2 matches for labour, themes: 'service and sacrifice'
Diverse state (17) Aboriginal culture (4) Built environment (4) Creative life (2) Family histories (2) Gold rush (2) Immigrants and emigrants (7) Land and ecology (5) Local stories (6) Service and sacrifice (2) Sporting life (1)-
Against the Odds: The victory over conscription in World War One
... Labour Activists of Brunswick and Coburg...Many of the labour activists central to the anti-conscription campaigns were located in Brunswick and Coburg. These included parliamentarians Frank Anstey and Maurice Blackburn, and trade unionists John Curtin and Frank Hyett. Frank Anstey... to labour politics early and became President of the Tramways Employees Union in Victoria. Anstey entered state parliament in 1902 and then Federal Parliament in 1910 as the Member for Bourke, the electorate that covered Brunswick and parts of Coburg ...In October 1916 and December 1917 two contentious referendums were held in Australia, asking whether the Commonwealth government should be given the power to conscript young men into military service and send them to war overseas.
These campaigns were momentous and their legacy long-lasting. This is the only time in history that citizens of a country have been asked their opinion about such a question, and the decisive 'No' vote that was returned remains the greatest success of the peace movement in Australia to date. Yet the campaigns split families, workplaces and organisations, and left an imprint on Australian politics that lasted for decades.
Many of the actors and events that were central to these campaigns were based in the northern Melbourne suburbs of Brunswick and Coburg. In many ways, these localities were a microcosm of the entire campaign. Against the Odds: The Victory Over Conscription in World War One tells the story of the anti-conscription movement in Australia during World War 1 through this lens.
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Lucinda Horrocks
The Missing
... When WW1 brought Australians face to face with mass death, a Red Cross Information Bureau and post-war graves workers laboured to help families grieve for the missing. The unprecedented death toll of the First World War generated a burden of grief ...When WW1 brought Australians face to face with mass death, a Red Cross Information Bureau and post-war graves workers laboured to help families grieve for the missing.
The unprecedented death toll of the First World War generated a burden of grief. Particularly disturbing was the vast number of dead who were “missing” - their bodies never found.
This film and series of photo essays explores two unsung humanitarian responses to the crisis of the missing of World War 1 – the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and the post-war work of the Australian Graves Detachment and Graves Services. It tells of a remarkable group of men and women, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, who laboured to provide comfort and connection to grieving families in distant Australia.