People's History of Australia

Feb 22 2025 22 ep. 56 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 22 – Women’s liberation in 1970s Australia

Feb 22 2025 72 mins  
In the early 1960s, the situation for women in Australia was grim. Abortion was illegal, divorces were almost impossible to obtain, married women were banned from being employed in the public service, women were blocked from employment in a huge range of occupations and industries, openly unequal wages were enshrined in law, sexual violence was legal within marriages, paid parental

Ep 21 – Radical Chinese workers in Australian history

Nov 27 2024 67 mins  
Throughout Australian history, Chinese workers in Australia have been demonised for their alleged enthusiasm for undercutting white workers and happily embracing terrible working conditions from the 19th century until the present day. Fortunately, these racist myths are precisely that - myths. From the arrival of the first Chinese migrants in the 1840s, Chinese workers in Australia

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, deliberately confining women to only the lowest-paying jobs, refusing to employ women as steelworke

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  
Find full show notes and links for this episode at our website - www.peopleshistory.com.au Support us on Patreon here - www.patreon.com/peopleshistoryofaustralia

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