It’s a big call but I’m making it: Queensland coal mining towns have the best May Day celebrations anywhere in Australia.
As a coal miner born and bred in the Bowen Basin coalfields, I’ve grown up knowing May Day as one of the most important days of the year.
In our mining hubs like Moranbah and Blackwater, May Day has always been a special day that brings everyone together – not just with the traditional march, but with a festival of events for the whole family.
May 1 has been celebrated as International Workers Day for over a century. Its origins lie in the international movement for the eight-hour day. In the early 19th century, with the beginning of industrialisation, working days became drastically longer. By the mid-1800s, the industrial working class typically worked every day except for Sunday, with each day being up to 16 hours.
In reaction to these conditions, working people globally organised the 8-hour day. With the slogan ‘eight-hours work, eight-hours recreation, eight-hours rest,’ workers united and took a stand for their common interests.
Australian workers were at the vanguard of this fight, with unionised workers in the 1850s and 1860s taking to the streets and being among the first in the world to win the eight-hour day.
May 1 was chosen as International Workers Day to commemorate a general strike in Chicago that was brutally supressed by police. In Australia, regional Queensland holds the honour of first acknowledging this date, with striking shearers staging a large procession in Barcaldine on May Day, 1891.
In 1901, the first Monday of May was declared a public holiday in Queensland, which remains the only state to hold a public holiday for International Workers Day. This is a great reminder of the radical history of our state.
I’m proud of the special relationship Queenslanders have with May Day. Queensland mining towns punch well above their weight in terms of festivities, often putting much larger towns elsewhere to shame. This is because our unions play such a central role in the civic life of our communities. The workplace and the community are deeply intertwined.
Unionised mineworkers have over many years campaigned for better services and facilities from hospitals to sports fields and housing – not only for our members and their families. Coal miners have also over the years fought for housing for other essential workers including police, teachers and nurses. We have fought for clean water, sporting fields, more facilities in local schools and new and better hospitals.
Our members working in mines in and around Moranbah personally contribute to Moranbah hospital, including a fund to upgrade nurses’ accommodation. Events like the horror underground explosion at Grosvenor Mine just before May Day in 2020 are a reminder of the life-saving role our nurses and medical staff at Moranbah Hospital play in our industry and community.
It is also why we’re advocating to fix the roads that service our communities, and have concerns about local housing and accommodation infrastructure.
It is for all these reasons that May Day is so important for regional Queenslanders. We understand better than anyone that the fate of our communities is dependent on our rights, and power, as workers. When we march, we are not just demonstrating our willingness to fight for rights as workers, but for a better future for our families and our communities.
Mitch Hughes
President Mining and Energy Union Queensland District
