Critical Times

In 1856, construction workers working on Melbourne University layed down their tools and joined their fellow stonemasons and went on strike and marched through Melbourne City to Parliament House in demand of the 8 hour day.

150 Years on, Melbournites commerated the 150th aniversary of the 8 Hour Day victory of April 21, 1856 recreating a march from Melbourne University to the Victorian Parliament as construction workers did in 1856 which forever enshrined “8 hours work, 8 hours rest, 8 hours what we will” into the history books and the heart of the trade union movement that grew out of the Eureaka Stockade in 1984 that still lives on today.

Yet there was one thing clear about the commeration, and this was the understanding that the rights and liberties that we enjoy today are rights that our ancestors had to fight for, and learning from such historical victories and defeats in their fight is the task that the union movement in Australia and throughout the world faces today.

Information and history can be found on this website:
http://www.8hourday.org.au/

For more photos, and information on the April 21, 2006 – 8 hour day commeration visit:
http://www.vthc.org.au/index.cfm?Category=2§ion=2&contentid=2137&vie