| Date | 15 November 1938 – 21 January 1939 |
|---|---|
| Outcome | Workers returned to work "under protest" |
The Dalfram dispute of 1938 (15 November 1938 to 21 January 1939) was a political industrial dispute at Port Kembla, New South Wales, Australia protesting the export of pig iron from Australia to Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It became famous for providing the nickname of Pig Iron Bob to Attorney General Robert Menzies, later Prime Minister. [1] [2]
In November 1938 wharf labourers, members of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia, led by Ted Roach, refused to load pig iron onto the steamship SS Dalfram headed for Japan. The ship was chartered by Mitsui to supply the Japan Steel Works Ltd in Kobe, a part of a contract for 300,000 tons of pig-iron. The Japan Steel Works was producing military materials for the undeclared war in China. [2]
The dispute followed the Japanese Massacre in Nanking in 1937 during Japan's military expansion into China.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions in October 1937 called for a boycott of Japanese goods and an embargo on the export of iron to Japan in response to the Japanese aggression. [3] [4] Trade unions and many workers argued that the pig iron would be used in bombs and munitions in the invasion of China and articulated that they may also be used against Australia. [5]
The Dalfram was not the first protest against Japanese militarism. In Newcastle during October 1937 Chinese crew deserted the British steamer, SS Silksworth, in protest against the Japanese seizure of all major seaports in China. Sanctuary was given to the Chinese seamen by labour activists. After their successful protest they returned to the ship only when they were promised disembarkation at Singapore. [6] [7] During 1937 the slogan "No Scrap for the Jap" started appearing on wharves and union offices around Australia. [2]
Fremantle waterside workers refused to load supplies on a Japanese whaling vessel in September 1937. In October 1937 Sydney waterside workers walked off the Tamon Maru when they learned that scrap iron was on board and destined for Japan. That month the Waterside Workers' Federation were successful in getting support from the ACTU in organising an embargo or boycott of Japanese imports and exports. Other bans were applied in Port Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane.
But it was the coercive conditions of the Transport Workers Act 1928, better known by the workers as the Dog Collar Act, that motivated caution in industrial action by the union movement of the time. [8]
The dispute highlighted a clear contradiction in Australian Foreign policy towards Japanese military expansion and aggression. In May 1938 the Joseph Lyons Government announced the embargo of iron ore from Yampi Sound in Western Australia to Japan, citing that there were only limited quantities that were needed for local production. [9] [10] There were no moves to stop the export of pig iron and scrap metal to Japan. [11]
The arrival of the British tramp steamer Dalfram, which berthed at No. 4 jetty in Port Kembla on 15 November 1938, ignited the dispute. When the nature of the cargo and its destination were confirmed, [12] a walk-off eventuated around 11am.
The next day at pick up time the Dalfram was the first ship called to be worked. This resulted in refusal by the waterside workers, and as no other ship work was called, thus effectively a lockout eventuated for all ships then at Port Kembla. [13]
Other union organisations were quick to support the Port Kembla waterside workers, including the Illawarra Trades and Labour Council, Sydney Labour Council, the Federated Ironworkers' Association, Federated Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Association, and the Australian Workers Union. Even the Indian seamen on board the Dalfram refused to move the ship to another berth where non union labour could be employed. [14]
Support for the strike by Waterside Workers' Federation Federal officials and the Federal Labor Party has been categorised as lukewarm by historians. This was a dispute where local decision making was essentially driving the action, with support among more leftwing unionists around Australia. [2]
The dispute dragged on for 10 weeks and 2 days and received financial support from around Australia, particularly from the Australian Labour movement, but also from the Chinese immigrant community in Sydney who supplied truckloads of produce to help the families of the striking workers. [5]
Attorney General Robert Menzies first threatened use of the Transport Workers Act on 28 November 1938. He accused the union of dictating foreign policy, and argued that the elected government had the sole right to decide goods to be traded and what relationships were to be established with foreign powers. [15]
Menzies met with WWF leader Jim Healy on 7 December. That day the Transport Workers’ Act was applied at Port Kembla. Only one licence was taken out and that was publicly burned in front of Customs House. There was immediate support from other unions for the strike action and the wharves were declared black. [2]
On 17 December BHP laid off 4000 men claiming that the Dalfram dispute was responsible for bringing everything to a standstill. [2]
Attorney-General Menzies made an attempt to settle the dispute by calling a meeting with the Combined Union Committee at Wollongong for 11 January 1939. Workers responded by little demonstrations along the small coal mining villages along the coast and over 1000 people in Wollongong. [2]
Menzies met with the Mayor and dignitaries in the Wollongong Hotel. He was due to meet with union officials across the road but the large crowd initially prevented him. The police inspector present asked local union official Ted Roach if he could organise safe passage through the crowd. Union members thus cleared a path through the crowd for Menzies to walk to the meeting with officials. [2]
It was during the Dalfram dispute that the title "Pig Iron Bob" was coined in reference to the then Attorney General Robert Menzies. Local union official Ted Roach claimed [16] that the epithet was first used by Mrs. Gwendoline Croft, a member of the local women's relief committee. [5] It was later picked up by the Rev. Bill Hobbin, a former Methodist minister, and Stan Moran, the well-known wharfie and communist Domain orator. [2] [17]
On 21 January 1939 after 10 weeks and two days on strike the waterside workers at Port Kembla decided to load the pig iron "under protest". [2]
The Lyons government policy of appeasement of Japanese military aggression and opposition to the trade union bans on trade with Japan were not entirely unanimous. External Affairs minister Billy Hughes appears to have attempted to undermine the government policy according to at least one historian, who conjectures this may have been due to Hughes' past links with the Waterside Workers' Federation, being the first President of the union in 1902. The day after the workers at Port Kembla capitulated Billy Hughes delivered a vitriolic speech attacking Japanese militarism and its threat to Australia. [18]
On 24 January, Jim Healy met with Government representatives and received an unofficial assurance that no more pig-iron would be shipped to Japan, although it is debated to whether this was actually the case or that some shipments of scrap metal and pig iron were made. [2]
Melbourne waterside workers refused to load scrap iron on to a German ship in May 1938. [2]
The dispute brought together the Illawarra labour movement and elements of Sydney's Chinese immigrant community and contributed in a small way to the breakdown of the White Australia policy. [2] [5]
Much more significantly, it heralded a rising militancy in Australia by the Waterside' Workers Federation and the union movement as World War II was about to unfold. [2]
A union song to commemorate the dispute was composed by Clem Parkinson in 1964 titled The Pig-Iron Song. [19]
In December 2006 the Illawarra Branch of the Society for the Study of Labour History erected a Plaque to commemorate the dispute, located near the Number 4 Jetty at Port Kembla where the Dalfram docked. Her Excellency Madam Fu Yng, the Chinese Ambassador, unveiled the Plaque. [20] In 2013 Mike Donaldson and Nick Southall published Against fascism and war about the issue. [21] In 2015 a feature-length film documentary was released called The Dalfram Dispute, 1938: Pig Iron Bob. [22]
Contributors to the documentary included historians Stuart Macintyre, Les Louis, Glenn Mitchell, Drew Cottle, Greg Mallory and curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Zhu ChengShan.
The documentary was shortlisted for the 2015 NSW Premier's Multimedia History Prize. It was also a finalist in the 15th Screen Producers Association of Australia Awards for feature documentary. [23] [24]
In July 2015 ambassador to Australia Ma Zhaoxu of the People's Republic of China highlighted the Dalfram dispute as a remembered moment in the relationship between Australian and Chinese people when they stood together for common cause. [25]
Wollongong, colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound of the sea'. Wollongong lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 85 kilometres south of central Sydney. Wollongong had an estimated urban population of 302,739 at June 2018, making it the third-largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle and the tenth-largest city in Australia by population. The city's current Lord Mayor is Gordon Bradbery AM who was elected in 2021.
Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 10 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex, a small harbour foreshore nature reserve, and a small commercial sector. It is situated on the tip of Red Point: its first European sighting was by Captain James Cook in 1770. The name "Kembla" is an Aboriginal word meaning "plenty [of] wild fowl".
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.
Port Kembla railway station is a single-platform intercity train terminal located in Port Kembla, Australia, on the South Coast railway line's Port Kembla branch. The station serves NSW TrainLink trains traveling north to Wollongong and Sydney. The station also serves as a stabling location for South Coast line trains.
The Illawarra Steam Navigation Company was a shipping company that serviced the south coast of New South Wales, Australia from 1858 to the early 1950s. It was formed through the amalgamation of the General Steam Navigation Company, the Kiama Steam Navigation Company and the Shoalhaven Steam Navigation Company, each of whom serviced parts of the south coast with their respective vessels. After merging, the new company held a near monopoly in regard to shipping on the south coast, and their fleet visited every significant port between Sydney and the border of Victoria. The company transported both passengers and a range of produce, including livestock, and hence it became known as the 'Pig and Whistle Line': it was said that ships would wait an hour for a pig but not a minute for a passenger.
Coalcliff is a town on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, between Sydney and Wollongong.
The Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line is a cross country railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Illawarra line at Unanderra and winds west up the Illawarra escarpment to join the Main South line at Moss Vale. The line is one of the most scenic in New South Wales, and for the first 20 km (12 mi) after leaving Unanderra has an almost continuous grade 1 in 30 providing extensive views over the Illawarra coastline.
Robert Alan Baines is an Australian actor. He has starred in many television shows including Water Rats and Home and Away as school principal Martin Bartlett.
The bull pen or bull system was a feature of Australian waterfront workers' life experience under the Dog-collar act where men were hired for the day on that day by lower management in a competitive face to face environment. This was strongly felt to be demeaning by workers. Roach states that the Port Kembla branch of the wharfies union dismantled the bull system in 1938. Given the unskilled nature of waterfront work, the hunger for jobs, and the dismantling of union power on the waterfront under the Dog-collar act, the bull pen forced workers to compete and to cultivate servile and sycophantic relationships with individual foremen. The bull system was eventually dismantled by a period of low unemployment and union power during the 1940s.
Firemen and Deckhands' Union of New South Wales (FDU) was an Australian trade union existing between 1901 and 1993. The union covered deckhands employed on ferries, tugs, launches, lighters and hoppers, as well as enginemen, wharf hands, turnstill hands, change hands, firemen, motorboat coxmen and assistants. The FDU operated a closed shop, with all labour in the industry provided to employers through the union.
James "Big Jim" Healy was an Australian trade unionist and communist activist. Healy served as General Secretary of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia from 1937 to his death in 1961, a period when the union recovered from its defeat in the 1928 waterfront strike to become one of the most powerful trade unions in Australia. Healy was one of the most prominent public representatives of the communist movement in Australia during the Cold War.
Patrick Martin Clancy was an Australian trade unionist and Communist.
Port Kembla is a man-made cargo port or artificial harbour, with an outer harbour protected by breakwaters and an inner harbour constructed by dredging, located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.
The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered in 1907; its first general president was Billy Hughes.
The Black Armada was a name applied to Dutch merchant and military vessels which were prevented from sailing to the newly proclaimed independent Indonesia from Australian ports due to waterfront strikes or 'black bans' by maritime trade unions from 1945 to 1949.
Rupert Ernest Lockwood was an Australian journalist and communist activist.
SS Dalfram (1930-1943) was a British Cargo Steamer of 4,558 tons built in 1930 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock for Campbell Brothers and Co, Newcastle upon Tyne. The ship was launched on 2 April 1930.
Edward Charles Roach (1909–1997), was an Australian trade unionist, long-time leader of the Waterside Workers' Federation (WWF) and prominent member of the Communist Party of Australia. He was a key organiser of the 1938 Dalfram dispute, when dock workers, concerned with the occupation of China, refused to load ships destined for Japan with Australian pig-iron, a raw material for munitions. He was twice imprisoned for his industrial activity. As a leader in the WWF during the introduction of containerisation, he was responsible for winning significant improvements in working conditions for those in the Australian stevedoring industry.
Australian Iron & Steel was an Australian iron and steel manufacturer.
Sir Cecil Harold Hoskins (1889–1971) was an Australian industrialist associated with the iron and steel industry. He is notable mainly for the establishment of the steel industry at Port Kembla, the company Australian Iron & Steel, and its subsequent merger with BHP in 1935. He was also on the board of the Australian Mutual Provident Society for many years and was its chairman from 1947 to 1962. He is less well known for his involvement in centre-right political organisations and the scouting movement, and his interest in landscape gardens.
