Thomas Walter Vine
Thomas Walter Vine (21 June 1797 – 6 November 1882) was a carpenter, Chartist and prominent trades union activist in Australia. He was a co-founder of the Eight Hour Day Movement, regarded as one of the defining moments of Australian history. The Eight Hour Day march held in Melbourne on 21 April 1856 is now celebrated across Australia as Labour Day.
Early life
Vine was born in Islington, London, one of ten children of Walter Vine and his wife, Ann. Initially press-ganged into the Navy, he later worked with his father as a carpenter, where he was claimed to be the compatriot of early British trade unionists, including John Cartwright, William Cobbett, Daniel O’Connell and the leaders of the Reform movement of 1832. In 1844, he was declared bankrupt[1] but later continued to work as a carpenter.
Emigration to Australia
At the age of 57, Vine emigrated with ten members of his family to Australia, arriving on the HMS Calpurnia at Portland Bay, near Melbourne in January 1855[2]. Initially the family lived in a tent brought with them from England before moving to Richmond, then an open field but now an inner suburb of Melbourne. Vine quickly found work as a carpenter and subsequently became Clerk of Works for the construction of Melbourne Trades Hall.
Eight hour day movement
On 16 April 1856, Vine established the Melbourne Progressive Society of Carpenters[2], a trade union group, with a specific mission to establish an eight hour working day. Together with other trade union leaders including the stonemasons, James Stephens and James Galloway, he co-founded the Eight Hour League[3], which held a number of strikes and trades union marches in Melbourne before the Government of Victoria acceded to their demands without loss of pay. By the end of 1858, an eight hour working day was widespread across the building industry in Victoria and across other sectors by 1860.
Later life
Vine continued to be active in trades unionism and local politics, later moving to Collingwood in Melbourne, where Vine Street and the Vine Hotel are named after him. His grand-daughter was the New Zealand Lawyer, Dame Harriette Vine (1878-1962).
References
- ↑ The Metropolitan. James Cochrane. 1844. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kelly, David (2006). "Industrial relations in the New South Wales building industry 1850-1891: Conflict, cooperation and radicalism" (PDF). Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Eight Hour Day Movement - Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project". bih.federation.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
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