In 1856 the Melbourne Trades Hall Committee was formed and received a grant of land from premier
John O'Shanassy to build the Melbourne Trades Hall. The original Trades Hall was opened in May 1859, built by workers as an organising place for the
labour movement in Melbourne, and as a medium to educate workers and their families. The workers financed the construction of the building themselves. It was built in the style of the parliament buildings which were just down the road, and over the years has been further developed. The original building was made of timber with galvanised iron roofing. Between 1874 and 1925, the Hall was rebuilt and upgraded by
Joseph Reed, the architect responsible for Melbourne icons like the
Melbourne Town Hall and the
State Library of Victoria. The Trades Hall is located across the road from the
eight-hour day monument which was erected to honour the Victorian workers who won the first 8-hour working day in the world in 1856. It is the birthplace of organisations like the Victorian Labor Party and the
Australian Council of Trade Unions. Four flags fly from the roof of the building: the
Australian Flag, the
Eureka Flag, the
Australian Aboriginal flag, and the
red flag. Trades Hall is home to a number of Victorian
trade unions, community organisations and
left-wing political parties, such as the
Communication Workers Union of Australia and the
Communist Party of Australia. Until 2017, it had also served as the headquarters of the
National Union of Students. The Hall is primarily used by Victorian labour organisations as a space for organising and coordinating campaigns. The Hall also hosts occupational health and safety training for workers. The various rooms of the Hall can also be hired out for functions, meetings or conferences and it is often used for theatrical productions and to display artwork. The Hall has a bar which is patronised by trade union members and political
activists and a bookshop which sells political texts. In 1931, the hall was used as a broadcast venue for 3KZ, the predecessor station to
Gold 104.3. Trades Hall became the hub of the
Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2019, with Melbourne Fringe also establishing a year-round program at Trades Hall. The Victorian Trades Hall Council continues to engage in campaigning and research activities, including releasing a report entitled Every Worker in Australia: A Race Class Narrative in 2023. ==References==