Timeline: Shearers' Union and Jondaryan

In the early days of Australia's pastoral industry the lot of the shearer was not an easy one. Shearing has always been very physical backbreaking work, but was particularly so in the blade-shearing days. The isolation and primitive conditions that prevailed in the early days of the industry only served to make things harder for the itinerant shearer, as he was forced to trudged on foot from shed to shed, along the rough isolated bush tracks in search of work in his trade.

 

Left: Jondaryan Woolshed volunteer Jim Cuskelly demonstrates sheep shearing. Right: Wool basket.

There was no guarantee of work when he finally arrived at a shed and would often have to hump his bluey on to another shed or two before finding work. When he found work, he had to work long hours, 6am to 6pm. Living conditions were more often than not very primitive. Their housing mostly consisted of a slab hut with rows of rough-tiered beds along the walls and a table down the centre for them to eat at. They had to purchase all their rations at the station store, often at inflated prices and had to pay for their own cook.

Before being employed, the shearer had to sign a work contract that bound him for the whole season, but he could be sacked at any time. This put him at the mercy of his employer. The contract stipulated that if he shore any sheep above the tally limit of 110, he would not be paid for those over the tally limit. If he broke or damaged the fleece, or excessively damaged the sheep, he would not be paid for shearing it. In some sheds there was excessive use of this provision and a shearer would often have a whole pen of sheep condemned. If a shearer broke his agreement, he was either jailed, or forfeited all his earnings, but nothing was binding on his employer.

Action and Reaction

It is no wonder that the shearers would want to try to do something to try to improve their lot. The first attempt to organise the shearers and other workers in the industry to try to improve their conditions was made as early as August 1854. An advertisement appeared in the Moreton Bay Courier:

"Important to shearers, a meeting will be held at Drayton on 1901 August, to fix the price of shearing and washing for the ensuing season and to consider other matters affecting the labour interests of these districts."

This attempt failed because of distance and poor communication.

JM Andrew was the managing partner in the Campbell and Andrew partnership that purchased Jondaryan from Charles Coxen in 1845 and the Gilchrist and Andrew partnership that followed. He had a harsh and unbending attitude towards his employees that generated a lot of ill feeling and resentment amongst those employed on the station.

It was during his time that the first strike took place on Jondaryan and probably on the Darling Downs, when the shearers withdrew their labour during the season of 1849. The refusal of Andrew to pay for any of the sheep that had been shorn, about half the flock, lead to the burning down of the first woolshed on Jondaryan.

Jondaryan Position

The next attempt to organise the shearers into a union to improve their lot occurred in 1886. This time the attempt was successful and the shearers union was introduced into Queensland in 1888.

The attitude of the management on Jondaryan towards the shearer's union was a benevolent one, for they had nothing to fear from the union. They were, in fact, already concurring with all the wishes of the union with regard to the shearers employed on the station. The attitude of management was to assist the union, by collecting union dues from all union members employed on the station from 1888 on, for payment to the union.

It might seem strange that Jondaryan was chosen as the first station for the union to hold a strike on in 1890. However, there was one very large and annoying fly in the ointment, Edward Wienholt, the then senior partner in the Kent and Wienholt partnership. He was a member of the old school of English Landed Gentry. He was a very outspoken critic of the union. He was the leader of group of pastoralists opposed to the unionists and greatly annoyed the union leadership.

While William Kent I was alive, Edward Wienholt was the junior member of the partnership, being ten years younger than William Kent. Kent assumed complete control of management of their joint investments. After William Kent's death, Edward Wienholt became the senior partner, although the Kents retained the management of the station, carrying on William Kent's policies.

The union leadership was unaware of the position of the management on Jondaryan. Jondaryan was chosen as a test case as a prelude to a national strike and all union shearers were withdrawn from Jondaryan for the 1890 season.

If the management of Jondaryan had wanted to fight the union, they could easily have defeated them, for more than two-thirds of the shearers employed on the station, were permanent employees and the shearing that season was successfully carried out by those permanent employees.

Charles Williams and the Kents were incensed at Wienholt's high-handed attitude and treatment of them with regard to the shearer's union. They immediately sought talks with the union leaders and at a meeting in Pittsworth, put their position to them. This resulted in the 'Pittsworth Accord'.

Edward Wienholt and the Pastoralists' Association repudiated this agreement so the national strike went ahead the next year. Jondaryan was not involved in the strike and shearer's union members' shore on Jondaryan in 189 1. Once again Jondaryan was caught up in a strike that was not of its making, when the waterside workers union, unaware of the situation on Jondaryan, blacklisted the station's wool.