POSTCARD FROM…
EVERY PICTURE… This beautiful print is Union Camp, Barcaldine 1891 and was painted by an artist known simply as “Chapman”. Little is known about the artist, although it is said that he assisted the union in raising funds by making crayon and ink drawings during the strike. Paintings were sold, but very few survived due to lack of framing, while many were destroyed by two big fires in the town. Union Camp, Barcaldine 1891 is a representation of the srtikers’ camp during the 1891 Shearers’ strike. The camp was located outside the town of Barcaldine at Lagoon Creek, and what an organised place it was! You can even see (in the lower left-hand corner) a library tent, so order and a sense of community enhanced the workers’ solidarity. A copy of the original watercolour hangs proudly in the foyer of the AWU’s Queensland Branch office, but its arrival there is a journey of labour history. According to the former industrial commissioner and ex-AWU district secretary, George Pont, it is because that particular copy hung on the wall of his Aunt Tilly’s dining room in Blackhall. George’s father was an active participant in the strike and one of the unionists imprisoned for his involvement. The image is iconic to the broader labour movement and it has appeared on calendars, in diaries and on the union’s season’s greetings card.
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THE AUSTRALIAN WORKER www.awu.net.au
born in the back seat of a Talbot motor car) has been an AWU man since the age of 17. A shearing contractor, Tolly retired as a working shearer four years ago. His mind says he still wants to shear, but his oncepowerful body’s not listening. “My knees are shot. They’re pretty much made out of titanium these days and all the cartilages have worn away,” he says. “Your whole body’s got to be strong for shearing. A young man can take it on for a while, but it’s back-breaking, competitive work. You can count them on one hand, the people who want to do it.” We drive to a nearby property, Rio Station, nervously dodging bouncy grey kangaroos on the road there. As we enter Rio’s gates, we’re met by an inquisitive emu, a watchdog of sorts. “I don’t know his name. I just call him ‘get out of the road, bastard,’” Tolly laughs. Later, Rio’s owners Nic and Carley Walker tell us that the emu’s name is Stan – a permanent fixture on the farm since being reared as a chick. Tolly takes us to the shearing shed. Although a current workplace, inside is an antique wool press and a set of scales that, at a guess, would’ve been used in 1891. The station has 4000 head of sheep in its
HOME SWEET HOME: (Top) The AWU National Executive at the historic union office; (Above) plenty of signage in case you’re lost; (Right) “the Young ‘Un” – the cherished descendant of the poisoned Tree of Knowledge.
paddocks, a sharp decrease from the days when Australia rode on the sheep’s back. “More farmers run cattle these days, and dingoes have been giving us a bit of a hiding this year. Dingoes, pigs and hawks are pushing sheep numbers down,” Tolly says. Fewer sheep means fewer shearers, and fewer shearers means fewer AWU members. “I’ve been in the game a long time, and you’re better in the union than out of it,” Tolly says. “A lady from round here got her arm cut off a few months back in a workplace injury. It’s a sad story, but if she was a member of the union, the AWU would’ve looked after her.”