People's History of Australia

People's History of Australia
People's History of Australia

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.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Ep 23 - Resistance on the line: the radical history of telephone operators

    From the 1880s until the 1980s, telephone operators were at the centre of the communications industry in Australia. Before the invention of the internet or mobile phones, virtually all telecommunication across the country and internationally took place through landline telephones. And operators, who connected calls to their intended destination, were completely essential to that process....

    2h 12m

  2. 23 FEB

    Ep 22 – The 1970s women’s liberation movement

    In the late 1960s and 1970s, a powerful and radical new movement arose in Australia challenging the widespread oppression that women faced across the country – the women’s liberation movement. Women in Australia in this era had plenty to fight about. It was illegal to get an abortion, and divorce was extremely difficult to obtain....

    1h 12m

  3. 28/11/2024

    Ep 21 - Radical Chinese workers in Australian history

    Throughout Australian history, non-white migrant workers have consistently been stereotyped as docile, submissive, and willing to work for extremely low wages. Nowhere has this been more true than for Chinese workers in Australia, who from the 19th century until the present day have been demonised for their alleged enthusiasm for undercutting white workers and happily...

    1h 8m

  4. 15/09/2024

    Ep 20 - The struggle against anti-Aboriginal racism in 1920s and 1930s Australia

    When Australia was invaded in 1788, the new colony’s nascent ruling class deployed violence and repression on two fronts. On one side of the frontier, the colonial administration used troops and pastoralists to wage genocidal war against Aboriginal nations, and on the internal side of the frontier, very often the same troops and the same...

    1h 14m

  5. 13/07/2024

    Ep 19 - Jobs for women! Fighting sexism at the Port Kembla steelworks

    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. Company management deliberately confined women to only the lowest-paying jobs, refused to...

    1 hr

  6. 24/04/2024

    Ep 18 - SCA here to stay! The fight to save Sydney College of the Arts

    In mid-2016, the University of Sydney abruptly announced that it would be closing Sydney College of the Arts, its internationally-renowned arts school. Within the space of a few months, the school, which had produced scores of famous graduates and offered an almost unique education in visual and fine arts, would be closing its doors, its...

    56 min

  7. 10/02/2024

    Ep 17 - Years of rage: social conflict in the Malcolm Fraser era

    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...

    1h 21m

  8. 24/09/2023

    Ep 16 - Resistance and rebellion in convict Australia

    When the British Empire invaded Australia in 1788, the colony’s new ruling class had a problem – there was no pre-existing working class in Australia waiting around to work for them. Governments and employers could establish all of the farms, workshops, factories and other workplaces that they liked, but without people who had no alternative...

    56 min
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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.

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