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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.

Book

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.

Newspaper article

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.
 

1942 'Native Seamen's Strike Creates Police Problem', Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), 8 avril, p. 3. (Late Final Extra), viewed 10 août 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article271820099
Newspaper article

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.

1945 '"BLACK" BAN ON DUTCH MERCY SHIPS', The Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1909 ; 1912 - 1966), 25 septembre, p. 1. , viewed 22 juil. 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62861408
Newspaper article

Esperance Bay leaves Brisbane

Esperance Bay leaves Brisbane with >1400 Indonesians destined for Java at the end of the war.

1945 '1416 SAILED IN ESPERANCE BAY', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), 17 octobre, p. 1. , viewed 02 juin 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50272444
Video

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.

Producer
Waterside Workers' Federation
Newspaper article

Dutch Ships Again Black

A temporary ban on two Dutch ships imposed in Brisbane and Adelaide.

1947 'DUTCH SHIPS AGAIN BLACK', The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), 22 juillet, p. 1. , viewed 22 juil. 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49329623
Newspaper article

Boycott on Dutch Ships encouraged to continue

Third Congress of Indonesian Railway Labourers request Australian black ban on Dutch shipping to continue.

1948 'Boycott On Dutch Ships', Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 2 juillet, p. 1. , viewed 23 avr. 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194153382
Newspaper article

Seamen will boycott Dutch ships

Mass meeting of Seamen's Union in Melbourne vote to continue black ban of Dutch shipping.

1948 'SEAMEN WILL BOYCOTT DUTCH SHIPS', The Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic. : Moama, NSW : 1869 - 1954; 1998 - 2002), 30 décembre, p. 2. , viewed 23 avr. 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116548312
Newspaper article

Black Armada by Rupert Lockwood

Book review

1976 'BLACK ARMADA by Rupert Lockwood (Australasian Book Society, 352 pp. Price: $7.95).', Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991), 25 février, p. 10. , viewed 22 juil. 2026, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236921192