Broken Hill Trades Hall

The struggle of working people for equitable pay arrangements and safe working conditions is a major theme of the story of Broken Hill. During the 19th and 20th centuries Broken Hill became synonymous with industrial action, union organisation and the cause of socialism. The great industrial disputes of 1892 (1892 Broken Hill miners' strike), 1909 and 1919-20 are well remembered in Broken Hill and beyond. Workers' heroes such as Tom Mann and Percy Brookfield are memorialised in various ways all over the town and the story of Broken Hill's mining unions is closely connected with the story of mining unionism in Australia. The industrial action was unsuccessful and by 1896 union membership had dropped from approximately 6,000 to 300. Jabez Wright served as the first chairman of the Trades Hall Trustees. The balance of the building debt was paid off by 1901, after which time fundraising was dedicated towards completing the hall. Fundraising was also arranged by fellow unions, as described in this article in the Barrier Miner in 1898, when the Secretary of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Workers' Union, Frank Lundie, arranged a tug-of-war competition held in the Crystal Theatre. Jackson's design was again selected for the second section, and he was again appointed clerk of works. The second section would include a large room on the ground floor, the enlargement of the AMA office, a large banqueting room with a dancing floor upstairs, an ante-room for ladies, the Trades Hall secretary's office, and on the third floor a large bandroom. Work on the second section commenced on 25 April 1904. During the 1890s and early years of the 20th century the Association consolidated its position, establishing its own newspaper The Barrier Daily Truth in 1898 and the Barrier Social Democratic Club in 1903. In 1902 British Socialist and former miner Tom Mann visited Broken Hill. Under the auspices of the Burke Ward Parliamentary Labour League Mann addressed a large crowd from the rotunda of the Hillside Reserve, expounding Marxist ideology and the goals of socialism. Mann so impressed union leaders that in 1908 he was invited by the Combined Unions to return as an organiser to assist in a dispute with BHP. The Barrier unions continued to campaign aggressively throughout the 20th century for improvements in the working conditions of their members. In 2018, Broken Hill Trades Hall continues to house the Barrier Industrial Council, the Broken Hill Town Employees' Union, and the Broken Hill office of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union's mining and energy division. == Description ==

Built from 1898 to 1905, the Broken Hall Trades Hall is one of the few surviving Victorian buildings in Broken Hill prominently located, and has been little altered externally since it was built. Its chief internal feature is a vast painted ceiling in a geometrical pattern. It is constructed of stone, rendered, and painted with ornamental encrustations, and has an iron mansard roof. The glass fanlight above the door features roses. There is a main hall at the rear which has a vast ceiling painted in shades of green in a geometrical pattern. ;Collection: The Trades Hall Collection consists of a wide variety of artefacts associated with the history of the union movement in Broken Hill and with specific events in that history. It includes collections of union badges, union banners and signs, 2 large AMA flags, documents including picket maps from the 1909 lockout and collections of correspondence, invoices and dockets. Items in the collection are generally in sound condition although some require conservation interventions and the implementation of more appropriate storage arrangements (13/6/2008). == Heritage listing ==

Trades Hall was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. == See also ==