WikiProject Organised Labour Month - Australia 2026
Throughout September 2026, Wikimedia Australia is joining editors around the world for WikiProject Organised Labour Month, a global campaign to improve coverage of trade unions, strikes, labour law and organised labour history across Wikipedia, Wikidata and Commons.
This page gathers a few ideas and gaps we've noticed on the Australian side of the campaign — a starting point if you're after inspiration, not a checklist. Follow whatever catches your interest, in whichever project suits you.
Background: the Eight Hour Day
On 21 April 1856, stonemasons working on the University of Melbourne site downed tools and marched on Parliament House, demanding a working day of "eight hours' labour, eight hours' rest, eight hours' recreation." Employers agreed — with no cut in pay — making Melbourne's building trades among the first workers anywhere in the world to win an eight-hour day at industry scale. The win is commemorated by the Eight Hour Day Monument, opposite Trades Hall in Melbourne.
It has been noted that the movements were led by, and largely benefited, white male craft workers, with women and non-white workers largely excluded from its early gains. That gap is part of why this page also points to the missing history of women in the union movement — see the Women in Red section below.
How to get involved
- Global coordination page: WikiProject Organized Labour Month
- Existing hub article: Portal:Organized Labour
- Have a browse through the ideas below, or just start wherever something catches your eye
Ideas and gaps
The Eight Hour Day movement
- Wikipedia: The Eight-hour day article is light on Australian detail, and James Stephens (trade unionist) could do with some expansion.
- Commons: Category:Eight-hour day and Category:Labor history of Australia could use more images.
- Wikidata: the Eight Hour Day Monument, Melbourne (Q56685797) has room for more statements, and there's no item yet for the 1855 Sydney stonemasons' win — earlier than Melbourne's, but far less documented.
Trade Halls
- Commons: Category:Trade union buildings in Australia is a bit thin — Trades Halls in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and elsewhere aren't well represented yet.
- Wikidata: many of these buildings are missing coordinate locations and other basic data.
State and territory union councils
The peak union bodies in each state and territory are all a bit uneven — some have more written about them than others.
- Unions NSW — sourcing, elected officers, and coverage of regional trades and labour councils could all use work
- Victorian Trades Hall Council — elected officers and regional trades and labour councils are light
- Unions ACT — elected officers and history could be expanded
- Queensland Council of Unions — sourcing is thin
- SA Unions — formatting, sourcing, history and elected officers all have gaps
- Northern Territory Trades & Labor Council — history and elected officers are light
- Tasmanian Trades & Labor Council — sourcing, office holders and the infobox could use attention
Trade unionism in Australia
- Australian categories, and categories for people, are patchy in places.
- A few pages could use an infobox tidy-up — Maurice Rudd and Australian Workers' Union are two examples.
- Wikidata: unions in Category:Trade unions affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions mostly have very few statements — plenty of room here if structured data is your thing.
- Commons categories: Trade unionism in Australia, Trade unionists from Australia and Trade union banners could all use more content.
Public sector unions
- Category:Public sector trade unions in Australia has a few articles that could use a closer look.
Broader history and structure
- Australian labour movement — the section on World War II and after is underdeveloped.
- Australian Council of Trade Unions — the article on the organisation itself (as opposed to its affiliated unions) could use more on its history and campaigns.
- List of strikes in Australia — could do with an update.
- Category:Labour relations in Australia and Category:Labour disputes in Australia — worth a browse for other gaps.
- Enterprise bargaining agreement is a distinctly Australian form of collective agreement, but the two articles currently don't reference each other — a straightforward cross-linking job.
Women in Red: Australian trade unionists
Short biography stubs are a good entry point if you're new to editing! These lists point to gaps rather than assigning specific names — have a browse and see who interests you.
- Missing articles by occupation: Trade unionists — cross-reference against the Australia list below for a working shortlist
- Missing articles by nationality: Australia
- Missing articles by identifier: NLA — women with a National Library of Australia authority record already, which usually means sourcing is half-done
- Model article, if you want a sense of length and structure: Mary Hynes Swanton