Transportation League.