History
In 1856 stonemasons in Melbourne won the eight hour day, one of the first occasions in the world where organised workers had achieved this without loss of pay. The same year Melbourne Trades Hall Committee was formed and received a grant of land to build a Trades Hall. The world's first workers parliament, Melbourne Trades Hall, was built on the site in 1859. It was built in the style of the parliament buildings which were just down the road, and over the years has been further developed. With increasing activity during the 1880s in the Australian labour movement the committee became a Council to reflect its expanding role. The full title, Victorian Trades Hall Council was formally adopted in 1968.
In recent times, as well as being the centre for union activity, the Trades Hall Council has opened the Trades Hall building to many cultural events, plays, and concerts including the Melbourne Comedy Festival - concentrating on political and 'on the edge' performances. It was classified by the National Trust and is included in the Register of Historic Buildings (Victoria).
Some notable members of the Trades Hall Council from the 1880s include William Trenwith and Chummy Fleming, both from the Victorian Operative Bootmakers Union.
Read more about this topic: Victorian Trades Hall Council
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)