Trade Union entry Australian Builders Labourers Federation (1911 - 1972)

Summary

Created in 1911, the Australian Builders' Labourers' Federation [BLF] can claim to be one of the original signatories to the Victorian Eight Hour system. As one of the oldest Australian unskilled unions, the BLF participated in all the labour movement's major political campaigns. In 1972 it became the Australian Building Construction Employees' & Builders' Labourers' Federation until it was deregistered in 1974. Resuming in 1976 it lasted until 1986 when it was deregistered permanently.

Related entries

Timeline

 1911 - 1972 Australian Builders Labourers Federation
       1972 - 1974 Australian Building Construction Employees & Builders Labourers Federation (i)

Archival resources

Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland

• Australian Building Construction Employees' and Builders' Labourers' Federation, Queensland - Records, 1910 - 1970, UQFL 166; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details
• Australian Building Construction Employees' and Builders' Labourers' Federation, Townsville Branch - Records, 1911 - 1955, UQFL 166; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

• Don McDonald interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1994, ORAL TRC 3128/7; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Interview with Jack Mundey, unionist, environmentalist, local government Councillor and former Secretary of the NSW Branch of the Builders Labourers Federation - Interviewer: Ann Turner, 1991, ORAL TRC 2726; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Interview with Meredith Burgmann, political activist and President, N.S.W. Legislative Council - interviewer, Ann Turner, 2001, ORAL TRC 4656; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Jack Cambourn interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1988, ORAL TRC 1948/31; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Jack Heffernan interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1988, ORAL TRC 1948/38; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Memories of Norm Gallagher oral history project - Interview with Fr. Peter Norden, Jesuit priest and former Chaplain for Pentridge Prison, about Norm Galllagher, Australian trade unionist, 2000, ORAL TRC 4542/2; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Memories of Norm Gallagher oral history project - Interview with Martin Greany, union organiser, 1968-1985, for the Australian Building Construction Workers' and Builders' Labourers' Federation, about Norm Galllagher, Australian trade unionist, 2000, ORAL TRC 4542/1; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Memories of Norm Gallagher oral history project - Interview with Norman Wallace, union official for the Australian Building Construction Workers' and Builders' Labourers' Federation, about Norm Galllagher, Australian trade unionist, 2000, ORAL TRC 4542/3; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Memories of Norm Gallagher oral history project - interviewed by Barry York, 2000, ORAL TRC 4542; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Nick Origlass interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1988, ORAL TRC 1948/42; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Russ Hermann interviewed by Wendy Lowenstein in the Communists and the Left in the arts and community oral history project, 1995, ORAL TRC 3111/38; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Sid Vaughan interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1986?, ORAL TRC 1948/7; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Stan Sharkey interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1999, ORAL TRC 3128/6; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Tom McDonald interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1994, ORAL TRC 3128/8; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program

• Australian Builders Labourers Federation - Records, 1940 - 1959, Z492; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Australian Building Construction Employees & Builders Labourers Federation - Records, 1923 - 1984, Z398; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Australian Building Construction Employees & Builders Labourers Federation - Records, 1910 - 1990, N130; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Australian Building Construction Employees & Builders Labourers Federation - Records, 1889 - 1973, Z491; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Bob Pringle Papers, 1962 - 1974, Z331; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Don McHugh Papers, 1964 - 1976, N76; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Joseph Owens Papers, 1960 - 1962, Z215; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details
• Peter O'Dea Papers, 1968 - 1986, Z356; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Australian Builders' Labourers' Federation Victorian Branch - Records, 1915 - 1942, 1973.0053; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

University of Wollongong Archives

• Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) c.1969 - Records, c. 1969, C19; University of Wollongong Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Boyd, Brian, Inside the BLF: A Union Self-destructs, Ocean Press, Melbourne, Victoria, 1991, 324 pp. Details
• Burgmann. Meredith and Burgmann, Verity, Green Bans, Red Union: Environmental Activisim and the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, 351 pp. Details
• Mundey, Jack, Green Bans and Beyond, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1981, 154 pp. Details
• Thomas, Pete, Taming the Concrete Jungle: The Builders Laborers' Story, New South Wales Branch of the Australia Building Construction Employees and Builders Laborers' Feder, Sydney, 1973, 135 pp. Details
• True, P., Tales of the BLF….Rolling the Right!, Militant International Publications, Sydney, 1996, 77 pp. Details
• Wickham, G., The Politics of History and the New South Wales Builders' Labourers' Federation, Occasional Paper No 2, Local Consumption Publications, Sydney, 1984, 22 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Burgmann, Meredith, 'Revolution and Machismo: Women in the New South Wales Builder's Labourer's Federation, 1961-75', in Windschuttle, Elizabeth (ed.), Women, Class and History : Feminist Perspectives on Australia, 1788-1978, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Sydney, 1980, pp. 453-491. Details

Journal Articles

• Burgmann, Meredith and Burgmann, Verity, ''A Rare Shift in Public Thinking': Jack Mundey and the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation', Labour History, vol. 77, 1999, pp. 44-63. Details
• Sheldon, Peter, 'System and Strategy: The Changing Shape of Unionism among NSW Construction Labourers, 1910-19', Labour History, vol. 65, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Sydney, 1993, pp. 115-135. Details

Theses

• Burgmann, Meredith, 'Perspectives for Revolutionary Unionism: The NSW Builders' Labourers' Federation 1961-1975', PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 1983. Details

Online Resources

• 'Chart 7: Trade Unions - Building, Construction, Mining and Timber Industries', in Parties to the Award, 2002, http://www.atua.org.au/ptta/028.html. Details