Published Resources Details Journal Article
- Title
- 'It All Started in the Mines'?: The 1934 Kalgoorlie Race Riots Revisited
- In
- Labour History
- Imprint
- vol. 80, 2001, pp. 21-40
- Description
Kalgoorlie was the scene of anti-southern European rioting in both 1919 and 1934. Previous studies have focused upon racial division, but this article looks at the other side of the story - examples of solidarity perceived across ethnic boundaries. While competitive labour relations in Kalgoorlie's goldmining industry undoubtedly created rifts, in some fashion the mines cohered a multi-ethnic workforce, sharing similar living and working conditions. This environment created as much basis for unity as it did for division. The article also contends that the Returned Services League played an ideological and practical role in fanning the outburst