Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Union Ticket

Union Ticket

1891-92
Printed ephemera
Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952
DN / P 631

Through the 19th century, the conditions under which shearers worked were notoriously bad, with low wages often compounded by poor accommodation and rations. The Amalgamated Shearers’ Union was formed in 1887, and over the next few years won some improvements for members.

By the early 1890s relations between the shearers and pastoralists were becoming increasingly bitter. Drought, the introduction of mechanical shears and confrontations between unions, pastoralists and shearers culminated in strikes in Queensland and NSW, supported by maritime workers who refused to handle ‘black’ wool – wool harvested using non-union, or ‘scab, labour.

Thomas Holding may well have needed ‘the protection of the Union’ at this time. Depicting a figure mounted on horseback and a shearer at his stand in the shearing shed, his ticket is quite ornate. The text down the perforated left-hand edge, ‘Shearers & General Labourers’ Record’, refers to the newspaper of the shearers’ union. Like many union newspapers of today, the shearers’ paper included imagery, songs, poems and games designed to increase awareness, pride, loyalty and camaraderie among shearers and their labour struggle.

Discrepancy with the dates

Looking carefully at the union ticket, there appears to be a discrepancy with the dates. The ticket itself has the year 1892 printed in the central circle, and the wording states that the holder of the ticket is entitled to the protection of the union for the year ending 30 December 1892. The handwritten date, however, reads ‘Feb 1st 1981’; most likely this is a clerical error by the person completing the ticket, W W Head, the branch secretary.

Joint editor

W W Head also served as joint editor of the cooperative labour journal the Hummer, which was printed in Wagga Wagga between 19 October 1891 and 10 September 1892.