The Shearers’ Strike in Images

In the early 1890s, a strike took place in the wool shearing industry that brought about the beginnings of the union movement in Australia. Important concessions were made by both sides before the strike collapsed.

Shearing work in the 1860s and 1870s

These photos, taken by itinerant photographers during the 1860s and 1870s, show the hard work of shearing, and their enormous output in wool bales. Shearers travelled between far-flung stations, getting work where they could.

  • Smoko in a shearing shed, 1860s
  • Jondaryan Woolshed c.1869
  • Jondaryan Woolshed Shearers 1872
  • Bungeworogai 1873
  • Woolshed at Westbrook 1877
  • Shearer’s Hut, Durham Downs 1878

1890s – Industrial Action Looms

Poverty and unemployment arising from an economic downturn led property owners to offer contracts to cheaper, non-union workers. Those same conditions led the shearers to strike, and try to stop the use of non-union labour.

The Worker, 1891
Sadly, the Shearer’s Manifesto, like just about everything else of the time, was steeped in racism.

The Troops and the Strikers

The Defence Force sent troops to the western properties, wool bales burned and strike camps grew up overnight. Fortunately no lives were lost, but industrial relations were changed forever.

  • Soldiers preparing to ride west, 1891
  • Soldiers on the move, Hughenden 1891
  • Striking Shearers on the move 1891
  • Shearer’s Strike March Hughenden
  • Prison Card William Bennett
  • Prison Card Julian Stuart
  • The convicted shearer’s representatives
  • 1894 – shearing resumes at Yandilla.

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