| Editorial | Labour History, 96 | The History Cooperative

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EDITORIAL

This May 2009 issue highlights the breadth and depth of the scholarship of Australian labour history. Bill Robbins draws our attention to convict labour, a topic which tends to have been neglected in the journal in recent years. He argues that Governor Macquarie developed complex and sophisticated management strategies to motivate convict workers. The regulations drawn up by Macquarie constitute perhaps the earliest form of job description in the history of Australian labour management.

The next two articles reflect on nineteenth century Australian labour history in Victoria. Danielle Thornton explores the forgotten role of the women strikers in the 1882 Melbourne tailoresses' strike, which is recognised as a pivotal moment in the developing relationship between women workers and the organised labour movement in Australia. Focusing on the activity and testimony of the striking tailoresses, this article describes how the strikers mounted a radical challenge to the existing stereotype of the 'factory girl' and forged a new model of militant, class-conscious femininity. Rohan Price examines the role of the Victorian judiciary in the early interpretation of the Factory and Shops Act 1896 (Vic), which established the wages board system. Unlike the model of compulsory arbitration adopted by the later federal government and several other states, the wages board system did not provide for the registration of unions. The Victorian judiciary through a legally formalistic interpretation of the Factories and Shops Act 1896 rejected a universal living wage and any significant role in setting economic policy. This complemented the approach of the legislature, which was hostile to the compulsory arbitration model.

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