|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
Introduction
The ninth national conference of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History is held in the same venue as the inaugural national conference of the Society in 1988 – The University of Sydney. Since 1988, the various branches of the Society have organised biennial conferences of great interest to both academics and non-academics, focusing on a variety of themes and issues of concern to the labour movement and wider society. This year, the conference focuses on the theme ‘The Past is Before Us’ and highlights the breadth and depth of labour history research. The papers in this volume address a wide range of issues of relevance both in Australia and internationally. These include trade unions, management labour practices, compulsory arbitration, indigenous labour, gender, racism, culture, labour politics, and co-operatives. In keeping with the broad tradition of labour history, the collection includes papers by both academics and activists. The academic papers draw on a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, from feminist and cultural studies to business and management. This conference is the first National Labour History Conference to have a dedicated forum for postgraduate students where new researchers present papers of an innovative and exploratory nature. The forum also has workshops focussing on imparting skills for publishing in academic journals and obtaining work in the university sector. Designed to encourage and develop a new generation of labour history scholars, participation in the forum has been assisted by the largest number of postgraduate scholarships ever offered at a National Labour History Conference. We thank the School of Business, University of Sydney and the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History for their generosity in funding these scholarships. In these online proceedings, only the refereed papers appear. These were reviewed by two referees in a double-blind process. We wish to express our thanks to the referees who gave so willingly of their time and expertise, and to Helen Conomos who helped administer the refereeing process. There were a large number of non-refereed papers presented at the conference including the postgraduate forum presentations. The refereed and non-refereed papers are available online at <http://asslh.econ.usyd.edu.au/papers.htm> or may be purchased in a printed form from Margaret Walters <m.walters@econ.usyd.edu.au> The School of Business, The University of Sydney, provided both significant financial and personnel assistance to the organisers. In addition, many individuals contributed to staging the conference: Professor Sid Gray, the Head of the School of Business, provided support and encouragement throughout this process; Cathie Paul provided vital assistance with the financial arrangements for the conference; Jacqui Hunt helped in the crucial areas of general organisation, publications and web administration; Ellina Yukhina also assisted on publications, while Jonathan Cifuentes and Benjamin Tinker were involved with web administration; Margaret Walters and Carl Power, from the office of the Business and Labour History Group, School of Business, were enormously helpful in a range of areas connected with the conference. Outside the School of Business we received significant help from a large number of individuals and groups. In particular we would like to thank our fellow members of the conference organising committee: Rowan Cahill, Rae Cooper, Rae Frances, Sarah Gregson, Julie Kimber, Melissa Kerr, Mark Hearn, Harry Knowles and Neale Towart. The Australian Society for the Study of the Labour History and its branches in Sydney and Brisbane provided financial support. Unions NSW assisted through donations and publicity. We are also grateful to the NSW Nurses Federation and the Search Foundation for their generous contributions. Finally, we would like to thank the Hon. Meredith Burgmann, President of the Legislative Council of NSW, for her patronage. Greg Patmore, John Shields and Nikola Balnave
|
