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Shearers' War: The Story of the 1891 Shearers' Strike
340 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
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December 23, 2025
An intensely detailed history of the shearers' "war" of 1891. Many myths about the strike are busted. It wasn't caused by falling wool prices or the slashing of wages. In the wake of the defeat of the Maritime Strike pastoralists like George Fairbairn Jr. saw the opportunity to take on the Qld shearers union and was backed by the Griffith colonial government.
The strike was mainly fought over "freedom of contract", which allowed pastoralists to employ non-union labour in the previously closed-shop sheds. In January when the new award was presented the strike call went out. a thousands of unionists mounted their horses, with rifles on their back, to travel from shed to shed and station to station to enforce the strike.
Around 50 strike camps dotted the front from Barcaldine to Charleville. The camps were like small towns with hundreds of unionists camped out with streets of tents named after French revolutionaries, libraries and they elected camp comittees. The camps also acted as permanent pickets where strikers could quickly mount up and intercept the next trainload of scabs being sent in to shear.
Premier Samuel Griffith mobilised the Queensland Defence Force, armed with gattling guns and canons to the front. Specials were sworn in and most of the colony's police were sent to the major frontier towns. Although the first battle between the QDF and the strikers was a cricket match outside Barcaldine. The shearers' were well armed and Colonel French of the QDF was ready to wage war, but Griffith gave strict orders to not allow armed conflict to break out.
The bitter winter months soon took their toll and by May the local support for the strike dried up. If they could have held out until shearing season (winter), it is likely that they would have won. But by June almost all the camps had run out of supplies so disbanded and gone back to work. The pastoralists won the war without a shot fired. The defeat allowed the pastoralists to slash wages during the great depression that began in 1893 and destroyed much of the strength of the unions.
Another myth is that the ALP arose, like a phoenix from the ashes, from the defeat. The basic structures and leadership of the QLP and later ALP that was established in 1892 was in place before the 1891 war. The union officials and members of the ALF were already pursuing workers' representation in parliament and arbitration. In fact Svenson claims the most significant political impact of the war was the ALF dropping its socialisation objective.
The war had swung mass political support behind the shearers and exposed liberals like Griffith as firm friends of the capitalists. The ALF leaders sought to capitalise on the sentiment by moderating their platform and making it more acceptable to the establishment and less radical workers. Once in power they could then gradually implement reforms which would convince more people to support socialism. The defeat only reinforced their fear that radical change was impossible, open class warfare was a losing game and that parliament was the only road to change.
When the chances of victory waned as winter set in the strike committee waged a campaign to get all men to enrol to vote rather than reach out for support from workers in the other colonies and industries. The AWU and ALP emerged as the amalgamation of already existing union bureacracies and leaders who pursued the politics natural to their material position as negotiators of exploitation.
The strike was mainly fought over "freedom of contract", which allowed pastoralists to employ non-union labour in the previously closed-shop sheds. In January when the new award was presented the strike call went out. a thousands of unionists mounted their horses, with rifles on their back, to travel from shed to shed and station to station to enforce the strike.
Around 50 strike camps dotted the front from Barcaldine to Charleville. The camps were like small towns with hundreds of unionists camped out with streets of tents named after French revolutionaries, libraries and they elected camp comittees. The camps also acted as permanent pickets where strikers could quickly mount up and intercept the next trainload of scabs being sent in to shear.
Premier Samuel Griffith mobilised the Queensland Defence Force, armed with gattling guns and canons to the front. Specials were sworn in and most of the colony's police were sent to the major frontier towns. Although the first battle between the QDF and the strikers was a cricket match outside Barcaldine. The shearers' were well armed and Colonel French of the QDF was ready to wage war, but Griffith gave strict orders to not allow armed conflict to break out.
The bitter winter months soon took their toll and by May the local support for the strike dried up. If they could have held out until shearing season (winter), it is likely that they would have won. But by June almost all the camps had run out of supplies so disbanded and gone back to work. The pastoralists won the war without a shot fired. The defeat allowed the pastoralists to slash wages during the great depression that began in 1893 and destroyed much of the strength of the unions.
Another myth is that the ALP arose, like a phoenix from the ashes, from the defeat. The basic structures and leadership of the QLP and later ALP that was established in 1892 was in place before the 1891 war. The union officials and members of the ALF were already pursuing workers' representation in parliament and arbitration. In fact Svenson claims the most significant political impact of the war was the ALF dropping its socialisation objective.
The war had swung mass political support behind the shearers and exposed liberals like Griffith as firm friends of the capitalists. The ALF leaders sought to capitalise on the sentiment by moderating their platform and making it more acceptable to the establishment and less radical workers. Once in power they could then gradually implement reforms which would convince more people to support socialism. The defeat only reinforced their fear that radical change was impossible, open class warfare was a losing game and that parliament was the only road to change.
When the chances of victory waned as winter set in the strike committee waged a campaign to get all men to enrol to vote rather than reach out for support from workers in the other colonies and industries. The AWU and ALP emerged as the amalgamation of already existing union bureacracies and leaders who pursued the politics natural to their material position as negotiators of exploitation.
September 11, 2014
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