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Editorial
| This issue contains a series of articles on how Australian museums and galleries interpret working life and culture. It is edited by Bobbie Oliver and Andrew Reeves. Bobbie teaches at the Curtin University of Technology and plays an active role in the fight to preserve the Midland railway workshops in Western Australia, while Andrew works in the museum sector. While the themed articles highlight significant efforts to ensure a voice for working life and culture in museums and galleries, they also reveal a contested terrain. 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 destruction of buildings. Despite this, it was possible to re-represent working life at Sunshine through surviving documentary records and the latest technologies. The works provided the backdrop to Mr Justice Higgins' Harvester Judgement in the Commonwealth Arbitration Court in 1907. At the other extreme, Lucy Taksa laments the preoccupation at the Eveleigh railway workshops in Sydney with the preservation of factory buildings, mechanical relics and technological history at the cost of insights into its rich history of working life. This history included workers' theatre, the 1917 General Strike and the railway shop committee movement. |
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Other articles in the thematic consider the contested terrain of interpretation. Anne Beggs Sunter focuses on the pubic interpretation of the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in Victoria. The clash of arms at the Eureka Stockade in December 1854 between gold prospectors and the state has been appropriated by various groups across the Australian political spectrum, including Maoists and the right-wing National Action, to symbolise their struggle. While there are conflicting interpretations of particular events and issues in some museums and galleries, others are ignored or marginalised. Simon Adams and Rae Frances argue that while prostitution has been an important part of Australian life, the history of the Australian sex industry is generally ignored in Australia's established museums and galleries. Brian Grozier and Helen Gregory in their study of the Queensland Heritage Trails Network suggest that conflicting interpretation may result, in the museum context, in an emphasis on the nature of experience rather than providing explanations of historical events and issues. |
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In addition to the thematic section there are four other articles. John Minns and Robert Tierney contribute to our series on labour history in East Asia with an analysis of the labour movement in Taiwan. They question traditional explanations of the weakness of the Taiwanese labour movement based on Confucian docility or group loyalty. Nikola Balnave continues the journal's interest in management labour policies and practices. She examines the incidence, extent and nature of employer-sponsored recreational programs for period between 1890 and 1965. Mark Hearn explores the intersection of labour activism and labour culture by examining the theatrical marches and meetings used by the Active Service Brigade in Sydney during the 1893 banking crisis. Malcolm Saunders' article draws attention to the significant role that biography can play in labour historiography. He analyses the pivotal role played by Jim Toohey in the South Australian Labor Party after World War II. Biography will be the focus of a special section in the November 2004 issue of Labour History edited by Mark Hearn and Harry Knowles. |
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As usual, there is a range of other items and our reputable book review section. There is a robust forum that reviews Keith Windschuttle's recent controversial work on Aboriginal history. There are research reports by Tony Laffan and Bob McKillop that focus on Australian regional labour history. Tony examines Methodism and the Newcastle labour movement, while Bob discusses the Lithgow iron and steel project. There is a report on the Australia-UK Comparative Labour History Conference held at Manchester in July. The conference illustrates the ongoing dialogue between labour historians at an international level. Ed Davis provides us with a report on the recent ACTU Congress. Ed has taken over from Ross Martin, who has provided an outstanding service in providing the ACTU Congress reports for many years. There are obituaries for Ron Hancock and Tas Bull. |
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