Freedom on the Wallaby

We've moved up the highway to Barcaldine, where the traditional owners of the land are the Iningai people. Like Blackall, a bit over 100kms south of here, Barcaldine is steeped in the history of unions and the labour movement. Both towns claim to be the place where the ALP was formed, but whichever is historically correct, it's clear that Australian unions and the labour movement more generally have their roots in this region.

Railway workers, shearers and shed hands were at the mercy of their bosses and could be hired and fired at will; only a few could secure good conditions and pay. Meetings between disaffected workers began to take place under a gum tree near Barcaldine's railway station, and the idea of forming a union was born. The tree where these early meetings were held, became known as the Tree of Knowledge and is preserved in Barcaldine as a monument to workers' rights and the labour movement. At the Tree of Knowledge in 1887, the Central Queensland Carriers' Union was formed around the same time that the Shearers' Union was founded in Blackall. And two years later, the Queensland Labourers' Union was formed. Alarmed about the growing power of these unions, pastoralists in the district gathered in Barcaldine and formed a collective of their own - the Pastoral Employers' Association. This set the scene for the conflict that followed in 1891: the Queensland Shearers' Strike, which became the second of only two armed insurrections in Australian history (the other being the Eureka Revolt of 1854).

Henry Lawson wrote one of his first published poems, Freedom on the Wallaby, in support of the ideology behind the struggle ('on the wallaby' was slang for 'on the move') which became a bitter and bloody fight for workers' rights.

There's a whole history lesson about the Shearers' Strike and it's implications and affects on unionism and the labour movement in Australia, but you can check that out for yourselves. The Barcaldine Regional Council has done a great job in commemorating this important moment in our history; preserving and protecting the Tree of Knowledge and creating a striking (no pun intended) monument. The whole town feels like Labor heartland - an oasis in the middle of one of the safest national seats in the country. It's quite moving to see the shearers' monuments and other tributes to the union movement. It was even more special for me to share the moment with my great friend and Dogs on the Run comrade-in-arms (paws?), Carolyn "Auntie C" Kidd.

And, to add a dollop of icing on the cake, I spotted a couple of brolgas while walking the Labs through the wetlands just outside the town. The resulting photo is only slightly better than my famous 'spot the platypus' photo but it's proof. See if you can spot it.