NZHistory, New Zealand history online - protest

Weekend trading protest

Sarah Montague, with balloons, at a Shop Employees Union booth during the Union's campaign against Saturday trading, Manners Street, Wellington. Union member, Mrs Elsie Bryan, is on left. Photograph taken in February 1980.

Saturday trading was reintroduced in New Zealand in 1980 for the first time since 1945. In 1990 Sunday trading also became legal.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:EP/1980/0436/18a-F
Photographer: John Nicholson
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

1980s

economy

protest

Battle of Featherston Street

The ‘Battle of Featherston Street’, in downtown Wellington, saw some of the most violent street fighting of the 1913 Great Strike. The strike began in October following disputes on the Wellington waterfront and at the Huntly coal mines. Watersiders and coal miners around the country struck in sympathy, an were later joined by seamen and other workers. The Reform government of William Massey organised special constables, nicknamed ‘Massey’s Cossacks’, who came into the cities from rural areas to reopen the wharves.

On 5 November crowds of strike supporters clashed with more than 800 mounted special constables. The specials were riding from their base at Buckle Street to Lambton station (near today’s Wellington railway station). Their mission was to escort racehorses from the station to the wharves so they could be shipped to Christchurch for the New Zealand Cup race meeting.

On Willis, Ghuznee and Dixon streets, stones were thrown at the specials, who responded by charging and batoning the crowds. The battle began in earnest on Featherston Street, where specials charged strikers. Pro-strike tram drivers tried to ram specials on horseback, and metal spikes and detonators were thrown at horses’ feet. Eventually the specials broke through and took control of the wharves. This was a decisive moment in the strike. From now on ‘scabs’ (also known as ‘free labourers’) could be brought onto the wharves to load and unload ships.

The next day, free labourers were registered in an arbitration union and began working the ships. They avoided crossing picket lines by dossing down on board ships or in makeshift dormitories in wharf sheds. Once the wharves were working again it was only a matter of time before the strike collapsed. Similar ‘scab’ unions were set up around the country as the authorities regained control of the wharves.

Image: scene from the Battle of Featherston Street.

Protest march against visit of USS Texas

The issue of nuclear ship visits became significant for New Zealanders in the 1980s. Widespread protests greeted the arrival of the nuclear-powered frigate USS Texas in Auckland in August 1983. These protesters on Mercer Street, Wellington, wore grotesque masks and carried a papier-mâché Statue of Liberty wielding a nuclear missile. The Muldoon-led National government saw these visits as expressing New Zealand’s support for ANZUS and the country’s relationship with the United States.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP/1983/3124/21A-F
Photographer: Stuart Ramson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

1980s

nuclear ships

protest

Nightcaps mine

This 1907 image shows the coal mine at Nightcaps, the site of the southernmost labour dispute in the Great Strike of 1913.

One hundred of the mine’s workers went on strike on 9 November 1913 in support of miners and watersiders around the country. Only 15 men refused to join the strike, and the Nightcaps miners stayed out until early January 1914. After the mine manager reported trouble, Inspector Samuel Norwood of the Invercargill police visited the town on 12 November, only to find that all was peaceful. Apart from a few minor incidents, this peace was maintained throughout the strike. Management helped set up a new union under the arbitration act in December 1913. In early January the majority of Nightcaps miners returned to work, although management refused to re-employ the unionists they saw as the ringleaders of the strike.

Credit:

Auckland Weekly News, 27 June 1907

Auckland City Libraries
Ref: AWNS-19070627-7-2

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Mass strike meeting in Western Park, Auckland

Detail of a photo showing a mass meeting in Western Park, Ponsonby, on Sunday 23 November 1913, the day after the end of the general strike in Auckland. Strikers and spectators are listening to one of the addresses.

See more images of Auckland during the 1913 strike here (Flickr)

Credit:

Auckland Weekly News, 27 November 1913

Auckland City Libraries
Ref: AWNS-19131127-59-2

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Demonstration in Victoria Park, Auckland

Large demonstrations were held in Victoria Park, Auckland, during the 1913 strike. Here strikers, sympathisers and spectators are addressed by strike leaders.

Credit:

Auckland Weekly News, 20 November 1913

Auckland City Libraries
Ref: AWNS-19131120-56-4

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Taupiri coal mine

Two relatively small strikes sparked off the 1913 Great Strike. On 6 October 1913 the Taupiri Coal Mines Company of Huntly dismissed 16 miners, including three union officials, all of whom they regarded as Red Feds. The Huntly miners voted to strike until the men were reinstated. They walked off the job on 19 October and remained on strike until January 1914.

See more images of Huntly during the 1913 strike (Flickr)

Credit:

Auckland Weekly News, 13 November 1913

Auckland City Libraries
Main image ref: AWNS-19131030-43-1
Other image ref: AWNS-19131030-50-1

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Victoria Square protest poster

Watersiders at Westport struck on 29 October, followed by their Greymouth counterparts on 3 November. Coal mines around the Coast also went on strike. During November and early December the wharfies and coal miners had virtual control of the Grey Valley and Buller, including Wesport and Greymouth. The authorities did not enrol specials, realising these would be outnumbered by strike supporters.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference no:Eph-B-LABOUR-1913-01
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Hikurangi coal mine

This photograph of one of the three coal mines at Hikurangi, 16 km north of Whāngārei, was taken between 1907 and 1921. On 6 November 1913 the Hikurangi miners voted unanimously to strike in support of their comrades at Huntly. Around 200 workers from the three mines went on strike. The coal strike also affected local industries such as the cement works and dairy factories.

Around 15 December an arbitrationist union was formed and began to enrol men. Work was not resumed until 5 January 1914, by when the arbitrationist union was established at the three mines. Those regarded as ringleaders of the strike were blacklisted. Not until 1920 did the new Hikurangi miners’ union shed its reputation for siding with the bosses and begin taking a more militant stand.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference no:1/2-006294-F
Photograph taken by Frederick George Radcliffe
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags:

Fred Evans procession

Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the image.

A procession in memory of Frederick George Evans approaches Victoria Park, Auckland, from College Hill on 12 November 1913. Exactly a year earlier Evans, a striking engine driver, had been killed by police and/or strike-breakers during the Waihī mining strike. The anniversary of his death was a rallying point during the 1913 Great Strike. Workers around the country marked the occasion.

See more images of Auckland during the 1913 strike here (Flickr)

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference no: PAColl-4920-1-001
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Map filter:

tags: