North Australian Workers' Union

The North Australian Workers' Union (NAWU) was a trade union in the Northern Territory between 1927 and 1972. It was a publisher of a newsletter in Darwin, the Northern Standard.[1]

The union was involved in Aboriginal Australians' working conditions on cattle stations in the 1960s.[2][3] In 1965 the Union applied to the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to amend the Northern Territory’s pastoral award to remove sections discriminating against Aboriginal workers. The pastoralists resisted strongly; the Commission eventually agreed, but in consideration of the pastoralists' concerns of what it would cost them, delayed implementation by three years. This delay helped lead towards the Gurindji strike (Wave Hill walk-off).[4]

The union was deregistered in 1972.[5]

References
  1. Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union of Australia. North Australian Workers' Union Branch (1932), The Northern standard. [newsletter of the North Australian Workers' Union Branch (NAWU)], North Australian Workers' Union, retrieved 6 July 2017
  2. Australia. Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission; Kirby, Richard, 1904-2001; North Australian Workers' Union; Australia. Cattle station industry (Northern Territory) award (1966), In the matter of Cattle Station Industry (Northern Territory) Award, 1951 : application by the North Australian Worker's Union to vary by deleting the exclusion concerning Aboriginals and domestic servants (Clauses 3 and 6) : judgment of the Commission, Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, retrieved 6 July 2017CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. North Australian Workers' Union, applicant; Australia. Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, Transcript of proceedings, Commonwealth Reporting Service, 1983, retrieved 6 July 2017
  4. "Gurindji strike for their land". Deadly Story. Victoria Government. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  5. "North Australian Workers Union - Trade Union entry". Australian Trade Union Archives (ATUA). University of Melbourne. 7 March 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2020.

Further reading
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