People's History of Australia

Sep 15 2024 20 ep. 55 mins 2k

People's History of Australia Podcast artwork

People’s History of Australia is a podcast and blog looking at Australian history from the perspective of ordinary people fighting together for a better life.

Society & Culture

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Ep 20 – The struggle against anti-Aboriginal racism in 1920s and 1930s Australia

Sep 15 2024 73 mins

Throughout Australia's history, racism has proven to be a remarkably effective weapon in dividing different groups from each other, despite them sharing the same common enemies and the same interests. Vicious anti-Aboriginal racism was deeply rooted in Australian culture from an early stage, and during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, there is minimal history of joint strug

Ep 19 – Jobs for women! Fighting sexism at the Port Kembla steelworks

Jul 13 2024 60 mins

Since it was founded in the 1920s, BHP's Port Kembla steelworks has completely dominated the town of Wollongong, employing over 25,000 workers at its peak and physically towering over the city. For much of its existence, the steelworks also systematically discriminated against women. Company management deliberately confined women to only the lowest-paying jobs, refused to employ wo

Ep 18 – SCA here to stay! The campaign to save Sydney College of the Arts

Apr 23 2024 56 mins

In mid-2016, the University of Sydney abruptly announced that it would be closing down its Sydney College of the Arts campus. Within the space of a few months, the internationally-renowned arts school, which had produced scores of famous graduates and offered an almost unique education in visual and fine arts, would be gone, and its students shunted off to another university. Fortu

Ep 17 – Years of rage: social conflict in the Malcolm Fraser era

Feb 09 2024 80 mins

In November 1975, the elected Labor Party government of Australia was sacked without notice by Sir John Kerr, the governor-general. Having single-handedly gotten rid of the elected government, Sir John then personally appointed a new government of his own choosing led by Malcolm Fraser and the Liberal Party. The dismissal – or the Kerr Coup as many referred to it – was one of t

Ep 16 – Resistance and rebellion in convict Australia

Sep 23 2023 56 mins

When the British Empire invaded and colonised Australia in 1788, the new ruling class had a problem - there was no pre-existing working class in Australia waiting around to work for them. Their solution was to bring tens of thousands of convict prisoners here against their will as a labour force. Despite often horrendous working conditions and a brutal regime of punishment, convict

Ep 15 – Fighting for the right to protest in 1970s Queensland

Jul 18 2023 34 mins

In 1977, the premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, banned protests. "Don't bother applying for a march permit," he declared. "You won't get one. That's government policy now." In this episode, we speak with Judy McVey, who helped organise the massive protest movement that arose in response to Bjelke-Petersen's announcement. Tens of thousands of people rallied in the streets a

Ep 14 – How anti-racists defeated Pauline Hanson in the 90s

Apr 23 2023 70 mins

In 1996, newly elected politician Pauline Hanson swept to national prominence after making an extraordinarily racist and inflammatory maiden speech in federal parliament. Capitalising on her notoriety, Hanson announced plans to form a new political party, One Nation, with local branches and a mass membership, and polls indicated she would win widespread support. Anti-racists, howev

Ep 13 – The Workers’ University: adult education in the Communist Party of Australia

Feb 05 2023 50 mins

In the 1940s, with an influx of thousands of new members, the Communist Party of Australia established the Marx Schools - one of the most remarkable experiments in Australian educational history. The schools ran from 10am until 10pm every day of the week, and offered extensive courses in socialist theory, the practicalities of union organising, how to chair meetings and give public

Ep 12 – Black Power in rural NSW: the 1973 Aboriginal cotton chippers’ strike

Nov 21 2022 33 mins

In early 1973, over a thousand predominantly Aboriginal workers rose up on strike against their employers in the cotton fields of rural NSW, where they were paid pitiful wages, pushed to work for over ten hours a day, denied rest breaks, and even doused with toxic pesticides as planes sprayed it over fields while workers were still in them. The strike took place at the height of t

Ep 11 – The Turkish socialist movement in Melbourne

Sep 05 2022 56 mins

In the 1970s and 1980s, Turkish migrants in Melbourne established a thriving working class culture - founding social centres, organising strikes, waging political campaigns, and running theatre groups, language classes, sporting teams and other cultural activities. Today we chat with human rights lawyer and researcher Eda Seyhan, who's conducted extensive research into this extraor