Trade Union Movement
In the first half of the twentieth century, Australia's trade union movement became one of the country's most influential social and political forces. Through campaigns for better wages, safer working conditions and workers' rights, unions also played a significant role in major national events, including the Great Depression, the Second World War and support for Indonesian independence after 1945.
Joris Ivens and the Role of Film in the Indonesian Independence Movement
This article examines how Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens made the documentary Indonesia Calling in Sydney in 1945–46. The film depicted the boycott by Indonesian seamen and Australian maritime unions of Dutch ships carrying troops and military supplies to Indonesia. It also explores the multinational support for the boycott, the film’s controversial production and its use in promoting the Indonesian struggle for independence.
An Attractive Naivety: Australia as a new nation in a complex world (Revised Edition)
An Attractive Naivety is an epic work of Australian historical fiction spanning the first half of the twentieth century. Through the lives of ordinary men and women, it traces the nation’s journey from Federation and plague to Depression, war, and uneasy peace. Interweaving fictional characters with real events, the novel explores the humour, hardship, courage and contradictions that shaped modern Australia.
More than the wedding ring
This dissertation examines diverse foreign women who contributed to Indonesia’s formation as an independent nation, often alongside Indonesian leftist husbands. It explores their political and personal motivations, transnational identities, activism, citizenship and sense of belonging within the wider contexts of decolonisation, the Cold War and the Third World.
Native Seamen's Strike Creates Police Problem
More than 600 mainly Javanese seamen in Sydney refused to sail their vessels, leading to mass arrests and prosecutions for being absent without leave or disobeying their masters. Many declared that they wanted to return to Java and chose imprisonment rather than comply, with 130 men each fined £10 or sentenced to 20 days in gaol. The dispute caused serious concern about disruption to Netherlands East Indies shipping and required extensive police intervention.
Black ban on dutch mercy ships
NEI Information Service deny that supplies for the suppression of the Indonesian people were carried aboard Dutch ships in Australian ports.
Communist move - White Australia Policy
The article reports Federal Government concern that Communist supporters were encouraging Indonesian seamen and Australian waterfront unions to refuse work on Dutch ships carrying arms for use against Indonesian nationalists. Ministers portrayed the dispute as part of a broader Communist challenge to the White Australia policy, while unions called for arrested Indonesians to be released and allowed to return home. The boycott was spreading across the waterfront to other maritime trades.
Federal Ministers See Red Bid to Undermine White Australia Policy
The article reports Federal Ministers' claims that Communists were encouraging Indonesian seamen and Australian waterside workers to undermine the White Australia policy. A Communist Party circular urged workers to boycott Dutch ships carrying military supplies, arguing that these would be used to suppress the newly declared Indonesian Republic and restore Dutch colonial rule. The Government resisted pressure to support Indonesian independence and insisted that Indonesian seamen remained prohibited immigrants.
Esperance Bay leaves Brisbane
Esperance Bay leaves Brisbane with >1400 Indonesians destined for Java at the end of the war.
Indonesia calling - Joris Ivens, 1946
Indonesia Calling is a 1946 Australian short documentary film directed by Joris Ivens and produced by the then Waterside Workers' Federation.
Dutch Ships Again Black
A temporary ban on two Dutch ships imposed in Brisbane and Adelaide.
Boycott on Dutch Ships encouraged to continue
Third Congress of Indonesian Railway Labourers request Australian black ban on Dutch shipping to continue.
Seamen will boycott Dutch ships
Mass meeting of Seamen's Union in Melbourne vote to continue black ban of Dutch shipping.
Black Armada by Rupert Lockwood
Book review