Background to the Strike | Personal history cards and the Strike
The General Strike or the Great Strike of 1917 lasted for six weeks from 2 August until the 8 September. It started in the Randwick Workshops and Eveleigh Carriage Shops over the introduction of a card system to record what each worker was doing and how fast the job was being completed. The workers were not allowed to view or modify the card and the monitoring system could be used to identify 'slow workers'. The strike quickly spread from the railways in New South Wales to other industries such as coal mines, wharfes, factories and warehouses and into other States until about 100,000 workers were on Strike.[1]
A skeleton railways was kept operating with the help of 'Loyal' workers and voluntary help from the public. The photos on this page are images of those loyalists who continued to do their jobs over the six weeks of the Strike. It provides a snapshot of what life was like in what looks like grim times.
» Click here for more information on these and other Strike images in NRS 15309.On August 14 1917 the Government dismissed the striking rail and tramways workers for misconduct. On the Personal History Cards that can be viewed on this page this act is referred to as "Dismissed by Proclamation. Left work on Strike." After the Strike ended many of these workers were rehired but about 2000 workers were refused re-engagement.[2] Many strikers found themselves in subordinate positions while Loyalists were given seniority and some strikers lost their accumulated superannuation.[3] There was a long-lasting feeling of bitterness and hatred in the railways. The railwaymen had to wait until 1925 for the Labor Premier, John T. Lang, to restore senority and lost rights to the striking workers.
Personal history cards and the Strike
Personal History Cards of Two Well Known Strikers
Ben Chifley, later Prime Minister of Australia, started work with the railways in 1903 and worked his way up to train driver by 1917. Chifley's personal history card reflects his participation in the Strike and his eventual return to work as a driver and a fireman on reduced wages. In reality though, the job of fireman was a loss of seniority and when he started driving trains again he was only a junior driver. Chifley was later to recall the Strike and its aftermath as "a legacy of bitterness and a trial of hate."[4]
Joe Cahill, later Labor Premier of New South Wales, started work as an apprentice fitter and turner at the Eveleigh Workshops in 1907. Cahill was an active unionist [5] and his personal history card may reflect that with the notation under the 'Dismissed by Proclamation' stamp with the word "Agitator" in red ink. Cahill found work elsewhere before returning as a fitter and turner in 1922. He remained with the railways until 1925 when he was elected to Parliament as the Member for St George.
Personal History Cards of Loyalists
Personal History Cards of Strikers
[1] John Gunn, Along Parallel Lines: A history of the railways of New South Wales 1850-1986, Melbourne University Press, 1989, p.286.
[2] Ibid, p.288.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Brian Carroll, Australia's Railway Days: Milestones in railway history, Macmillan, 1976, p.70.
[5] Ibid.