James Stephens and the 8 Hour Day

This weekend is the Labour Day long weekend in Melbourne (and in most of Australia), so I thought it would be a good time to have a look at the origins of this holiday. Like most of our long weekends, Labour Day is a commemoration but, unlike many of them, this links us globally to many other Western countries, most of whom mark a similar occasion somewhere in their calendars.

The origins of Labour Day are linked to the beginnings of the organised labour movement, and some courageous and principled folk who demanded fairer treatment for workers. And in Melbourne, the first of these working groups to demand better conditions were the local stonemasons, lead by a tough and determine Welshman.

Trade Association banner, Melbourne, 19th century.

Melbourne started as an agricultural outpost in 1835, with a small city centre and limited industry. But, as the city expanded rapidly, especially during the gold rush of the 1850s, the city also began to modernise. This brought new industries, and new jobs, in manufacturing, mining, and public works.

But working conditions in these new industries were tough:

One of gold rush Melbourne's biggest growth industries was construction. Awash with cash, and the newly wealthy purveyors of it, the city effectively set about rebuilding itself. The low, often wooden, and very basic buildings that had been constructed during the city's foundation years were largely removed, and replaced by grand edifices, many stories high and largely built of stone.

It was a boom time for Melbourne's stonemasons but, despite high demand for their services, they suffered the same treatment as the city's factory workers; low pay, dangerous conditions and very long hours.

Enter James Stephens.

James Stephens: Stonemason and labour activist.

Born in Wales in 1821, Stephens followed in his father's footsteps and became a stonemason as a teenager. In 1839 he was seriously injured when he fell from a construction site scaffold, and the lack of assistance available to him while he recovered helped steer him towards the organised labour movement.

Once he regained fitness, Stephens joined the newly formed 'Chartists', a political protest group that drew support from the skilled trades. The Chartists were named for their support of  'The People's Charter'; a political manifesto produced by six radical members of Parliament that called for electoral reform and better conditions for workers.

Chartist demonstration, London, early 1840s.

Chartism grew and spread rapidly, from its origins in the working class north to England's major cities. Stephens moved to London in the early 1840s, from where he was able to see the movement at its peak; several enormous demonstrations were organised, and a petition of 3 million signatures was submitted to Parliament, demanding action on the groups reform agenda.

Stephens became a zealous organiser of his fellow stonemasons, and was considered a minor leader within the movement. But the controversy attached to Chartism came at a price; he was sacked from a lucrative job working at Windsor Castle when his affiliation was discovered. Other Chartist leaders called for strikes and civil disobedience and were arrested, which lead to rioting and violent confrontations with police.

Meanwhile, the movement was frustrated politically. Their petitions, which now also included a call for an 8 hour work day, were rejected by Parliament, and they saw no significant progress towards their objectives (most of their program would eventually be adopted, but not until 1867).

Looking for fresh opportunities, Stephens, like many Chartist tradesmen, was lured to Australia in 1853 by the gold rush.

Melbourne Stonemasons banner.

Arriving in February 1853, Stephens energetically set to work in the local construction industry. Work was plentiful, but conditions were nearly as poor as they had been in England. While disgruntled, the local tradesman were not politically organised and Stephens, with his Chartist experience, was a natural authority figure.

8 hour day demonstration, Melbourne.

In February 1856 Stephens, and local tradesman James Galloway, formed the Operative Masons Society at the Clark Hotel in Collingwood. The objective of this group was simple by Chartist standards; to agitate for a mandated eight hour work day. And, after having been in the organised labour movement for nearly twenty years without much tangible success, Stephens was in a hurry. The Operative Masons decreed that the 8 hour day would be in place by April.

On the 21 April 1856, Stephens took decisive action:

Starting at a construction site at the University of Melbourne, Stephens convinced the workers there to down tools and join him on a march on Parliament in Spring Street. Along the way, they detoured passed several construction sites in the city and picked up more supporters. Eventually, a crowd of a few thousand gathered at the Parliament steps for a noisy and boisterous, though peaceful, demand for an eight hour work day.

But Stephens, and the movement's other leaders, had planned this moment carefully.

In the weeks leading up to the demonstration, they had met secretly with business groups and Parliamentarians, and had convinced them both of the movement's strength, and the potential for strikes and disruption if they continued to deny an 8 hour day. A Parliamentary delegation met Stephens on April 21, and he was able to inform his supporters that their demands would be met.

The group then marched on to the Belvedere Hotel in Fitzroy, where their celebration spilled across several streets.

Labour Day Parade, 1923.

Legislation introducing an 8 hour work day was passed by Parliament shortly afterwards. While this still meant a 48 hour week for most workers, as most still worked six days, this was viewed as a great victory, the first by organised labour in the modern era. A celebratory parade through the city was organised for May 12, and would continue as an annual tradition. In 1879, the popularity of this event lead the Victorian Government to make this a paid public holiday, dubbed 'Labour Day,' the State's first.

John Stephens was lionised as a hero. Sadly, it wouldn't last.

8 Hour Day Monument, shortly after being erected.

The top of the monument, commemorating the 8-8-8 slogan.

In the years following his great success, Stephens saw the local labour movement he helped found expand and diversify. But Stephens' support for sub-contracting, then a novel idea, alienated him from the movement's newer leaders, who saw it as a way for employers to cut wages. Stephens claimed that his enemies in the union movement had him effectively blacklisted, and he struggled to find work and make ends meet. They also sought to re-write history somewhat, now emphasizing James Galloway's efforts in regards to the reforms of 1856, at the expense of his own.

Impoverished, sickly and slowly going blind, by the 1880s Stephens had largely been forgotten by Victorian society. A collection taken up for him by the Trades Hall in Carlton provided for Stephens somewhat in his final years, but when he died in 1889 he was destitute and left no estate.

The parade that he helped inspire did not last either.

For nearly a century, the Labour Day parade was a fixture in Melbourne, replete with floats, live entertainment and a carnival atmosphere. Large holiday crowds turned out each year to celebrate the 8 hour day, among other subsequent labour reforms. But by the 1930s, crowds were waning, as the great depression created a sombre mood. World War II further diminished the parade's popularity, and it was discontinued altogether after 1951. The Labour Day holiday had been moved by this time to March, and is now capped by the Moomba festival instead.

But one landmark to the landmark reforms of 1856 remains, on Victoria Street, just opposite Trades Hall. Designed by Percival Ball, and paid for by union subscriptions, the 8 Hour Day monument was erected in 1903.

James Stephens is not mentioned.

Burke and Wills: The Roaming Statue

Burke and Wills are among the most famous Melbournians, yet neither was a local.

Both Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills were British born and trained, the former as a policeman, the latter a surveyor. On 20 August 1860 they lead an expedition out of Melbourne to begin an attempt to cross the Australia from South to North, a previously unattained feat.

Ultimately, they were marching into history, as neither would return alive.

Melbourne would pay a number of tributes to these adopted, flawed characters, chief among them the statue erected in their honour on the corner of Swanston and Little Collins Streets. But it is interesting to note that this statue has enjoyed it's own nomadic existence, and that it's current spot is the fourth it has occupied since it's casting.

The Burke and Wills statue; current location.

News of the passing of Burke and Wills was slow to reach Melbourne. Both explorers were dead by late June 1861, the exact date of their deaths is not known, but they had gone missing in one of the remotest parts of the country, if not the world, and no word of their end was initially available . The final surviving member of the expedition, John King, was not found until late September and it was not until the first week of November that the grim news finally reached Sydney and Melbourne.

The Argus reports the news, November 5, 1861.

The anguish in the city was pronounced.

The state government quickly decided that a prominent public tribute to the lost explorers was in order, and by February 1862 some 4000  pounds had been allocated for this purpose. It was to be the first statue of a public figure erected in Melbourne.

To settle on the design, a public competition was organised, to be overseen by University of Melbourne professor William Wilson. A public announcement from Wilson later in 1862 declared the competition open:

Five entries were submitted to the lucrative contest, but the clear favourite was always the submission of Charles Sumner. 

Sumner was a British born sculptor who had moved to Melbourne in 1852, following his brothers to the goldfields. But he found more success through his art, and was well known locally for the decoration he had supplied to the interior of the Parliamentary chambers on Spring Street. He established a studio on Collins Street, where he worked mainly on busts of Melbourne's burgeoning upper class. It is thought that his connections, and some behind the scenes lobbying, helped him secure the Burke and Wills commission.

As per the competitions instructions, Sumner submitted a plaster model of the statue, now held by the Royal Society of Victoria:

After he had claimed the prize and been awarded the commission, Sumner was requested to submit a second, larger, maquette, closer to the actual statue's to be completed size. This second model, sometimes thought to be the original competition entry, is on display in the Warrnambool Art Gallery:

It would take Sumner two years of work to turn his plaster models in to bronze, full size reality.

While casting work was ongoing, the Design Commission overseeing the project had a change of heart about the monument's prospective location. Originally set to be erected outside Parliament House on Spring Street, as per Wilson's announcement, the commission decided to consider other locations after a mock up of the statue was placed there and found to be somewhat overshadowed by the surrounding buildings.

The mock up statue was trialed at various spots around the city, including; the Botanic gardens, Carlton gardens, the State Library forecourt and Batman Hill (at this time the hill was still an open, public space). Eventually, the commission settled on the high ground at the intersection of Collins and Russell Streets, opting to place the statue in the middle of the crossroads.

The statue was completed early in 1865 and unveiled on April 21 of that year, to near universal acclaim.

Two views of the statue, in its original location.

After the unveiling, Sumner continued to work on the project, completing four bronze relief panels depicting scenes from the expedition which were added to the pedestal in 1866.

The statue was a popular addition to the top of Collins Street, but it's time in the location would be relatively short. As Melbourne continued to grow as a city, electric trams were added to the CBD in 1886, necessitating the removal of statue to allow the tramway clear passage.

It was then relocated close to its originally designated spot on Spring Street, now finding a home in Gillott's Reserve opposite State Parliament.

The statue on Spring Street.

Where it would remain for nearly a hundred years.

But in the early 1970's, transport infrastructure improvements would again force the statue to move. This time it was an expansion of the city's rail network that effected the statue, as the Government sought to add additional inner city stops. As Parliament station was being created deep under Spring Street, Gillott Reserve was swallowed up and the statue was moved to the south east corner of Carlton Gardens in 1973.

The statue in Carlton gardens.

But this was considered a rather obscure spot for one of the city's best known monuments. With the removal of the Queen Victoria Buildings on Swanston Street, and the creation of City Square, an opportunity was presented to bring the statue back into the centre of the city. This was done in 1979 (although to a slightly different position to the one it currently occupies).

But all of this nomadic wandering had come at a cost. By 1988, the statue had fallen into disrepair and Melbourne City Council had it removed for restoration, which was done at the Meridian Studios in Fitzroy.

Restoration work was completed in 1993 and the statue was placed in it's current location, where it has remained to date.