The United Plasterers' Society formed in Sydney in 1875 and was also referred to as the Sydney Plasterers' Association. By 1887 it was known as the Australasian Association of Operative Plasterers, New South Wales Section and this was the name used when its rules were registered in 1897. On registration under the New South Wales Trade Union Act in 1903 the name changed to the New South Wales Association of Operative Plasterers. In 1925 it amalgamated with the Plasterers' Union in Hobart to become the Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia.

The Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia initially consisted of an amalgamation of the New South Wales and Tasmanian plasterers' unions. It changed its name to the Operative Plasterers' and Plaster Workers' Federation of Australia in 1960. In 1963 the South Australian, Western Australian and Queensland plastering unions joined the Federation but the two Victorian plasterers' unions remained separate. The union amalgamated with other construction and mining unions in 1992 to eventually become part of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in 1993.