Tree of Knowledge (Australia) | |
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![]() The Tree of Knowledge, Barcaldine, 1997 | |
Location | Oak Street, Barcaldine, Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia |
Coordinates | 23°33′08″S145°17′23″E / 23.5523°S 145.2897°E |
Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
Built | 1891–1891 |
Official name | Tree of Knowledge |
Type | state heritage (landscape) |
Designated | 21 October 1992 |
Reference no. | 600021 |
Significant period | 1891 (historical) |
Significant components | memorial – plaque, flagpole/flagstaff, memorial/monument |
The Tree of Knowledge was a heritage-listed tree in Oak Street, Barcaldine, Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia, that was poisoned and killed in 2006. It was a 200-year-old Corymbia aparrerinja ghost gum. [1] It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. [2]
The town was the headquarters of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike and the tree was the site of the 1892 reading of the Labour Party manifesto leading to the formation of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). [3]
The Tree of Knowledge was a ghost gum located in front of the Barcaldine railway station under which the workers of the 1891 Shearer's Strike met. An icon of the Labor Party and Trades Unions, it symbolises the foundation of the organised representation of labour in Queensland. [2]
Barcaldine sprang up in 1886 as the terminus of the Central Western railway. The area was already settled by pastoralists and had previously been centred on Blackall. Large sheep stations were like small townships with their own working facilities, stores, worker's accommodation and tradesmen such as blacksmiths. The owners and managers of these stations had considerable power to dictate terms to an itinerant workforce of sheep shearers recruited for the shearing season. Poor working conditions, low pay and the threat of competition from cheap foreign labour caused discontent within the industry. [2]
Barcaldine was a natural focus for the development of unionism. As the railhead, the town drew many seasonal and casual workers. Besides shearers and hands there were navvies who had worked on the construction of the railway and carriers who had found their work reduced by it. Difficulties in finding work and financial hardship helped to build a sense of mateship and mutual support amongst sections of them. In 1887 the Central Queensland Carriers Union was formed, and discussions leading up to this are said to have been held under the gum tree which provided shade where carriers waited at the front of the railway station. At the same time, the Queensland Shearers' Union was formed at Blackall. Within a year it had 1300 members, indicating a perceived need for collective bargaining to obtain fair pay and working conditions. In 1888 the Central Queensland Labourers' Union was formed at Barcaldine. These three unions were the driving force behind the strike of 1891. [2]
In Brisbane, the Trades and Labour Council was formed in 1885 and in 1889 became the Australian Labour Federation. At Barcaldine in the same year the Pastoral Employers' Association was founded in response and moved to reduce pay rates. Many workers now joined the unions, pushing membership of the Shearers Union over 3000 and the Labourer's Union to 2,250. Only severe wet weather in 1890 delayed a confrontation. By January 1891 union representatives had gathered at Barcaldine for meetings and pastoralists were pressing shearers to sign freedom of contract forms. A strike was called and employers began to import non-union labour from the south. Strikers, some of whom were armed, gathered at Barcaldine and set up a camp at Lagoon Creek and other places around the town. [4] [2]
The Queensland Government dispatched police and soldiers to the area and the strikers responded by drilling and staging torchlight processions in the town. As the non-union labour, police and soldiers usually arrived by rail, strikers would rally outside the railway station to block their arrival and protest. Consequently, the tree in front of the station, the Tree of Knowledge, was the location of many meetings and a focus for protest. [4] In March 1891 the situation escalated as carriers and railway workers went out in sympathy and military reinforcements arrived. Barcaldine became the focus of the whole country's interest and armed conflict was expected. However, heavy rain which limited movement and the arrest of leaders slowed momentum and strikers began to disperse. On 15 June the strike was officially called off. It had failed, but was to have far reaching effects. In 1892, at the foot of the tree, the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party dated 9 September 1892 was read out, leading to the formation of the Labor Party in Queensland. [2] [5] The manifesto is considered one of the foundation documents of the current Australian Labor Party [6] and is now held by the State Library of Queensland. [7] In 2008 the manifesto was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Australian Register and in 2009, the document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register. [8]
Because the area beneath the Tree of Knowledge was the scene of actions and decisions which had a profound effect on the future of labour and politics in Australia, it has become an icon of the Labor Party and Trades Unions. It is also important to the people of Barcaldine as a symbol of the town's identity and historical importance. This is reflected by the name chosen for the commemoration committee formed in 1987, the Tree of Knowledge Development Committee, and by the care given to the tree. In 1990, it was discovered that the tree was infested by termites and other insects and had severe health problems. Treatment by a tree surgeon, pest control and flushing of the root system with thousands of litres of water gave the tree a new lease of life. This treatment was completed in late 1993. [2]
In 1991, there were major celebrations at Barcaldine to mark the centenary of the Shearers' Strike. In preparation for this, the area around the tree was landscaped and a memorial to the strikers erected within the enclosure. [2]
In 2006, the tree was poisoned with glyphosate (a main ingredient in the herbicide RoundUp). An arborist declared the tree dead on 3 October 2006. The ALP offered a reward of A$10,000 for any information that would help identify those responsible.
The remains of the tree were removed on 29 July 2007. According to a Queensland Government release [9] the tree is undergoing a process of wood preservation and the remains of the tree – 7 metres (23 ft) tall and 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) across – are being transferred to a special preservation facility.
Several cuttings propagated from the tree before its death are now growing in Barcaldine. In 2008, the tree was successfully cloned in by workers at the former Queensland Department of Primary Industries. [10] A clone of the tree has also been planted at the Ecosciences Precinct in Brisbane. [11]
A new memorial on the site of the remains of the original tree (costing about A$5M) was officially opened on 2 May 2009. [12] The memorial won The Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage Architecture and a National Commendation for Public Architecture at the 2010 National Architecture Awards of the Australian Institute of Architects. [13]
In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Tree of Knowledge was also announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "location". [14]
On 19 April 2011 Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope at the National Arboretum Canberra in a ceremonial planting of a tree grown from an original cutting of the Tree of Knowledge. [15] [16]
![]() | This section needs to be updated.(March 2017) |
The Tree of Knowledge is a ghost gum ( Corymbia aparrerinja [17] ) situated outside the railway station in the main street of Barcaldine. Early photographs show a wider canopy than existed at the time of the tree's demise. At the foot of the tree is a plaque which says:
This plaque commemorates the loyalty, courage, and sacrifice in 1891 of the stalwart men and women of the west from whom, beneath this tree, emerged Australia's labour and political movement. [2]
The Tree of Knowledge is protected by a modern metal fence and the area surrounding it is bordered by a low rail composed of evenly spaced lengths of log and is landscaped with flowering shrubs. This area also contains a flagpole and a bronze and granite monument symbolising shear blades which was erected in 1991 to commemorate the centenary of the Shearer's Strike. [2]
Tree of Knowledge was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. [2]
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
The Tree of Knowledge was a key site during the Shearer's Strike in 1891, a confrontation between capital and labour that was a major event in Queensland's history. The strike was a watershed in the development of the labour movement and the formation of the Australian Labor Party. [2]
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
The Tree of Knowledge is closely linked with the cultural identity of Barcaldine and has a strong association with its people. [2]
The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.
The Tree of Knowledge has a special association with the history of the Australian Labor Party and with the Trades Union movement in Queensland. [2]
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also commonly known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since being elected at the 2022 federal election, and with political branches in each state and territory, they currently form government in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory. As of 2023, Tasmania is the only state or territory where Labor forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuous political party in Australian history, being established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first federal Parliament.
Vincent Clair Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party from 1965 to 1973. In 1974 he was appointed Australian Ambassador to Ireland by the Whitlam government, which caused his expulsion from the DLP.
Barcaldine is a rural town and locality in the Barcaldine Region in Queensland, Australia. This is the administrative centre of the Barcaldine Region. Barcaldine played a major role in the Australian labour movement.
The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial and political wings. Trade unions in Australia may be organised on the basis of craft unionism, general unionism, or industrial unionism. Almost all unions in Australia are affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), many of which have undergone a significant process of amalgamations, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The leadership and membership of unions hold and have at other times held a wide range of political views, including socialist, democratic and right-wing views.
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exercised an outsized influence on the Australian Trade Union movement and on the Australian Labor Party throughout its history.
The 1890 Australian maritime dispute was an industrial dispute that began on 15 August 1890 when the Mercantile Marine Officers' Association directed its members to give 24 hours notice to their employers after negotiations broke down with the Steamship Owners' Association of Victoria over longstanding pay and conditions claims. Industrial action quickly spread to seamen, wharf labourers, then gas stockers. Coal miners from Newcastle, Broken Hill, and even New Zealand were locked out after refusing to dig coal for non-union operated vessels. By September 1890, 28,500 workers were on strike.
The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) is a representative, an advocacy group, or peak body, of Queensland trade union organisations, also known as a labour council, in the Queensland, Australia. As of 2020, 26 unions and 13 regional branches were affiliated with the QCU. The QCU represents unions covering around 350,000 Queensland workers. It is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Its offices are located in the suburb of South Brisbane, Queensland. As a peak body for the Queensland trade unions, the objective of the QCU is to achieve industrial, social and political justice for Queensland workers. The management structure of the QCU is made up of a committee of management and an executive of representatives comprised from affiliated unions.
Emma Miller was an English-born Australian pioneer trade union organiser, suffragist, and key figure in organisations which led to the founding of the Australian Labor Party in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The 1949 Australian coal strike was the first time that Australian military forces were used during peacetime to break a trade union strike. The strike by 23,000 coal miners lasted for seven weeks, from 27 June 1949 to 15 August 1949, with troops being sent in by the Ben Chifley Federal Labor government to the open cut coal mines in New South Wales on 28 July 1949, with the workers returning to work, defeated, two weeks later.
The 1891 shearers' strike is one of Australia's earliest and most important industrial disputes.
James Page was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 until his death, representing the electorate of Maranoa.
The Labor Council of New South Wales, branded Unions NSW, is the peak body for trade unions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. As of 2005 there are 67 unions and 8 Rural and Regional Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Labor Council, representing 800,000 workers in NSW. It is registered as the State Peak Council of Employees under Section 215 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW). The council is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
The Queensland Shearers Union was one of the first Australian unions, founded in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The union was instrumental in the development of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, seen today as a key development in the Australian labour movement. Together with other unions the Queensland Shearers Union was the genesis of the Australian Workers' Union.
Gilbert Stephen Casey was a trade unionist, agitator of the early Australian labour movement and a utopian socialist.
Jondaryan Woolshed is a heritage-listed shearing shed at Evanslea Road, Jondaryan, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1859-60 to replace an earlier, smaller woolshed on the former Jondaryan pastoral station, which was at one stage the largest freehold station in Queensland. The woolshed was the scene of significant labour conflict in the late 1880s and early 1890s, as the station became a test case for the new Queensland Shearers Union in the lead-up to the 1891 Australian shearers' strike.
Toowoomba Trades Hall is a heritage-listed Trades Hall at 19A Russell Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Matthew Williamson and built by Kell & Rigby. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 29 October 2010.
Thomas Joseph Ryan was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in Australia. He represented the seat of Barcoo from 1892 to 1893.
Fallon House is a heritage-listed trade union office at 1 Maryborough Street, Bundaberg Central, Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by David Ballinger Goodsir and Harold James Carlyle and built in 1953 by Llewellyn Herbert Edwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 December 2012.
Shearers' Strike Camp Site is a heritage-listed campsite on the bank of Lagoon Creek, Barcaldine, Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1891 by shearers on strike. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
PS Rodney is a heritage-listed paddle steamer shipwreck on the Darling River at Polia Station, Pooncarie in the Wentworth Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Captains Dorward and Davies and built by Thomas McDonald. The property is owned by Department of Trade & Investment, Regional Infrastructure & Services, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 23 November 2007.
This Wikipedia article incorporates text from "The Queensland heritage register" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 7 July 2014, archived on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were computed from the "Queensland heritage register boundaries" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived on 15 October 2014).