Deposit Z240 - Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union, Queensland Branch deposit 2

Established in 1851, the original Amalgamated Engineering Union was a branch of the British union. It was registered with the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court in 1905 and became known as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. In 1920 it amalgamated with ten other engineering and allied trade unions and changed its name to the Amalgamated Engineering Union, Australian Section in 1921. In 1968 the union became autonomous from its parent body in Britain, shortening its name to the Amalgamated Engineering Union to reflect this. In mid-June 1972 the AEU began a series of amalgamations with the Sheet Metal Workers, Blacksmiths & Boilermakers and Federated Jewellers to form the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union by 1973.

The Boilermakers' Society originated directly from the Federated Society of Boilermakers & Iron Shipbuilders of Australia which was registered federally in 1911, and became the Federated Society of Boilermakers Iron Shipbuilders & Structural Iron & Steel Workers of Australia in 1929. By 1937 the union had become the Boilermakers' Society of Australia. In 1965 the members of the deregistered Blacksmiths' Society of Australia joined the union and it became the Boilermakers' and Blacksmiths' Society of Australia.

The union was originally registered as the Amalgamated Tinsmiths' Sheet Metal Workers' Cannister Makers' Gas Meter Makers' & Assistants' Union in 1911 and comprised of unions that had operated since 1881. From 1913 its name changed to the Sheet Metal Working Industrial Union of Australia. In 1945 the union changed its name to the Sheet Metal Working Agricultural Implement & Stove Making Industrial Union of Australia to reflect growing membership from members of the Federated Agricultural Implement & Stovemakers' Porcelain Enamellers' & Ironworkers' Association of Australia. It was deregistered in 1972 and joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union to form the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union in 1973.

The Amalgamated Metal Workers Union originally formed in 1973 from the amalgamation of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, the Sheet Metal Working, Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking Industrial Union of Australia, the Boilermakers' and Blacksmiths' Society of Australia, and the Federated Jewellers. In 1976 the union amalgamated with the Federated Shipwrights' & Ship Constructors' Association of Australia to become the Amalgamated Metal Workers & Shipwrights Union. In 1983 it joined the Federated Moulders (Metals) Union of Australia to become the Amalgamated Metals Foundry and Shipwrights' Union. It reverted to the name Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union in 1985 and operated until 1991 when it amalgamated with the Association of Draughting Supervisory & Technical Employees to become the Metals & Engineering Workers' Union.