The Darwin rebellion of 17 December 1918 was the culmination of unrest in the Australian Workers' Union which had existed between 1911 and early 1919. Led by Harold Nelson, over 1,000 demonstrators marched on Government House at Liberty Square in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia where they burnt an effigy of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John Gilruth, and demanded his resignation.
Their grievances were against the two main Northern Territory employers, Vestey’s Meatworks and the Commonwealth of Australia, and concerned political representation, unemployment, taxation and ongoing industrial disputes following the implementation of the White Australia policy. Gilruth and his family left Darwin soon afterwards under the protection of , while the Vestey company permanently closed its Darwin operations in 1920. The event was described as the nearest thing to a revolution in Australia since the Eureka Stockade rebellion at Ballarat in 1854.
Background From 1863 until 1911, Northern Territory residents were entitled to vote in both South Australian and from 1901, Commonwealth elections.National Archives of Australia (2008). Northern Territory Act of 1863 (SA) . Retrieved on 29 September 2008 This status had also enabled Territorians to qualify as South Australian voters in elections for both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament after Federation in 1901.Carney, Gerard (2006). The Constitutional Systems of the Australian States and Territories. Cambridge University Press. .
On 1 January 1911, the transfer of the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth government deprived Territorians of all political representation and voting rights.Healy, Margaret (2000). Parliament of Australia: Territory Representation in the Commonwealth Parliament. Retrieved on 29 September 2008. The Commonwealth Constitution did not allow for Federal electorates to cross state borders. This enabled national governments to avoid a hypothetical impasse where a thousand Territory voters might some day hold the balance of power in an evenly divided Commonwealth Parliament.National Archives of Australia (1922). Documenting a Democracy: Northern Territory Representation Act 1922 (Cth) . Retrieved on 28 April 2008. Of the 4.5 million European Australians living on the continent, only 1,729 lived in the Northern Territory, along with about 1,300 Chinese and an unknown number of indigenous Australians.Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). The Northern Territory under Commonwealth administration. Retrieved on 28 April 2008.
Following the transfer, the Northern Territory was run by an administrator appointed by the Commonwealth executive, a public servant answerable to the Commonwealth. In the years following Commonwealth Administration, Territorians became increasingly unhappy with unrepresentative government from southern Australia.Charles Darwin University (2007). History of Statehood and Political Rights in the Northern Territory. Retrieved on 28 May 2008. The Northern Territory's few economic pursuits—pearling, pastoralism, and mining—were all run down. Expected Commonwealth-led development dissipated as Federal funding was diverted towards Australia's participation in World War I.Gray, Stephen (2004, p. 12). Criminal Laws Northern Territory. Published by Federation Press. . Consequently, conflict between labour unions and the Northern Territory administration began to grow.
John Gilruth
Dr John A. Gilruth arrived in Darwin in April 1912, after prime minister Andrew Fisher invited him to join a scientific mission to investigate the potential of the Northern Territory. He was later given the position of Administrator of the Northern Territory.Gilruth, John Anderson (2008). Northern Territory Government Administrators . Retrieved on 1 May 2008. Gilruth's appointment sparked his enthusiasm for economic development of the Northern Territory by means of "mining, crop-growing and pastoralism".Powell, Alan (2006). Australian Dictionary of Biography: Gilruth, John Anderson (1871–1937). Online Edition. Retrieved on 29 April 2008.
In 1913 Gilruth gave Carl Strehlow his support after undertaking a trip to Hermannsburg to investigate negative reports given by Walter Baldwin Spencer of Strehlow's Lutheran mission there. Spencer was critical of Strehlow's work, and wanted to convert the mission into a home for "half-castes" (that is, an Aboriginal reserve).
From the beginning, Gilruth's plans for economic development did not progress as planned. He did his best to promote mining and agriculture, including the development of a meatworks in Darwin by the English firm, Vesteys. However, these attempts proved disappointing, and by 1913, the Gilruth administration was already becoming unpopular. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Commonwealth Government lost interest in development of the Northern Territory as federal funds were diverted towards the war.
As a consequence, the weight of public frustration fell upon Gilruth, whose own character and actions helped to bring about that result. He was described as "headstrong and domineering". and his blunt, dynamic style of leadership was seen as being arrogant, insensitive, and "not fitted to rule a democratic people". He went to Darwin predisposed "to treat the Chinese with reserve, the Aboriginals with heavy-handed paternalism and the white trade unionists with suspicion". Gilruth constantly clashed with trade unionists, employers, workers, and even his own officers. With Gilruth hindered by the Commonwealth Government, "which neither gave him the powers he needed to rule effectively nor evolved consistent policies for the region", a confrontation between his administration and the townspeople was inevitable.Mulvaney, Derek John (2004, p. 66). Paddy Cahill of Oenpelli. Published by Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, ACT. . .
1913 strike The construction of the railway line from Port Darwin to Pine Creek in the late 1880s required the immigration of Chinese labour. In December 1888, the South Australian Chinese Immigration Act came into effect, effectively putting a stop to the immigration increase.Australian Bureau of Statistics (1925). The Chinese in Australia: 1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 1925. Retrieved on 4 May 2008. Those Chinese workers already in Darwin had proved themselves reliable, hard-working and good citizens.O'Neil, Allan (2005). Journal of Chinese Australia: Chinese workers and merchants in the Northern Territory, 1880 to 1920 . Issue 1, May 2005. Retrieved on 29 May 2008. After the decline of the gold rush, the Chinese population competed for jobs with the White population. Not only did Asians compete successfully against Europeans for jobs that were scarce, but they also diversified into other profitable areas such as vegetable growing, cooking, tailoring and cleaning. Consequently, the retail trade was almost entirely in Chinese hands and their success was resented by Europeans.
Given the option, most employers preferred to employ Chinese workers, not necessarily because they were cheaper to employ, but because they were more reliable. The problem faced by unskilled European labourers in the Northern Territory was that no-one cared about their situation. "Local employers did not want them, the South Australian Government was indifferent to them, and since they were not unionized, their comrades in southern Australia ignored them."
On 9 January 1911, the Fisher Labor Government issued a Ministerial instruction to implement the White Australia policy.Ward, Russel (1978). The history of Australia: the twentieth century 1901–1975. Published by Heinemann, London. . . With the threat of Chinese competition reduced, European workers were able to bargain for higher rates of pay. Needing an organisation to represent workers' interests, the Darwin Australian Workers' Union (AWU) came into existence in 1912. Gilruth was given a free hand to deal with the situation in Darwin and arrived in the midst of a long pay dispute involving wharf lumpers and shipping agents. AWU representatives met with Gilruth several times in 1912 and 1913, but little was resolved.
When the government lowered the wages of survey field hands in April 1913, the AWU conducted a secret ballot amongst its members, which overwhelmingly supported a general strike commencing 28 April.The NT Times. Article of 1 May 1913. Although the Darwin strike was in itself insignificant, the threat of widespread national disruption if Chinese labour were used to keep the northern port operational, was significant. After weeks of strike action, the union reserves were empty of strike funds, the parent AWU in Townsville hostile to the whole event, the Federal government indifferent and a number of strikers back at work, it was evident that strike action was lost. In late May, AWU representatives met with Gilruth to negotiate their terms of surrender; the unionists were prepared to return to work as long as the strikers were re-instated to their former positions. Not content with his devastating victory, Gilruth refused, "wanting to eliminate all traces of unionism in the Northern Territory". Although the strike was called off in the first week of June, it shaped future industrial relations in the Northern Territory, as the "White Australia" policy and anti-Chinese feeling fuelled support for the Unions.
In the following weeks, Gilruth and his family were effectively prisoners in the residence. On 20 February 1919, Gilruth left Darwin of his own accord and boarded the cruiser HMAS Encounter, armed with eleven 6-inch and nine 12-pounder guns, remaining as administrator but now prepared to operate from Melbourne. His departure effectively ended what later became widely known as the "Darwin Rebellion".
Emergence of the AWU
Harold Nelson moved to Darwin from Pine Creek in 1913 with his wife and five children. He quickly became the driving force and organiser for the Australian Workers' Union (AWU). Under his leadership, membership to the AWU rapidly grew reaching approximately 700 by 1915.Branch Secretary's Report, Northern Territory AWU, ADM, Brisbane (14 January 1915, p. 6). Most members were employed in key infrastructure areas including occupations at the wharf, on the railway line, truck owners, and in the construction of the Vesteys Meatworks at Bullocky Point. Their catchcry quickly became 'no taxation without representation'.Civil unrest and the Darwin Rebellion. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 2017-12-06. Nelson's tactics were simple, he wanted to secure a strong membership base before using industrial muscle.
The Chinese were not allowed to join the unions and by late 1914, mainly through Nelson's swift and ruthless actions, Chinese workers had been excluded from all labouring work, except that of a domestic nature. Many Chinese had been employed at the wharf and as a result the AWU demanded and got higher wages for white workers. In 1914 and early 1915, through a campaign of boycotts and strikes, Nelson forced Vestey Brothers to raise wages for their construction workers and meatworks employees in Darwin.Nelson, Harold George (1881–1947). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 2017-12-16. Further industrial affairs continued as the meatworks project progressed.
Nelson met with Gilruth in the second week of November 1914. Although there is no record of the first confrontation between the men, subsequent records indicate the meeting concluded in a significant victory for the AWU. At that time, carpenters united to join the AWU (and not their parent Carpenters and Joiners union). By late 1916, the AWU in Darwin had grown into a formidable body with little minority opposition.
Vestey's meatworks