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
The Australian Maritime Officers' Union was first known as the Mercantile Marine Officers' Association. A General Meeting of members held on 12 February 1904 agreed to adopt the name Merchant Service Guild of Australasia. The Guild was registered under the Commonwealth Conciliation & Arbitration Act of 1904 on 5 May 1905. It was the first employee organisation to be registered under this act. On 3 September 1957 the name of the union was changed to the Merchant Service Guild of Australia and in 1992 it merged with the Australian Stevedoring Supervisors' Association to form the Australian Maritime Officers' Union.
The Australian Writers’ Guild is the professional association for Australian performance writers including film, television, theatre, radio and digital media. Established in by a group of radio writers in 1962, the Guild represents the professional interests of Australian scriptwriters.
Teachers' unions in South Australia began in 1885 with the formation of the Adelaide Teachers' Association. The Country Teachers' Association formed in 1887 and the two merged in 1887 to become the South Australian Teachers' Association. This association split in 1936 into the South Australian Public Teachers' Union and the South Australian Women Teachers' Guild. These separate organisations remained apart until 1951 when teachers voted to form a single representative body called the South Australian Institute of Teachers [SAIT].
An Industrial Court was established in 1912 and was later incorporated in the system of tribunals created by the Industrial Code of 1920. The Industrial Court usually had a President and a Deputy President, each of whom was appointed from legal practitioners of ten years’ standing. Normally the Court was constituted by one of these officers, but certain matters were traditionally determined by a full court comprising both officers. When a dispute was under consideration, the President or Deputy President may have been assisted by two assessors nominated by the parties before the Court. The function of the Court was to make awards concerning wages and conditions of employment for workers who were outside the jurisdiction of industrial boards. It had authority to adjudicate in cases of strikes or lockouts and may have summoned persons to a compulsory conference and hear appeals from determinations of industrial boards. In making an award the Court may have appointed or provided for a board of reference to deal with matters covered by the award, with a right of appeal to the Court against a decision of the board. The arbitral functions of the Industrial Court of South Australia were assumed by the Industrial Commission of South Australia following amendments to that state's Industrial Code in 1966, however, the Court continued to operate in a purely legal capacity after this date.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association was registered under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act on 31 October 1938. On 28 February 1985 the name was changed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Staff Union. In 1989 the union amalgamated with the Administrative & Clerical Officers' Association and the Australian Public Service Association to form the Australian Public Sector and Broadcasting Union, Australian Government Employment (generally known as the Public Sector Union). The ABC Sub-branch of the Public Sector Union handled the ABC issues.
Formed in 1898 to look after the interests of teachers in Western Australian government schools.
The Western Australian Industrial Commission superseded the role of the Court of Arbitration in 1964 and consisted of a Chief Industrial Commissioner and three other Commissioners. The Industrial Arbitration Act provided that a Commissioner sitting or acting alone constituted the Commission and exercised all the powers and jurisdiction of the Commission. The Commission was empowered to inquire into any industrial matter or industrial dispute in any industry and to make orders or awards fixing the prices for work done by and the rates of wages payable to workers; fixing the number of hours and the times to be worked in order to entitle those workers to the wages so fixed; limiting the hours of piece workers; fixing the rates for overtime, work on holidays, shift work, week-end work and other special work, including allowances as compensation for overtime; determining any other special work, including allowances for as compensation for overtime; determining any industrial matter; and declaring what deduction may be made from the prices or wages of workers for board or residence or board and residence provided for workers and for any customary provisions or payments in kind conceded to such workers. The Commission in Court Session was constituted by not less than three Commissioners sitting or acting together. Appeals from decisions of a single Commissioner were heard and determined by the Commission in Court Session. Such appeals were restricted to the evidence and matters raised in the proceedings before the single Commissioner.
On 11 July 1905 the Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association was formed and registered under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act to assume the industrial responsibilities of the Australasian Steamship Owners' Federation. The two bodies were identical in composition but differed in function, the ASOF dealing with matters pertaining to the Navigation Act and the CSOA handling industrial disputes, awards, and representing shipping companies in matters before the Arbitration Court.
Maritime Industry Australia Ltd has existed in various guises, with its genesis as the Australasian Steamship Owners Federation (ASOF) formed in 1899, closely followed in 1905 by industrial body, the Commonwealth Steamship Owners Association (CSOA). In 1986 ASOF became the Australian National Maritime Association (ANMA) which merged with CSOA in 1994 to become the Australian Shipowners Industrial Association (ASIA). ASIA underwent a name change in 1996 to become the Australian Shipowners Association (ASA). In early 2015 ASA became Maritime Industry Australia Limited (MIAL).
Founded in 1910 but registered federally in 1935, the Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales [MTA] represents owners and business principals in the automotive industry throughout NSW. With over 6000 members and affiliates, the MTA is one of the largest state-based industry associations in Australia. The MTA is also a founder member of the Motor Trades Association of Australia - the federal body which draws together MTA's sister organisations in other states and territories to represent the industry at Federal Government level.
In 1877 a 'Manufacturers and Exhibitors Association' was formed in Melbourne. In August 1881 it became 'The Victorian Chamber of Manufacturers'. It was an unincorporated association until 1922 when it incorporated under the Victorian Companies Act, and was registered in 1941 federally under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act. On 8 February 1985 the VCM became the Australian Chamber of Manufacturers and registered as an organisation of employers under the Commonwealth Industrial Relations Act at the same time. The ACM affiliated with the Chamber of Manufacturers of NSW in 1987 but this was short-lived and the merger ended in 1991. The ACM then opened offices in Sydney and Canberra. The Chamber services about 150 industry sections and associations as well as groups associated with manufacturing and is available to advise on various matters and acts as an advocacy group.
The growth of manufacturing activity in the late 19th century led to the formation of the Queensland Chamber of Manufactures in 1899. The Chamber of Manufactures continued to represent its constituency until the mid 1970s, when the end of the long post-war boom and the confluence of a number of other national and international economic influences led the Queensland Chamber of Manufactures, the Queensland Employers´ Federation, the North Queensland and Central Queensland Employers´ Associations and the Mackay Employers´ Federation to merge in 1976 to form the Queensland Confederation of Industry [QCI]. QCI merged with the State Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Queensland) and the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce in 1994 to form the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd [QCCI]. In April 2001, QCCI re-launched itself as Commerce Queensland.
The Queensland State Service Union was formed in 1902, and was initially called the Public Service Association of Queensland. It changed its name to the Public Service General Officers' Association of Queensland in 1915 and then to the QSSU in 1924. Since 1999 it has been known as the Queensland Public Sector Union. The Queensland State Service Union was the first registered Union in Queensland representing members employed in the Queensland Public Service Departments. In 1913 the Public Service Association of Queensland comprised the General Officers Association, the Professional Officers Association, and the Queensland Teachers Union. The union continues to serve Public Service employees, members employed in universities, a range of statutory authorities, as well as the public and private health sector.
Federated and registered in 1911 as the Rubber Workers' Union of Australia, this union immediately recognised the growing importance of motor transport within the Australian economy, particularly in terms of how it would affect the rubber industry. By 1916 the union had changed names to the Federated Rubber Workers of Australia. In 1923 its name changed again, this time to the Federated Rubber Workers' Union of Australia. Ten years later, in 1933, it became the Federated Rubber & Allied Workers' Union of Australia. In common with textile and clothing unions, the Rubber and Allied Worker's Union sought to deal with the problem of high labour turnover and with improving the position of migrant labour in Australian industry. After amalgamating with the Storemen and Packers' Union in 1988 to form the National Union of Storeworkers Packers Rubber & Allied Workers, it eventually became part of the National Union of Workers in 1991.
Robert Samuel Ross (1873-1931), socialist journalist and trade-union organizer, was born on 5 January 1873 in Sydney. Inspired by the writings of William Lane, who believed that a co-operative society could be constructed through trade-union organizations, Ross attempted to disseminate his principles among the unions. He worked energetically as a journalist, speaker and agitator and was a founder of the Queensland Socialist League in 1894 and Socialist Democratic Vanguard in 1900. Ross went to Broken Hill in January 1903 to become editor of the Barrier Truth, the 'voice' of the Broken Hill union movement. In May 1906 Ross launched the Flame, published by the Barrier Social Democratic Club of which he was chairman, writer and public speaker. One of his lifelong convictions, apparent in his association with the labour press, was that only through education and dissemination of propaganda would workers mobilize. As municipal librarian at Broken Hill in 1906-08, he introduced radical literature. In August 1908 Ross accepted an offer by the Victorian Socialist Party to become secretary and editor of its magazine, the Socialist. In 1911-13 he edited the Maoriland Worker in Wellington. Ross assisted in forming the Queensland Typographical Association, the Broken Hill branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association and the Tailoresses' Union; he was a member of the Australian Workers' Union and the Melbourne Trades Hall Council delegate for the Federated Clerks' Union. He also edited several union publications. During the 1920s he was appointed publicity officer of Labor Papers Ltd and travelled extensively to gather funds to establish a labour daily newspaper. Self-educated himself and an omnivorous reader of socialist and rationalist literature, Ross contributed prolifically to labour journals. But his most notable literary achievement was the launching in 1915 of his own magazine, Ross's Monthly of Protest, Personality and Progress—an iconoclastic polemical journal which discussed cultural issues. It survived until 1924 when it was incorporated into Union Voice with Ross as editor. He was also a member of the Y-Club and ran Ross's Book Service which offered a wide variety of literature. Ross became council-member (1925) of the University of Melbourne and trustee (1928) of the Public Library, museums and National Gallery. In November 1930 he was appointed a commissioner of the State Savings Bank. Ross died on 24 September 1931 at Richmond.
The Metal Trades Employers' Association dates its history to the formation of the Iron Trades Employers' Association in Sydney in December 1873, after a general strike in the iron trades over the 8-hour day. In 1901 the Association registered under the New South Wales Industrial Arbitration Act and in 1921 changed its name to the Metals Trades Employers' Association. In April 1970 it merged with the Metal Industries Association (Victoria) to form the Metal Trades Industry Association of Australia.
The Union was set up in 1965 to provide a meeting place for students, graduates and staff. The Union evolved from the Student’s Association. It concentrated on small scale activities such as debates, films, music, food and even art exhibitions. In 1965 the Union was established in the Pauline Griffin Building and in 1973 it moved to the former Union Building in Union Court (building 20). The Union was incorporated in 2009.
Prior to the Kambri development The Union was the hub for a majority of the food, beverage services and entertainment on the ANU campus. Due to the redevelopment of Union Court, the Union vacated its premises in August 2017. In March of 2019, the Union reopened in a new location at 3 Rimmer Street, ANU.
The Grains Council of Australia was the peak body of the Australian grains industry until it closed in 2010. It supported research and development and was committed to promoting the uptake of technologies and practices to enhance environmental sustainability, benefit the economic interests of Australian Grain Growers and lead to the enrichment of Regional Australia.
The Grains Council was officially wound up on 30 June 2010. Grain Producers Australia (GPA) now represents Australia's broadacre, grain, pulse and oilseed producers at the national level.
John Gordon-Kirkby was born in Gibraltar in 1936 to British parents living in Spain. John spent his early life in Spain and Morocco, attending primary schools in Tangier and boarding schools in England. In 1956 he commenced National Service training with the HM Royal Marines and in 1961 migrated to Australia as a ‘Ten Pound Pom’, arriving in Melbourne on 26 November 1961.
From 1964 – 1978, John Gordon-Kirkby was a Patrol Officer ('Kiap' or Field Officer) in Papua New Guinea. Patrol Officers, or Kiaps were trained at the Australian School of Pacific Administration, a tertiary institution established by the Australian Government to train administrators and school teachers to work in Papua New Guinea.
Following his training in Sydney, John Gordon-Kirkby was engaged as a Cadet Patrol Officer before becoming a full Patrol Officer, and finally, he became an Assistant District Officer.
After leaving Papua New Guinea he followed a varied career in farming and administrative work, and in 1994 he retired to Mornington, Victoria where he is actively involved in community organisations. He is a museum volunteer, U3A teacher and member of the Mornington Historical Society.
The inaugural meeting of the Ladies' Drawing Room in 1956 is referred to as a meeting of the Wives of Members of University House. At that meeting it was decided that both wives of Members and women who were Members of University House in their own right would be allowed to use the Drawing Room for social functions. Committee members were initially elected to represent the four Research Schools of the University and the Administration based on their husbands' employment and the Steward was an ex officio member. Membership expanded as new Schools were established including the School of General Studies after the incorporation of the Canberra University College in 1960. Morning teas and luncheons including a speaker on topics of general interest were organised. In the 1980s a Play Reading Group also met. The group funded and gifted artwork to University House over a number of years. The Ladies' Drawing Room wound up in 2018.
Sigrid McCausland's professional career as an archivist began in 1978 as a reference archivist at the National Archives of Australia (then the Australian Archives) in Canberra. She had graduated from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in 1975. She also worked in the Manuscripts Section of the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (1984-86) and the Sydney City Council Archives (1988-91), and as University Archivist at the University of Technology Sydney (1991-97) and at the Australian National University (1998-2005). She was employed as the first Education Officer for the Australian Society of Archivists from 2006 to 2009. She held casual teaching positions in archives and records administration at the University of NSW and the University of Southern Queensland and was appointed as a Lecturer in the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University in 2009, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2014. She had undertaken a postgraduate Diploma in Information Management - Archives Administration in 1983, was awarded a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Technology Sydney in 1999, and completed a Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching at Charles Sturt University in 2011. Among many positions held, Sigrid served as Secretary to the Section on Archival Education of the International Council on Archives from 2012 to 2016, gave many conference presentations for the Australian Society of Archivists and the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, and published numerous articles and book chapters.
The Department of Prehistory was established on 9 May 1969, in what was then known as Research School of Pacific Studies. Jack Golson was the Foundation Professor. The first graduate of the discipline was Jim Allen, who graduated in the department’s founding year, having started prior to its formation.
Andrée Rosenfeld was a rock art researcher and archaeologist. She completed her PhD at the UCL Institute of Archaeology in 1960. She taught at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the ANU from 1973 to her retirement in 1997. Her publications include 'Palaeolithic Cave Art' (1967, co-authored by Peter Ucko), 'Rock Art Conservation in Australia' (1985) and 'Early Man in North Queensland: art and archaeology in the Laura area' (1981, with David Horton and John Winter). She was instrumental in the founding the Australian Rock Art Research Association in 1983, and contributed to the promotion of the subject as a serious topic of study.
Diana Howlett completed her PhD in Geography, Research School of Pacific Studies, at the Australian National University in 1959. She was Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography, at ANU from 1982 to 1996, and appointed to Chair before her retirement. She is author of studies on the geography of Papua New Guinea. The Diana Howlett Prize is awarded to the student with the most outstanding result in Honours in Geography.
The Australia-Netherlands Research Collaboration (ANRC) commenced operations in late July 2007. The project supports Australia-Netherlands academic relations and brings together researchers from both countries to focus on Southeast Asia.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography had its beginnings in 1957 when a conference in Canberra of representatives of university history departments throughout the country supported the concept of a large-scale biographical project. From this meeting there developed a national committee; an editorial board chaired successively by Professors Keith Hancock, John Andrew La Nauze and Kenneth Stanley Inglis, all from the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences, and later by Professor Jill Roe; State and specialist working parties; and a small central staff. Professor Douglas Pike was appointed founding general editor in 1962; in 1974, Mr Noel Bede Nairn was appointed to produce Volume 6, and next year he and Dr Geoff Serle were made joint general editors. Mr Nairn retired in 1984 and Dr Serle in 1987. Dr John Ritchie succeeded Serle as general editor in 1988 and retired in 2002. Dr Di Langmore took up the position of general editor in 2001 to 2008 and was succeeded by Professor Melanie Nolan as inaugural Director of the National Centre of Biography on 2 June 2008, which has produced the ADB since 2008.
The Maritime Union of Australia was formed in 1993 with the merging of several maritime unions, principally the Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia and the Seamen’s Union of Australia. For a brief time Joint General Secretaries controlled the Union and the representation and responsibilities of the former Waterside Workers’ Federation and the Seamen’s Union were differentiated. Following the waterfront dispute of 1997-1998, however, the Maritime Union of Australia became consolidated as a single entity.
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia was formed in 1992 from the amalgamation of the Amalgamated Footwear & Textile Workers' Union of Australia with the Clothing & Allied Trades Union of Australia.
The Constuction Forestry Mining and Energy Union is the result of a series of amalgamations during the early 1990s. Prior to amalgamation there were numerous unions spread across construction, forestry, mining and energy industries. Those unions amalgamated along industry lines to form each of the divisions of the CFMEU. Each division operates autonomously, with its own membership, executive, resources, industry policies and campaigns. These divisions date as far back as the mid-nineteenth century and include such notable unions as the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation (the Miners' Federation), the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia, the Australian Timber Workers' Union, the Federated Furnishing Trade Society of Australasia, the Operative Plasterers' Federation of Australia, the Operative Painters' and Decorators' Union of Australia, and the Federated Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Association of Australasia.
The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) was formed in 2018 throught he amalgamation of the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).
The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations was formed at the first AIDS Conference in Melbourne on 17 November 1985 by the state-based AIDS Councils. Other members of the federation are the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), the Australian IV League, the Anwernekenhe National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV/AIDS Alliance (ANA), and Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association. The federation provides leadership, coordination and support to Australia's policy, advocacy and health promotion response to HIV/AIDS. It is also active in the Asia Pacific region.
Dr Alan Barcan published books and articles on the history of education and left-wing politics. He studied at Sydney University and Sydney Teachers' College. In 1948 he held the position of Inaugural Secretary-Treasurer, Youth Council of the NSW ALP. Barcan was appointed to Newcastle Teachers’ College as lecturer in history and history method early in 1949 and held the position until 1967. In this time he also went on leave to England in 1958 and was at the Australian National University from 1959 to 1961. From 1968 he was Senior Lecturer (then Associate Professor) in education, University of Newcastle. In December 1986 Barcan retired, but acted in the position of Honorary Associate, School of Education, University of Newcastle and then as Conjoint Fellow.
The New South Wales Typographical Association was formed after a series of meetings held in early 1880 and registered under the New South Wales Trade Union Act, 1881, on the 15 June 1882. It had been known as the Sydney Typographical Association until changing its name on 1 January 1882. Prior to its formation in 1880 there had been several similar societies in Sydney, such as the Compositors' Society, the Sydney Typographical Society, and a different N.S.W. Typographical Association. In 1917-1918 the NSW Typographical Association was converted to the New South Wales branch of the Printing Industry Employees' Union of Australia.
Tony Argyle was employed as a technician in the John Curtin School of Medical Research in 1953 before his appointment as a Technical Officer in the Department of Zoology at the Canberra University College in 1959. The department became part of the Faculty of Science at the Australian National University in 1960. He retired in 1988 as the Technical Services Manager in the department.
Sir Allen Brown was a member of the ANU Council from 1949 to 1958 and of the Council of the Canberra University College from 1955 to 1958 while Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department. In both Council roles he was succeeded by Sir John Bunting, his successor as Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department.
Sir Robert Bowden Madgwick, educationist, was born on 10 May 1905 in North Sydney, second of three sons of native-born parents Richard Chalton Madgwick, an Anglican clergyman's son who became a tram driver, and his wife Annie Jane, née Elston. Robert attended Naremburn Public and North Sydney Boys' High schools. He entered the University of Sydney (B.Ec. Hons, 1927; M.Ec., 1932) on a Teachers' College scholarship, took some history subjects and shared the first university medal in economics with (Sir) Herman Black. While studying at Teachers' College, he partnered Black and (Sir) Ronald Walker in a successful debating team. Walker and Madgwick later wrote an economics textbook for schools, An Outline of Australian Economics (Sydney, 1931).
After teaching at Nowra (1927) and Parkes (1927-28) intermediate high schools, Madgwick was appointed (1929) temporary lecturer in the faculty of economics at the University of Sydney. He obtained a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship in 1933 and enrolled at Balliol College, Oxford (D.Phil., 1936); his thesis was published as Immigration into Eastern Australia 1788-1851 (London, 1937, Sydney, 1969). He took up a lectureship in economic history at the University of Sydney in 1936, where he helped to found the Sydney University Lecturers' Association. From 1938 he was secretary of the University Extension Board. After World War II broke out, he was involved in planning an army education scheme (known as the Australian Army Education Service from October 1943). He had wanted to serve abroad with the Australian Imperial Force, but on 1 March 1941 was mobilized as temporary lieutenant colonel and sent to Army Headquarters, Melbourne, to head the new service. In July 1943 he was promoted temporary colonel and given the title of director of army education. Madgwick played a major part in establishing the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. He also sat (1943-46) on two inter-departmental committees which set out the future role of the Commonwealth government in education. Transferring to the Reserve of Officers on 19 April 1946, he worked (from October) as secretary of the interim council of the Australian National University. He continued to champion the cause of adult education, but his claims for a Commonwealth-funded national system were thwarted by lack of support from either the Federal government or the Opposition.
In February 1947 Madgwick accepted the wardenship of New England University College, Armidale, New South Wales. When the institution became the University of New England in 1954, he was appointed vice-chancellor. As chairman (1964-66) of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Madgwick successfully rebutted the conclusion of (Sir) Leslie Martin's committee on the future of tertiary education in Australia that the provision of 'distance education' was not a university function. Appointed O.B.E. in 1962, Madgwick was knighted in 1966, the year in which he retired. The Federal government sought his advice on grants to teachers' colleges in early 1967, and chose him to succeed (Sir) James Darling as chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, a post he took up on 1 July 1967. He chaired the Australian Frontier Commission in 1974-76.
The Association of Employers of Waterside Labour was an organisation of waterfront employers, comprising Australian shipping owners and the various stevedoring companies around Australia. They were responsible for supplying labour to ports and terminals and acted as the representative of employers in discussions with the Waterside Workers Federation. The AEWL became inactive as a registered organisation from 1995 when it underwent liquidation, being deregistered on 23 January 2006.
The Review of the Discipline of Engineering was commissioned by the Tertiary Education Commission to review the provision of professional engineering education and research in Australian engineering schools, and to report on future developments and recommendations in engineering education. Bruce Rodda Williams was Chairman of the Review of the Discipline of Engineering 1987-1988.
The Australian Forestry School was founded in 1925 by the Commonwealth government. The school commenced operation in 1926 in Adelaide with Norman Jolly as Principal before moving to the specially built premises in Yarralumla, ACT in 1927. The school was built at this location to take full advantage of the adjacent Westbourne Woods arboretum for teaching purposes. Charles Lane-Poole acted as Principal until the appointment of Dr Max Jacobs in 1944.
The school offered two-year diploma courses for students who had begun Bachelor of Science degrees at the state universities. Fieldwork and excursions were a large part of the school curriculum, with students travelling to all parts of the country to study various forests. A major part of the Australian Forestry School was the social life, the students having several sporting teams competing in competitions around Canberra.
There was a significant difference in enrolment before and after World War II. In 1936 the school took on no new students, with staff becoming part-time to teach continuing students only. Dr Max Jacobs, principal from 1945 to 1959, had the responsibility of steering the school in a period of high enrolments, peaking in 1950 with 41 students. In 1952 the inadequacy of the makeshift student accommodation was obvious and the residential college of Forestry House was completed.
The school made a substantial contribution to forestry within Australia and to the extended region with students from New Zealand and South East Asia. It operated until 1965 when the Australian National University assumed the responsibility of the school’s function under the new Department of Forestry in the School of General Studies.
The Australasian Society of Engineers was established in 1890, by members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers dissatisfied with the British dominance of that union. The Australasian Society of Engineers was first federally registered as a trade union in 1910 at which time there were branches in New South Wales, Adelaide (1904), Western Australia and Broken Hill (1909). By January 1914 the union branches included Collie, Melbourne, Adelaide, SA State, Wallaroo, Newcastle, South Sydney, Bathurst, Sydney, Perth, Petersburg, Port Adelaide, Quorn, Granville, Broken Hill, and Prospect. The union became defunct in February 1938 but was re-registered in August 1938. In 1991 it amalgamated with the Federated Ironworkers' Association of Australia to form the Federation of Industrial Manufacturing and Engineering Employees. This union later amalgamated with the Australian Workers' Union to form the AWU-FIME Amalgamated Union in 1993, later known simply as the AWU.
Richard Shand achieved a BSc in Agriculture, 1955, a MSc in Agriculture in 1958 from the University of Sydney and in 1961 his PhD at Iowa State University. From 1966 to 1999 he held the following roles Senior Fellow, Fellow, Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. During this time he also held the following roles: Senior Specialist, East West Centre, University of Hawaii 1965; Visiting Economist, Indian Planning Commission, New Delhi, India, 1973-1975; Executive Director, Development Studies Centre, ANU 1977-1979; Visiting Professor, Department of Economics and Agribusiness, University of Pertanian, Serdang, Malaysia 1979-1982; Fellow, Australian-Asian Universities Cooperation Scheme, Malaysia 1979-1982; Research Associate with the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia 1979-1982; Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 1988-1991; Visiting Professor, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India 1996-2000; Foundation Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, RSPAS/APSEM, ANU 1994-1999; Visiting Fellow, Division of Politics and International Relations, RSPAS, ANU 2000-2004
Dr Emily Sadka studied at Oxford University graduating with first class honours in Modern History in 1941. She then taught at the University of Western Australia and the University of Malaya. She completed her PhD in 1960 at the Australian National University; her thesis was entitled 'The residential system in the protected Malay States, 1874-1895'.
McQueen was born in Brisbane, 27 June 1942. He graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 1965. His political activism began with campaigns against conscription and the Vietnam War. During the period 1966-1969, he worked as a teacher in Victoria before moving to Canberra, where he taught at the Australian National University from 1970 to 1974. He has published a number of works on Australian history, recently including 'Framework of Flesh: Builders' Labourers Battle for Health and Safety (2009) and 'We Built this Country: Builders' Labourers and their Unions, 1787 to the Future (2011).
Registered in 1912, the Federated Felt Hatting Employees' Union of Australasia and its predecessors flourished from the nineteenth century up until midway through the twentieth century in what was a protected domestic industry. It re-registered as the Federated Felt Hatting & Allied Trade Employees' Union of Australia in 1950. The industry, and consequently, the union began to wane before the multiple onslaught of mechanisation, imports, and fashion. In 1984 it amalgamated with the Australian Textile Workers' Union and in 1987 became the Amalgamated Footwear and Textile Workers' Union of Australia after another amalgamation, this time with the Australian Boot Trade Employees' Federation. By 1992, this union had merged with the Clothing and Allied Trades Union of Australia to form the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia.
The Federated Felt Hatting and Allied Trade Employees' Union of Australia re-registered in 1950. Its predecessor, the Federated Felt Hatting Employees' Union of Australasia, registered in 1912 and its predecessors flourished from the nineteenth century up until midway through the twentieth century in what was a protected domestic industry. After 1950 the industry, and consequently, the union began to wane before the multiple onslaught of mechanisation, imports, and fashion. In 1984, it amalgamated with the Australian Textile Workers' Union and in 1987 became the Amalgamated Footwear and Textile Workers' Union of Australia after another amalgamation, this time with the Australian Boot Trade Employees' Federation. By 1992 this union had merged with the Clothing and Allied Trades Union of Australia to form the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia.
Peter Herbst was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. Herbst was born in Heidelberg of Jewish parents, and had been sent to school in England. In 1940, he shipped out aboard the Dunera, to be interned in Australia. He found a way out of the internment camp in 1942 by enlisting in the Australian army. At the same time he studied philosophy at the University of Melbourne. After spending 1956–61 at the University College of the Gold Coast (now Ghana), where he had been promoted to professor, Herbst joined the ANU in 1962 as professor in philosophy. Herbst retired in 1984.
Born in Orange on 20 February 1926, Colin George Plowman worked in various clerical positions for the Bank of New South Wales in his late teens (1942 - 1946), as well as serving in the RAAF, and studied Economics at the University of Sydney (BA, 1947 - 1949). Upon graduation, Plowman worked at the Joint Coal Board (1950 - 1954), before joining the registrar's staff at the University of Sydney in 1955. In 1956 he took up the post of Assistant Registrar at the University of Western Australia and then applied for the post of Assistant Registrar at Canberra University College (CUC) in 1958. As the succesful applicant, he started there in 1959, becoming the Assistant Registrar of the School of General Studies, as CUC became when it was incorporated into ANU, in 1960. He went on to be the acting Registrar and then Academic Registrar in March 1968. Between 1974 and 1976 Plowman was Registrar at University of New South Wales, returning to ANU in 1976 as Assistant Vice-Chancellor. In 1977 he was appointed on to the Management Committee of the Edith and Joy London Foundation Kioloa Field Station. He retired in 1991. A range of issues were addressed by Plowman during his tenure, including student accommodation, ancillary activities, cultural and sporting activities, equal opportunities, parking and the ANU women's room. He returned as a visiting fellow to the Centre of Continuing Education in 1992 and was part of setting up the Emeritus Faculty at ANU in the late 1990s. Positions he held beyond his university service were joint convenor of the first Universities Administration Course (1968), President of the Graduate Careers Council of Australia (1973), consultant to Chair of the Australian Council (1974) and Chair of the Council for the College for Seniors (1975). He was also involved with the Australian Council of the Arts including a secondment to that Council for the first quarter of 1974.