This week in history
December 14, 1882: Australia's first women's trade union
In the 1880s, Melbourne's 4000 women tailors worked 12-16 hour shifts six days a week. More than half of these women came together in 1882 to launch the Victorian Tailoresses Union, Australia's first all-women trade union.
The women campaigned for better working conditions and an eight-hour work day, and soon gained Trades Hall support. Over time, shorter working hours and better conditions were won primarily through ongoing industrial action, including a strike launched soon after the union's formation.
December 15, 1890: Sitting Bull killed
Sitting Bull was a leader of the Native American Sioux tribe. He became a household name when the US government planned to annex Indian tribal lands and force settlement on reserves. Sitting Bull led the Sioux in armed resistance to these moves and was key in forming an alliance of tribes which annihilated a punitive expedition commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
Under military pressure, Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada. Receiving a promise of amnesty in 1881, he returned to US territory, where he was imprisoned for two years and then settled on a reservation.
Amid rumours of an uprising on the reservation, Sitting Bull was arrested. As he was being led away, a gunfight erupted during which Sitting Bull and 12 others were killed.
December 14, 1982: Franklin dam blockade begins
In 1979, plans by the Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam on the lower Gordon river in Tasmania initially had up to 70% support. However, environmentalists launched a campaign to highlight the pristine wilderness under threat.
Increasing pressure forced the Tasmanian Labor government to propose a "compromise", to dam a different area. The compromise was rejected by the activists, and blocked in the Legislative Council, which supported the original plan.
A referendum in December 1981 asked people to vote for one of the two dam proposals, but more than a third of voters rejected both, writing "No dams" on their ballot papers.
In May 1982, the Liberal Party won office and re-initiated the original Gordon-below-Franklin dam proposal; 10,000 people demonstrated in Hobart in June. A blockade of the dam site was launched on December 14, 1982, drawing massive media attention and involving more than 2500 people from across Australia and overseas.
Actions continued nationally, 20,000 people taking to the streets in Hobart. At the blockade 1217 people were arrested, generally just for being there.
The federal Labor government was elected in March 1983, having made a commitment to stop the dam. Three months later, the High Court ruled in favour of the commonwealth against a challenge by the Tasmanian government, bringing an end to construction.