Labour History and Museum Studies

By Andrew Reeves and Bobbie Oliver (eds)

The latest issue of Labour History, one of the world's pre-eminent journals in the study of the history of labour and capital, focuses on how Australian museums and galleries interpret working life and culture

Bobbie Oliver, one of the guest editors, has been active in the saving of the Midland Rail Workshops in Western Australia, whilst Andrew Reeves, her associate in this edition, has had a long involvement in saving interpreting and presenting labour history objects, the highlight perhaps being the Badges of Labour, Banners of Pride exhibition in the 1980s, after he had been active in rescuing many trade union banners.

Oliver and Reeves advance the reasons why labour historians should be proactive in continuing to broaden the definition of labour history. Should we reflect on why a discipline that has grown out of the popular histories written by workers and activists in the early twentieth century has been so inadequately translated into the curatorial field. Museums have not often attempted to display and represent the historic concerns and realities of working class people.

Charles Fahey, John Lack and Liza Dale-Hallett examine the lack of regard for the workplace significance of the Sunshine Harvester Works in Melbourne through the removal of machinery and the destruction of buildings.

The Sunshine Harvester Works, occupying the same site from 1906 until 1987, was unquestionably one of the more significant worksites in twentieth century Australia. Hb Higgins formed his living wage judgement here in 1970, and H V McKay and his successors, staunch opponents of unionism and collective bargaining, introduced piecework, time and motion studies and were the pioneers of much mass production in Australia.

The building and machines have gone, replaced by a shopping centre, welfare office and cinema. The University of Melbourne Archives and Museum Victoria hold a great assortment of documentation of the site, enabling a representation of the history.

Anne Beggs Sunter looks at the Contested Memories of Eureka and how museums have interpreted the Eureka Stockade. How can we present the political contest so that people with ownership of the different versions can be accommodated? The article look s at the history of the way the event has been presented and interpreted.

Simon Adams and Raelene Frances point out that prostitution has played an important role in social and labour history since 1788. The official institutions don't have much material on this, however. The public interest in heritage tours and sex tours that lift the veil on the industry is high, so why is not much represented in museums?

Lucy Taksa has for some time been the champion of the Everleigh Rail Workshops and those thousands of workers who have been there. The workshops have been there since the 1880s and closed in the 1980s. There have been various attempts to create a museum/heritage park all foundering through lack of resources. The Midlands Workshop in Western Australia and the Ipswich Workshop in Queensland are examples of successful heritage areas, so why not Everleigh? Here she examines the political, legal and administrative conditions that have shaped Everleigh's re-use and heritage management. The Australian Technology Park (ATP) is the major tenant at the moment, with dramatic arts also having had a place on the site. They have been reluctant to get involved in heritage issues with historians and railway workers.

Brian Crozier and Helen Gregory look at an exhibition -'A lot on her hands - the history of Australian working women'- funded through the Qld Heritage Trails Network program. The Network aimed to create a series of heritage attractions throughout Qld as a means of preserving and promoting the state's natural, indigenous and cultural heritage and developing educational resources, creating jobs, stimulating development and fostering tourism. This article explores the experience of developing an historical statement in this format, in this context and under the pressures of a consultancy of this kind.

(Labour History no 85, November 2003)