The Royal Victorian College of Nursing was first constituted in 1901 as the Victorian Trained Nurses' Association. Its role was to improve and protect nursing by registering trained nurses, to introduce a uniform curriculum of training and examination, to look after the welfare of nurses by establishing a benefit scheme and generally to promote the interests of nurses. The prefix 'Royal' was obtained by Royal Charter in 1904 from Edward VII.

In 1934 the RVTNA changed its name to the Royal Victorian College of Nursing which reflected its greater involvement with nursing education. It had transferred its role of registering nurses to the Governments' Victorian Nursing Council in 1924.

In October 1975 the Royal Victorian College of Nursing amalgamated with the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch), which had previously been the RANF Employees' Section or the body which represented the industrial aims of nurses. They now formed the new Royal Australian Nursing Federation, Victorian Branch. The Royal prefix was dropped both federally and in Victoria in the 1980s.

Jewish group initially created to represent a religious opposition to political Zionism. The American Council for Judaism continues with the goal of seeking 'to advance the universal principles of a Judaism free of nationalism, and the national, civic, cultural, and social integration into American institutions of Americans of Jewish faith.'

Professional association for the health and safety profession.

The Safety Engineering Society of Australia was formed by a small group of students who enrolled in and attended the first industrial Safety and Accident Prevention course conducted by the (then) Melbourne Technical College in 1948. This group remained together and formed the nucleus of the Safety Engineering Society of Australia and held regular monthly meetings.

Became the Safety Institute of Australia in 1977. Became the Australian Institute of Health and Safety in 2018.

Founding editor of Voice, an independent monthly magazine devoted to current affairs, literature and the arts. The first issue appeared in 1951. Contributors included Vance Palmer, Harry Seidler, Bernard Smith, Marcus Oliphant, Clyde Cameron, James Gleeson and Florence Eldershaw. For financial reasons it ceased publication in 1956.

Left-leaning think tank.

Needs research to determine dates, scope and relationships with other bakers' trade unions.

Formed in 1964 by a merger of the State Schools Committees and Councils Association of Victoria and the Victorian Secondary Schools Advisory Councils Association.

According to its website, 'the Victorian Council of School Organisations Inc (VICCSO) is an independent organisation comprising affiliated school councils. VICCSO supports and promotes great practices in school governance and school-family-community partnerships as powerful ways to improve learning outcomes and life opportunities for all students. It also advocates for resources and support for public education.'

Coal mining industry lobby group. Subsumed into the Minerals Council of Australia in 2013.

Catholic, anti-communist group which emerged from The Movement, which itself developed between 1937 and 1943. Closely associated with B A Santamaria.

Trotskyist group formed by Nick Origlass to work within the Australian Labor Party.

The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1961 commenced from 2 May 1961. The Industrial Court and Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Commission were constituted under the Act. This legislation separated the roles previously preformed by a single Tribunal, the Industrial Court of Queensland, which was established under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1929.

The Commission’s functions were essentially related to conciliating and arbitrating industrial matters, with the Industrial Court becoming an appellate Tribunal.
The Full Bench of the Commission, among other things, made declarations as to the cost of living, the standard of living, the basic wage, and standard hours of work. It made general rulings relating to any industrial matter after having given notice of its intention and in so doing gave all interested persons and opportunity to be heard. The Commission, in addition to declaring rates of pay, specified conditions of employment under each of its awards, including overtime rates; proportion of female workers to male workers, young workers to adult workers, apprentices and improvers to journeymen; hours of work as well as fixed hours of trading for shops.

Formed in response to high numbers of motor crashes and other accidents, and with the National Safety Council of the United States of America as a model. On 23 May 1927, representatives of 52 organisations met to discuss safety. Mr Cox of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria proposed the formation of the Council, 'its objects being safety at work, on the roads, and in the home'.

Now a provider of occupational health and safety training and consulting services.

Incorporating the Milling, Baking, Cooking and Allied Trades Employees' Union of Queensland (registered under the Trade Union Act of 1915).

Needs research to confirm dates and history.

The first attempt to form a Public Service Association of New South Wales (PSA) was made in April 1886 by Arthur Josling and P.H. Somerville. Their actions may have been prompted by similar moves in Victoria and by growing concerns of political patronage within the service. The Provisional Committee set up to establish the organisation stated that the Association would not have a political character nor would it be a trade union. Thirteen years passed before the union was established in 1899.

The Association's first Chairman was Mr. Cornelius Delohery with Mr. W.A. Thomson elected Secretary. In November 1890 Mr. John Osbourne was appointed as the first permanent Secretary and the first Council was elected to conduct the business of the PSA. In October of the same year, the first country branch was formed at Moree. Others quickly followed in Armidale, Goulburn, Hay, Newcastle, Forbes and Orange.

In 1915, it was decided by a vote of 670 to 538 to register as a trade union under the Industrial Arbitration and Trade Union Acts. The proposal fired spirited debate but, nevertheless, registered as a Trade Union under the Trade Union Act and an Industrial Union under the Industrial Arbitration Act. Four internal divisions were established - Clerical, General, Professional and Education. By 1920, a vocational structure was emerging - the division and representation of members by the jobs they did - and the PSA's first awards were lodged.

In 1922, new legislation again excluded the PSA from the arbitration system. In an attempt to correct this situation the PSA waged a major political campaign between 1925 and 1930 to regain access to the system. The Lang Labor Government eventually amended the legislation. Four sections then emerged - Clerical, General, Professional and Government Agencies - plus a Women's Auxiliary.

Amalgamated into the Australian Bank Officials Association in June 1963.

Began in 1907 as an association of farmers and millers known then as the Australian Sugar Producers Association. In 1987 the company decided that the milling half would split off to form the Australian Sugar Milling Council, while the farming half was renamed the Australian Cane Farmers Association (ACFA).

The first federal tribunal to have jurisdiction over industrial matters was the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. Established under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, the Court had both arbitral and judicial powers. This meant that it could make an award specifying wages and conditions of employment in settlement of an interstate dispute and it could interpret and enforce the award, if necessary imposing penalties on any party to the award who did not comply with its provisions. The Act also provided for the registration of organisations of employers and employees.

In 1956 substantial amendments were made to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act which affected a separation of the judicial and arbitrative functions of the Court. In effect, it was deemed unconstitutional for the Arbitration Court to be vested with both arbitral and judicial powers because of the acceptance in the Constitution of the separation of legislative and judicial powers. Hence amendments were made providing for the establishment of a Commonwealth Industrial Court and a Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to overtake the dual role of the Court of Conciliation & Arbitration.

Representation for Indian merchant navy officers. Affiliated to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), London. Also affiliated to the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), New Delhi, which represents a very large section of workers from various industries in India.

Founded in London in 1949 by unions opposing growing communist control of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in the initial phase of the cold war. The breakaway was triggered by the WFTU's aim to absorb the hitherto autonomous International Trade Secretariats and its rejection of the Marshall Plan. With this background and the American Federation of Labor as an affiliate, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in the first two decades of its existence strongly identified with Western democratic values and strictly refused contacts with communist and Eastern European state controlled unions.

Shortly after its founding the ICFTU established a network of regional organizations: the European Regional Organisation in 1950, the Organización Regional Interamericana de Trabajadores, the Asian Regional Organisation in 1951, and finally the African Regional Organisation in 1960. Increasing bilateral Eastern European contacts of member unions and a dispute concerning affiliation of the United Automobile Workers caused the walk out of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1969, reentering in 1982.

Following the changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries some trade unions in these countries left the WFTU to affiliate with the ICFTU. Membership as a rule was open to trade unions independent from external control but, from the Third World in particular, members with limited freedom from government, political parties and employers, were also accepted.

In 2006 the International Trade Union Confederation was founded from the merger of the former International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour.

Associated Pulp And Paper Mills Limited (APPM) formed in 1936 under the auspices of the Collins House group with the amalgamation of Paper Makers Limited and Tasmanian Paper Company, becoming a large scale paper manufacturing operation at Burnie, Tasmania. A series of takeovers together with the commencement of manufacturing in Victoria and New South Wales made APPM a prominent force within the Australian paper and timber industry. The major shareholders included North Broken Hill Ltd, Broken Hill South Ltd, Australian Glass Manufacturers, Amalgamated Zinc and WH Smith and Company. Later becoming a subsidiary of North Broken Hill, the company was sold to AMCOR in 1993.

Australia's first energy company, the Australian Gas Light Company, was established in 1837 to light the streets of Sydney. The Company has been listed on Sydney's Stock Exchange since it first opened in 1871 and has since expanded to have businesses in all Australian states, as well as in Chile, China and Poland.

The inaugural meeting of the Industrial Relations Society of Australia (now ALERA) was held in Sydney on 14 May 1958. It was the culmination of several years of activity by Kingsley Laffer from the University of Sydney who established the first course of study in industrial relations in the Department of Economics in 1956. Kingsley was interested in establishing a national body which would bring together academics, employers, trade unions, government and legal practitioners with a common interest in promoting the field of industrial relations. One of the first initiatives of the fledging Society was the creation of the Journal of Industrial Relations, the first issue of which was published in April 1959.

ALERA was formed as an independent, non-partisan association which encourages research, discussion and debate on a wide range of issues affecting employee relationships and was the first organisation of its type to be formed in Australia. ALERA's objective is to organise and foster discussion, research, education and publication within the field of workplace relations. ALERA is affiliated with the International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA).

The United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers of America was founded in 1888. In 1889, the name changed to the National Association of Machinists. Two years later, it became known as the International Association of Machinists and in 1965, this was changed to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Changed names from New South Wales Aid to Russia Committee to Friendship with Russia League in 1942. With other Russian organisations, merged into the Australian-Russian Society in 1945.

A not-for-profit adult education organisation originally founded in England in 1903 to provide ongoing education for working people. It began in Sydney in 1913 as a joint undertaking by the trade union movement and the University of Sydney and continues to offer a broad range of adult education programs.

In September 1920, graduate women in Sydney formed the Sydney University Women Graduates' Association. Other states were quick to respond. The University of Queensland Women Graduates' Association was established at a meeting in September 1920 and the Victorian Women Graduates' Association in November 1920. During 1920-21, graduate women in South Australia and Tasmania indicated an interest in linking up with their interstate counterparts in the formation of the Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW).

The AFUW was formally established at the inaugural conference held in Sydney in September 1922, which was attended by 75 women, representing every state except Western Australia. Mrs Frances Thorn of the Victorian association was elected as AFUW's first President, with Mrs Muscio elected as Vice-President. The Western Australian Association of University Women was formed in 1923 and the Canberra Association of Women Graduates in the 1944. At its peak in the 1930s, the Federation's membership was some 6500, representing the great majority of all the women university graduates then living in Australia.

Renamed in 2009 as the Australian Federation of Graduate Women, the AFGW is a longstanding member association of the International Federation of University of Women (IFUW). Miss Louisa Macdonald and Mrs Mildred Muscio were Australian representatives at the first IFUW conference, held in London in 1920, where the aim of the International Federation was laid out in the Constitution as being 'To promote understanding and friendship between the university women of the nations of the world, and thereby to further their interests and develop between their countries sympathy and mutual helpfulness.' Over the years, the IFUW has been involved in a number of initiatives related to improving the working and living conditions of women around the world. In addition to its involvement with women's issues specific to Australia, the AFGW also adopts IFUW initiatives and applies them at a national level.

The Queensland AIDS Council is an independent community organisation funded by government grants, community fundraising, donations and sponsorships.

The history of the Queensland AIDS Council can be traced back to November 1984. Around thirty individuals from the gay community held a meeting in a room of the Alliance Hotel, Brisbane. This meeting resulted in the birth of the Queensland AIDS Council and its creation coincided with the first AIDS Awareness week in April, 1985. In late 1986 – prior to government funding became available – the Queensland AIDS Council sought support from all church groups in Brisbane, in order to aid growing community need. The Sisters of Mercy gave Queensland Aids Council a little house behind the Mater Hospital in South Brisbane and supported QuAC in a range of financial and other ways for years.

Since then, QuAC has continued to deliver HIV prevention programs and client services for people with HIV and critical peer support. The organisation has shifted and evolved over time in tandem with the LGBTI community and now incorporates diverse areas of LGBTI health, along with HIV prevention and education.

Changed names to Queensland Council for LGBTI Health in 2019.

On 14 September 1883, twenty one merchants attended the inaugural meeting of the Timber Merchants Association of Melbourne. The objects of the association were to represent the firms interested in the timber trade of the Port of Melbourne “with the view of united action in all matters bearing upon the welfare and satisfactory working of such trade, and to obtain an approved and decided opinion upon any points of policy or alteration in trade arrangements that may present themselves”.
The co-founders of the Association were John Sharp of John Sharp & Sons in South Melbourne and James Wright of J Wright & Co, also in South Melbourne. They established offices at 38 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne and invited annual subscriptions at a price of 3 guineas. The Association’s initial activities focused on cartage rates, prices and credit.
December 1888 saw the beginning of the Association’s involvement in union negotiations, with the majority of members opposing the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners’ request for a reduction of working hours from 48 to 44 hours per week. Throughout the 1900s, the Association would regularly oppose moves to legislate for a 5 day week and a 40 hour week.
In 1905 the Association changed its name to the Melbourne & Suburban Timber Merchants Association. Shortly after, in 1910, a Bendigo & District Timber Merchants Association was formed.
Throughout the early 1900s the Association moved premises several times before finally finding a more permanent home at 51 William Street, Melbourne in 1925.
In 1940 Fred O’Connell of Junction Joinery was appointed Manager of the Association, holding this position for 18 years. In 1941, he and President Eric Aitken held talks with the Prices Commission in Canberra regarding price control and the difficult position the industry was in, successfully negotiating a set price for timber. Also in 1941, the Association organised a Timber Trade Advisory Committee to oversee petrol rationing.
In 1959 a Geelong Branch of the Melbourne & Suburban Timber Merchants Association was formed, however it wasn’t long before the idea of merging the country and city associations emerged and in 1965 the branches merged to form the Timber Merchants Association (Victoria).
In 1971 the William Street building that housed the Association was sold and the Association built new offices in Whitehorse Road, Blackburn.
In 2017 the TMA was absorbed by the Master Grocers Association of Victoria (MGAV). The TMA is now known as MGA Timber Merchants Australia (MGA TMA).

Established in the 1930s, the National Union of Australian University Students became the Australian Union of Students (AUS) in 1971. It was a representative body and lobby group for Australian University and College of Advanced Education students. The group were concerned about issues of specific interest to students and also in areas of broad community concern. By 1970 the group were a dominant presence on nineteen Australian campuses and fought to abolish student fees and organise student travel. Two years later the AUS were powerful opponents of conscription and by 1975 they campaigned for womens' rights and established AUS Women. The Australian Union of Students collapsed in 1984 and was succeeded by the National Union of Students in 1987.

Represents painters and workers in allied trades in the United States and Canada.

Unionization of house painters dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, but a permanent national organisation did not emerge until the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators was formed in 1887. In 1890, the union was renamed the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America. Its headquarters were located in Baltimore, Maryland. By 1894, the Union had divided into two factions, and by 1900, the Baltimore faction lost power to the Lafayette, Indiana faction, and the national headquarters were moved to Lafayette.

As the union expanded during the twentieth century, it extended its representation to new trades. Sign painters and scenic artists were brought into the union in 1900. In 1915, unions representing decorative glass workers merged with the BPD & PA. Eventually unorganized workers employed by paint and varnish manufacturers were accepted as members of the national organization. In 1969, the Union's title became the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. In 2000 the name became the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. The international headquarters of the union are presently located in Hanover, Maryland.

The Australian Labor Party was founded as a federal party prior to the first sitting of the Australian Parliament in 1901, but is descended from Labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement in Australia, formally beginning in 1891. Labor is thus the country's oldest political party. Colonial Labour parties contested seats from 1891, and federal seats, following Federation, at the 1901 federal election. Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian Parliament, at the 1910 federal election.

The ALP predates both the British Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party in party formation, government, and policy implementation.

The Australian Labor Party is a democratic and federal party, which consists of both individual members and affiliated trade unions, who between them decide the party's policies, elect its governing bodies and choose its candidates for public office. The majority of trade unions in Australia are affiliated to the party, and their affiliation fees, based on the size of their memberships, makes up a large part of the party's income. The party consists of six state and two territory branches, each of which consists of local branches which any Australian resident can join, plus affiliated trade unions.

On 24 Sep 1926 the first Labour and Industry Department was established but from 1 Oct 1942 the name was changed to Labour and Employment Department. Under the "Labour and Industry Act 1946" from 1 Mar 1947 the name was changed back to Labour and Industry Department. From 1966 to 1972 it was named Department of Labour and Tourism.

A small group which included Brian Fitzpatrick met in Melbourne in December 1935 and decided to establish an organisation dedicated to the preservation of civil liberties. Most of the group had been members of the Book Censorship Abolition League set up in 1934 by W. Macmahon Ball "to protect the rights of readers and booksellers" after the extensive censorship of political literature during the previous two years. In May 1936 the Council for Civil Liberties was formed at a public meeting. At the annual meeting in 1939 the Council became the Australian Council for Civil Liberties and Brian Fitzpatrick was elected general secretary, a position he held until his death.

The aim of the Council as set out in its 1936 constitution was to assist in the maintenance of the rights of citizens, " against infringement by executive or judicial authority contrary to due process of law, or by tendency of governmental or other agencies to use their powers at the expense of the liberties which citizens in this country have enjoyed." The Council defended individuals and groups irrespective of their political affiliations when it considered "they had been treated unjustly or stood in peril of injustice" and "applied itself to informing the public of facts and implications of 'undemocratic' legislation."

In April 1965 Fitzpatrick wrote of the Council, "before, during and for a few years after the War it operated chiefly from Melbourne but with advisory committees in various States. It remains in existence, but – a voluntary organisation now as at all times – of late years has not functioned as a continuing body conducting regular meetings, etc. Our latest national campaign was conducted towards the end of 1960, when clauses of the amending Crime Act (Commonwealth) of that year were vigorously contested. Nowadays we handle individual cases referred to us, and continue as a loose organisation of (chiefly) lawyers and parliamentarians".

During the inter-war years many conferences were held between the Commonwealth and State Governments and Wheat Growers to discuss the stabilization of the Industry. The establishment of a Commonwealth Board to effect this was the aim of these meetings. Two bills to set up the Board (1930 and 1931) were rejected by the Senate. In May and August of 1939 some progress was made towards stability.

The turmoil of the second world war furthered movement towards regulation and stabilization. It was decided that wheat, being a staple should be managed in an orderly fashion with its handling, protection, disposal and shipment responsibly co-ordinated, so the Australian Wheat Board was set up under the National Security legislation. In December 1945 the Commonwealth Government consulted with the Wheat Growers Federation, whose proposals were fully met.

The Australian Wheat Board was privatised on 1 July 1999, becoming AWB Limited.

Trotskyist party founded in 1972 as the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Became the Socialist Equality Party in 2010.

Founded 6 June 1954 and until 1957 known as the Australian Committee for Cultural Freedom. An affiliated member of the International Association for Cultural Freedom (Founded 1950 and until 1967 known as the Congress for Cultural Freedom), an American anti-communist organisation established in 1950. Founding secretary of the Australian Association for Cultural Freedom was Richard Krygier, who founded Quadrant magazine.

The World Peace Council is a NGO member of the United Nations. It was founded in 1948, with the first international meetings in Paris and Prague the following year. Frederic Joliot-Curie served as its first president. The World Peace Council currently represents over 100 nations and national peace movements.

Headquarters of the World Peace Council were in Finland until 1999, and since 2000 has been located in Greece.

The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union representing merchant seamen. It was founded in May 1937 by Joseph Curran, Ferdinand Smith, and M. Hedley Stone after a split from the International Seafarer's Union, AFL. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations [CIO] at its first convention in July 1937. It was at this same convention that approximately 30,000 seamen left the ISU to join the NMU. By the end of the year, the NMU had over 50,000 members and contracts with most American shipping concerns.

Joseph Curran was elected president of the NMU and served as such until 1981. Ferdinand Smith, a Jamaican-born man of Afro-Caribbean descent, was its first vice-president; M. Hedley Stone was its first secretary-treasurer. The leadership of the NMU had strong Communist ties. Among the notable reforms achieved by the union's Communist-dominated leadership was 'checkerboarding,' the side-by-side racial integration of sailors' sleeping quarters. Another innovation of the new union was the formation of hiring halls in each port. The hiring halls ensured a steady supply of experienced seamen for passenger and cargo ships, and reduced the corruption which plagued the hiring of able seamen. The hiring halls also worked to combat racial discrimination and promote racial harmony among maritime workers. By the end of World War II, the NMU had nearly 100,000 members.

During World War II, the alliance of Communists and non-Communists in the union was weakened. The Cold War exacerbated the ideological divide, and in 1948, the NMU's Communist leadership and its allies were defeated in union elections and expelled. Joseph Curran had distanced himself from the communist elements and in fact helped purge the NMU of any Communist-affiliated members.

The NMU merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America in 2001.

Founded October 1945 during the International Trade Union Congress in Paris; the delegates, including representatives of the American Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Soviet trade unions, agreed to set up a new world federation replacing the old International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and the Red International of Labour Unions (PROFINTERN, 1920-1934), as result of the desire for unity, peace and progress after the Second World War.

The development of the cold war and the increasing communist influence in the Executive Committee of the WFTU resulted from 1948 in the departure of the noncommunist organizations, in order to found their own organization in 1949, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

The World Federation of Trade Unions' headquarters were in Paris 1945 - 1951, Vienna 1951 - 1956, Prague 1956 - 2006, and in Athens since 2006.

The Trades Union Congress is a voluntary association of trade unions which was formed in Manchester in 1868. It forms the largest pressure group in the United Kingdom and works to improve the rights and conditions of working people. In achieving its aims the TUC has played a role both in many Government organisations and in the political wing of the Labour movement. Such a history has resulted in its archives being a rich source for the study of the political, economic and social history of the United Kingdom in the twentieth century.

The TUC is governed by an annual Congress at which representatives of affiliated trade unions meet to determine policy and to elect the executive body of the organisation. Between 1869 and 1921, the executive work of the Congress was carried out by the Parliamentary Committee. In 1920, the Committee was composed of sixteen members who dealt with a relatively narrow range of labour affairs. Changes in society during the First World War led to a widening of the TUC's functions and consequently the formation of the General Council in 1921, which was composed of a representative sample of trade unionists. The General Council is assisted by a number of committees, including Finance and General Purposes, Disputes, Education, Organisation, Social Insurance, International, Economic and Production. These in turn are served by departments, the number and nature of which varies according to the needs and priorities of the time. The responsibility for the everyday work of the General Council lies with the General Secretary who is assisted by a Deputy General Secretary and one or two Assistant General Secretaries.

In the regions, the TUC is organised into Regional Councils which cover England and Wales. Trade union activity in Scotland and Northern Ireland is co-ordinated by the Scottish TUC and the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, both of which are separate organisations with close working relationships with the TUC. At a local level branches of affiliated trade unions unite to form trades councils.

The International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which was created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I.

The International Labour Office is the focal point for International Labour Organization's overall activities, which it prepares under the scrutiny of the Governing Body and under the leadership of the Director-General.

The Office employs some 2,700 officials from over 150 nations at its headquarters in Geneva, and in around 40 field offices around the world.

The International Transport Workers' Federation was founded in 1896 as the International Federation of Ship, Dock and River Workers, adopting its current name in 1898 when it expanded to include transport workers in non-maritime industries. Its initial foundation was in London, in the hands of J. Havelock Wilson of the NSFU, in association with Ben Tillett and Tom Mann, the leaders of the 1889 London dock strike, and also Charles Lindley, the Swedish seamen's unionist, who was to serve the International Transport Workers' Federation for over 50 years.

In 1904, financial problems caused the International Transport Workers' Federation to move to Germany under the secretaryship of the German railwaymen's leader, Hermann Jochade, who rapidly placed the organisation on a more stable administrative and financial footing. The First World War broke down associations between trade unionists and in 1915 the Federation virtually ceased to exist when Jochade was conscripted.

Jochade had established a liaison office in the neutral Netherlands in 1914, supervised by the Dutch Transport Federation (NVV); it was from this base that the international International Transport Workers' Federation was re-established in 1919, with an Amsterdam office, under the secretaryship of Edo Fimmen, joint secretary of the International Federation of Trade Unions and the Dutch trade union federation. Membership again flourished under Fimmen's leadership and major international campaigns, most notably against fascism, marked this period in the International Transport Workers' Federation's history.

By 1939, the imminent outbreak of war caused the International Transport Workers' Federation to move to England, initially to a temporary war-time home in Bedford and later to London. Since the end of World War II the International Transport Workers' Federation has continued to grow, connecting trade unions from 150 countries and engaging in world-wide campaigns on a range of issues. Its headquarters is located in London with offices in Amman, Brussels, Nairobi, New Delhi, Ouagadougou, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

The Socialist Party of Australia was formed in 1971 by disaffected or expelled former members of the Communist Party of Australia.

Socialist Party of Australia members criticised the Communist Party of Australia for abandoning Marxist-Leninism in favour of a left social democratic position.

The Socialist Party of Australia also took a strong stance in defence of the actions of the Soviet Union, from which the CPA had distanced itself following the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In 1996 the Socialist Party of Australia renamed itself the Communist Party of Australia (the CPA having wound up in 1991).

The Democratic Labor Party emerged from the split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the 1950s. The DLP was created because of opposition to the perceived extent of communist influence in the union movement and on the defence and foreign policies of the ALP in the 1950s.

At Australian Labor Party (ALP) conferences in New South Wales (1945), Victoria (1946), South Australia (1946) and Queensland (1947) Industrial Groups were established to support ALP candidates running against Communists in union elections. The Industrial Groups worked closely with Catholic trade unionists through their organisation, the Catholic Social Studies Movement (the Movement), led by B A Santamaria, to fight communism.

In 1954 Dr H V Evatt, leader of the federal parliamentary Labor Party accused certain Labor members, particularly those based in Victoria, of being disloyal to the Labor movement and the Labor leadership, and also accused the Movement of being behind the group of dissidents. When divisions in the party culminated in the expulsion of the Industrial Groups at the Hobart ALP conference in 1955, supporters of the Industrial Groups formed the breakaway ALP (Anti-Communist)—an event known as ‘the Split’. The breakaway party was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957.

The principal objective of the DLP was to keep the ALP out of office until the ALP faced up to the Communist threats that the DLP perceived existed in domestic and foreign affairs. The party also pursued Catholic social policies and opposed ‘permissiveness’. It has been asserted that under the intellectual guidance of B A Santamaria, the party strove to fight communist influence in trade unions and with the support of some sections of the Catholic Church, it battled against communism and the ALP.

The Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) was founded in Paris in 1945 at the International Congress of Women by Eugenie Cotton and Marie-Claude Vaillant-Courturier. It was organized around four major concerns: anti-fascism, international peace, child welfare, and the status of women.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. It also represents hotel workers in Hawaii, cannery workers in Alaska, warehouse workers throughout the West and bookstore workers in Portland, Oregon. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, a 3-month-long strike that culminated in a 4-day general strike in San Francisco, California, and the Bay Area.

The Mercantile Defence Association of S.A. was established mid 1879 by V Lawrance and WJ Brook. Initially located at Melvin Chambers (subsequently the site of the Savings Bank Ltd.) the company relocated several times as it expanded. In 1889 manager George Searcy reorganised the company under the name Mercantile Trade Protection Association of S.A. Ltd. The aim of the company was to assist the business community and to help protect them against bad credit risks by providing up to date information on all business activities. It also provided a recovery of accounts service. Subscribers paid an annual fee of £2.2.0 and received a weekly Gazette, the first of which was published 21.5.1879.

The company was acquired by Dun &​ Bradstreet in 1968.

The Unitarians established a church in East Melbourne in 1853, the first prayer offered reflecting their liberal non-Trinitarian theology ('Grant that a rational and scriptural Christianity may always be taught here ... That our intellects may be suppressed by no contradictions and absurdities'). Unitarianism, once known as 'the half-way house to infidelity', attracted an intellectual elite with enlightened attitudes to women, appointing the Rev. Martha Turner as their minister in 1873. Prominent members included the poet Bernard O'Dowd and many pacifists, with the church being active in the anti-war movement from World War I through to the Vietnam War.

In May 1960, Australia's first Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) group was formed in Melbourne. Its young middle-class members espoused civil disobedience and until 1965 held annual Easter marches. With the reintroduction of conscription late in 1964, CND merged into the broader Vietnam Day Committee (VDC).

The Public Service Board was established under the Public Service Act, 1895 to replace the Civil Service Board (1885-1895). The functions of the Board were to carry out inspections of departments, grade officers and classify work, hear appeals against decisions made, conduct inquiries and investigations, arrange for examinations for officers to be conducted, keep minutes of meetings and furnish annual reports.

In September 1988 the Board's activities were altered as a result of Government restructure of the Public Service and a number of functions and programs transferred to the Department of Administrative Services. Under the Public Sector Management Act, 1988 the Board was abolished, with devolvement of its functions to department heads. Responsibility for industrial relations was placed with the new Public Employment Industrial Relations Authority.

Established in 1917 'for the purpose of Independent Working Class Education', the Victorian Labor College was based on the British model. Its socialist purpose was personified in founding members like W.P. Earsman and Guido Baracchi, who taught classes on industrial strategy and Marxist economics. With the support of trade unions and the Victorian Trades Hall Council, it added public speaking, labour history and politics to the syllabus and maintained a bookstall at its Trades Hall headquarters. Sustained by indefatigable supporters like the Brodneys and, later, Ted Tripp, it conducted a viable program of classes until the late 1970s when educational, political and labour market changes diminished its earlier relevance. It was revived in the mid-1980s.

In 1954 the Department of Labour and Industry was established and superseded the Department of Labour.

In 1974 a Ministry of Consumer Affairs was established and was subordinate to the Department of Labour and Industry until 1981 when it became a separate Department of State. In 1985 the Department was amalgamated with the Ministry of Employment and Training and the Ministry of Industrial Affairs to form the Department of Employment and Industrial Affairs.

The Australian National Line was Australia's major ship-owner operating both coastal and overseas services. It was the sole Australian operator of interstate sea passenger services.

The Australian Coastal Shipping Commission Act 1956, established the Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, trading as the Australian National Line.

The Act abolished the Australian Shipping Board and transferred all ships and other property to the Commission, which took over the Interstate Shipping Services on 1 January 1957.

The Australian Shipping Commission Act 1974 changed the title of the Commission to the Australian Shipping Commission ‘in recognition of the developing international nature of its activities’.

The functions of the Commission were to establish, maintain and operate, or to provide for the establishment, maintenance and operation of, shipping services for the carriage of passengers, goods and mails between states, Territories and between the Commonwealth or Territory of same and another country.

The Australian Shipping Commission ceased operations 30 June 1989. The ANL (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1988 converted Australian National Line into ANL Limited, a wholly owned government company.

The Australian Stevedoring Industry Authority was established under the Stevedoring Industry Act 1956 (Part II) which was proclaimed to commence on 14 August 1956 (Commonwealth Gazette, No. 46, 13 Aug 1956, p 2489). The Authority was to be made up of a Chairman, an employer representative and a trade union representative, and was to be a body corporate to regulate the performance of stevedoring operations.

The Stevedoring Industry Act (Termination) Act which came into operation on 5 December 1977 provided for the immediate transfer of most of the responsibilities and functions of the Authority to the Association of Employers of Waterside Labour (AEWL). The Act also provided for a transitional period, subsequently proclaimed in the Commonwealth Gazette to last from 5 December 1977 to 26 February 1978, during which the Authority was to function in a limited capacity and to wind up its operations. At the end of the transitional period all the assets and liabilities of the Authority were vested in the Stevedoring Industry Finance Committee which was established on 5 December 1977 by the Stevedoring Industry Finance Committee Act 1977.

The Department of Post-War Reconstruction was established on 22 December 1942 (Executive Council No. 167, (P.M.'s Minute No. 46) Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 334 of 24 December 1942). In January 1943, a Director-General was appointed and a nucleus staff was taken over from the Reconstruction Division of the Department of Labour and National Service.

The Department's functions were, in general terms to prepare plans for the transition from a wartime to a peace time economy both for individuals in the Services and in War production and for the economy itself. It was to be essentially a planning and co-ordinating department, working in collaboration with other Commonwealth Departments and with State Governments and local and semi-governmental Authorities in the formulation of plans for post-war reconstruction.

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute's (RACI) origins date back to 1917 when it was known as the Australian Chemical Institute (ACI). The ACI was established for the purpose of promoting chemistry, as well as being Australia's qualifying body for professional chemists. Back then it consisted of four State Branches (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria) and had a total founding membership of 400. In 1921/22 the Australian Association of Chemists disbanded and most of its members joined the ACI. In 1923 ACI was incorporated as a public company in New South Wales and in 1932 it was granted a Royal Charter. However, it wasn't until 1953, after a Supplementary Royal Charter, that the Institute changed its name to the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. One of the RACI's goals was to establish national special interest groups which later became known as divisions. Previously these groups were run by the individual RACI branches with little cross-state interaction. To help achieve their goal a Groups Steering Committee was formed in 1964. By 2006 the RACI had 13 Divisions, over 8000 members and a branch in each State and Territory

The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited was incorporated in Victoria in 1885. Originally the Company was established to mine zinc, lead and silver at Broken Hill in New South Wales. Later the Company moved into steel making and oil and gas exploration. In November 2000 the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited became known as BHP Limited.

In June 2001 a merger took place between BHP Limited and Billiton. This resulted in the creation of BHP Billiton Limited.

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organisation, recognised by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organisation. WFDY describes itself as an 'anti-imperialist, left-wing' organisation.

It was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, organised in the context of the end of World War II with the aim of uniting youth from the Allied nations behind an anti-fascist platform that was broadly pro-peace, anti-nuclear war, expressing friendship between youth of the capitalist and socialist nations.

The WFDY Headquarters are in Budapest, Hungary. It was one of the first organisations granted general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Once Australian Jewry's pre-eminent left-wing organisation, the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism was formed in May 1942 by a group of activist (mainly established Eastern European) Jews concerned about increasing anti-Semitism, both local and international. The Council was always influenced by the Communist Party and its sympathisers, but in its early years enjoyed broad communal support. It campaigned in favour of the creation of the State of Israel, and against the immigration of former Nazis to Australia. By 1948 the Council had become the official public relations representative of the Jewish community.
During the Cold War the Council lost community support due to its perceived pro-Soviet bias. Its apparent denial of Soviet anti-Semitism appalled many Jews. Equally, the impact of McCarthyism narrowed the boundaries of acceptable Jewish political behaviour, with communal leaders concerned to avoid any popular identification of Jews with communism.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the Council enjoyed a minor revival due to its close association with the Left-dominated Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Council President Sam Cohen was successful in securing ALP preselection for the federal Senate, but subsequently offended many Jews by appearing to defend the Soviet Union's anti-Jewish policies in a parliamentary debate.
Prominent Council activists included Sam Cohen, Norman Rothfield, Sam Goldbloom, Ernest Platz and Judah Waten. Due to an ageing membership and declining support, the Council ceased to exist in 1970.

The Australian Postal and Telecommunications Union was formerly the Amalgamated Postal Workers' Union, covering postmen, sorters and linesmen. In 1990 the union amalgamated with the Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists, then the Australian Postmasters' Association in 1991 and the Postal Supervisory Officers' Association in 1992 retaining its name until merging with the combined Australian Telecommunications Employees' Association and Australian Telephone and Phonogram Officers' Association to form the Communication Workers' Union of Australia later in 1992.

The Police Association of New South Wales was established in 1921. It is a registered trade union affiliated with and represented on the Police Federation of Australia, the New South Wales Labor Council and the Australian Council of Trade Unions [ACTU]. On the 1st of July 1999 the Police Association was formally amalgamated with the Commissioned Police Officers' Association and is now the sole union representing just over fourteen thousand commissioned and non-commissioned New South Wales police officers

Harden and Johnston Limited, an automobile and truck dealership, was registered in Sydney on 24 May 1928. Harden and Johnston Ltd was an importer of motor vehicles and formed relationships with Dodge Brothers in 1928 and the Chrysler Corporation in 1939 to distribute trucks and motor vehicles in Australia. In 1934 the company formed a partnership with William (Bill) Grant Buckle of Buckle Motors for distribution of Triumph, Armstrong-Siddeley, Standard, Talbot and De Soto. Rupert S. Harden, inaugural managing director, made regular business trips to the United States of America to meet with manufacturers and develop the business. He died suddenly in Detroit in December 1944. Stuart Johnston took on the role of managing director in 1945. The dealership was wound up on 10 July 1980.

Greg Fry is Honorary Associate Professor in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at ANU and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Government, Development and International Affairs at the University of the South Pacific. He was Academic Co-ordinator of Graduate Studies in Diplomacy and International Affairs at the University of the South Pacific from 2011 to 2015, and Director of Graduate Studies in International Affairs at the ANU from 1988 to 2011. His research focuses on the international politics and diplomacy of the South Pacific region. His publications include Contending Images of World Politics (co-edited with Jacinta O'Hagan, Macmillan, 2000); Intervention and State-Building in the Pacific (co-edited with Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, Manchester University Press, 2008); The New Pacific Diplomacy (co-edited with Sandra Tarte- ANU Press, 2015); and Framing the Islands: Power and Diplomatic Agency in Pacific Regionalism (ANU Press, 2019).

The Commonwealth Arbitration (Public Service) Act of 1920 made provision for the appointment of a Public Service Arbitrator, to determine all matters submitted to the arbitrator relating to salaries, wages, rates of pay, or terms or conditions of service or employment of officers and employers of the Public Service. The arbitrator had the power to vary any determination, re-open any questions, give an interpretation of any determination and to allow amendments to a claim on application. The Arbitration (Public Service) Act of 1920 made provision for all claims pending in the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration to be transferred to the Public Service Arbitrator, and all determination that were made under the 1911 Act to be deemed as determinations made by the Arbitrator under the 1920 Act. Prior to this legislation the Aritration (Public Service) Act of 1911 gave the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration the power to deal with such matters. The Arbitration (Public Service) Act of 1920 commenced on 31 March 1921 as proclaimed in the Commonwealth Gazette No. 29 of 1921. The Arbitrator was appointed by the Governor-General, for a term of seven years and was eligible for re-appointment. Mr Atlee Hunt C.M.G. was the first Public Service Arbitrator appointed in February 1921. The Conciliation and Arbitration Act (No. 2) of 1983 repealed the Arbitration (Public Service) Act 1920 and related Acts, and transferred the jurisdiction of the Public Service Arbitrator to the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. However, the office of the Public Service Arbitrator continued to operate until the 1983 Act came into operation on 1 June 1984.

The Labor Council was formed by six unions in 1871. Originally it was called the Trades and Labor Council because it covered the craft unions or unions of skilled workers as well as the newly emerging unions for bush labourers. In 1894, the Trades and Labor Council of Sydney became the Sydney District of Australasian Labour Federation, only to change names again six years later in 1900 to the Sydney Labor Council. In 1908, the name was changed to the Labor Council of New South Wales. In those early days the role of the Labor Council was to stimulate the growth of trade unions. During the first thirty years, the Labor Council was dominated by two major questions: how it could help influence government and what was the best means to settle industrial disputes. Post World War II, as a result of Labor Council initiatives, the state Labor government, legislated for the 40 hour week to apply to state awards. In the 1950s the Labor Council, with the ACTU, led a campaign for equal wages to be paid to women in the workforce.

The Barrier Industrial Council was formed between 1923 and 1924 to coordinate union activity previously conducted by the Workers' Industrial Union of Australia (miners) and the other unions affiliated with the Trades and Labor Council. It became the most powerful single body in Broken Hill.

Registered in 1914 the union amalgamated with the Australian Workers Union in 1916(?) and was subsequently deregistered in 1950.

In 1910, Ernest James and Walter Reginald Hume (Hume Brothers) established the Humes’ Patent Cementiron Syndicate Limited in Adelaide, which later became Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited. Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited operated factories in Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and abroad, manufacturing centrifugally-spun reinforced concrete pipes by methods patented by Hume Brothers. Eventually Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited became the Hume Pipe Company (Australia) Limited and was incorporated in Melbourne in August 1920. Shares in Concrete Constructions Pty Limited, established in 1914, were also sold to Hume Pipe Company in 1920. Hume Pipe Company (Australia) Limited opened factories in all states of Australia and in New Zealand, manufacturing high-quality spun concrete pipes, fabricated steel products, plastics and plastic pipes and products, concrete roofing tiles and building products. Singapore Hume Pipe Company Limited was incorporated in Victoria in 1922 and operated the Hume processes in Malaya. Subsequent changes of names were Hume Pipe (Far East) Limited in 1933 and Hume Industries (Far East) Limited in 1948.
In 1923 Hume Steel Limited was formed in Victoria to operate patented processes in steel pipe and electric welding machinery. Hume Steel Limited originated the concrete lining of steel pipes, which became the accepted practice throughout the world. Steel Pipe and Lining Company (Hume) Limited was registered in Victoria in 1928 to acquire the whole of the foreign patents of Hume Steel Limited.
On 22 March 1950 the name Hume Pipe Company (Australia) Limited was changed to Humes Limited. A separate company, Hume Industries (NZ) Limited, was formed in 1951. On 1 July 1952 Hume Steel Limited went into voluntary liquidation and was taken over by Humes Limited as its Steel Division. Wunderlich Humes Asbestos Pipes Proprietary Limited was formed in August 1960, jointly owned by Humes Limited and Wunderlich Limited. In 1964 James Hardie (Asbestos) Limited took over this company; by 1965 it had been wound up. In 1988 Humes Concrete and the ‘Hume’ name were sold to CSR Limited. Smorgan’s acquired Humes that same year. In January 1990 Humes Limited changed its name to SCI Steel Limited (Smorgan Consolidated Industries).

The Friends of the ANU Classics Museum was established in 1985 to promote the interests of the Museum and to encourage interest in antiquity in the wider community. The group organises lectures on the culture of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds and raises funds to support the Classics Museum and its activities. It operates under a constitution and has an elected management committee.

The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) is the result of the merger between the Association of Professional Engineers Australia (founded 1946, registered 1948), the Association of Professional Scientists Australia (registered 1962) and the Local Government Engineers Association of New South Wales in 1991. The following organisations merged subsequently: Senior Managers (Telstra & Australia Post) Association (1994), ABC Senior Executives Association (1994), Association of Architects of Australia (1995), Salaried Pharmacists Association (1997), Association of Railway Professional Officers of Australia (1997), Australian Collieries' Staff Association (2001), Managers and Professionals Association (2004), Professional Officers' Association (Victoria) (2006) and the Ambulance Managers and Professionals (Victoria) (2010). The organisation was renamed in 2013 as Professionals Australia.

The Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage Employees' Association was formed in Sydney in 1908. It comprised a Wages Division and a Salaried Division.

WEL is a feminist non-party-political lobby founded in Australia in 1972. WEL’s role as an advocate for women is recognised in the political and social history of Australia. WEL has been at the forefront of the struggle for equal employment opportunity, access to quality childcare, sex discrimination legislation, reproductive rights and women’s election to Parliament.

Known today as the Club Managers' Association, Australia, the CMAA is registered as the trade union for managers of Registered Licensed Clubs. It is in the unique position of having its members as both employees and also as employers in their day to day management and administration of Registered Licensed Clubs. Central services provided to members involve industrial relations and education. The Club Managers' Association, Australia was first formed in 1964 as the Club Managers' Association but changed names three years later to become the Secretaries' & Managers' Association of Australia. Finally, in 1993 the union became the Club Managers' Association, Australia.

Represented general staff in higher education, TAFE, Adult Education and student unions, mainly in Victoria.

The Vehicle Builders Employees Federation of Australia, originally known as the Coach-Makers' Society, was registered in 1917 as the Australian Coach Motor Car Tram Car Waggon Builders Wheelwrights and Rolling Stock Makers Employees' Federation. In 1930 it was registered again as the Australian Coach Motor Car Tram Car Waggon Builders Wheelwrights & Air Craft Rolling Stock Makers Employees' Federation and in 1938 became known as the Vehicle Builders Employees' Federation. The Union operated until 1993 when it amalgamated with the Metals and Engineering Workers' Union to form the Automotive Metals and Engineering Union.

The association was formed in 1934 from the Australian Tramway Employees Association and was registered until 1950. In the same year it was deregistered, members formed a new union of the same name. In 1993 the union merged with the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, the National Union of Rail Workers and the Australian Railways Union to form the Australian Rail Tram & Bus Industry Union