eighthourday

Museum opened to show old tobacco growing industry ABC Rural Posted Fri 27 Jan 2012 A museum to the now defunct tobacco growing industry has opened at Mareeba on Queensland's Atherton Tablelands. It's now illegal to grow tobacco in Australia, after the Government elected to buyout and shut down the declining industry in 2006. For decades tobacco was the main produce grown on the tablelands, and at its peak was worth $50 million dollars a year. Ex-tobacco farmer Remzi Muller says it was hard to grow tobacco. "In the 1930s, 1933 there were about 4,000 people here growing small plots of tobacco," he says. "In that year, 3,000 went bankrupt. Because it was dry farmed, you put the crop in, you watered it with a cup until the rain came. If the rains didn't come, you didn't get a crop," Source; www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2012-01-27/museum-opened-to-sho...

In North Queensland in the early 1900s, the Eight Hour Day procession, or “demonstration” as it was called, was a precursor to later Labour Day parades and was designed to celebrate the attainment of the eight-hour working day in Queensland in 1856. Early processions involved elaborately decorated floats showcasing union banners and working trade displays, which made their way through main streets, and were followed by a competitive sports carnival that was open to all. The day was just as much about unionists displaying pride in their trade or occupation as it was about a show of industrial solidarity. In most towns throughout the north, Eight Hour Day processions were celebrated with gusto, and in 1914, the Charters Towers newspaper The Evening Telegraph, reported on the largest Eight Hour Day Parade the town had seen so far. The Engine Drivers’ Association had their fine banner erected on a four-horse lorry, with about 50 members in attendance, and the Typographical Union had a number of printers at work on a two-horse lorry, issuing copies of the “Eight Hour Day Times” as they proceeded. Source: northqueenslandhistory.blogspot.com/2019/05/labour-day-ei...

“Monday morning broke fine and clear for the celebration of Eight Hour Day on Charters Towers. The day was observed as a general holiday, and at an early hour, people flocked to the main street to view the procession. Larger crowds turned out than for any previous May Day, and both sides of the streets along the route of the procession were densely crowded with spectators. The long procession started from the Union Hall shortly before 10 am, with the Fire Brigade Band marching at the head of the procession.” Following behind were a variety of trade unions, including the Bakers float, which had a representation of a brick oven and a number of bakers on the lorry who were engaged in the operations of their trade. At places along the route they handed out buns to the people lining the streets. Source: northqueenslandhistory.blogspot.com/2019/05/labour-day-ei...

Full hands of babies, stay alert.