Labour Day celebrates the wonderful worker and how they fought for 8-hour hour work days. (Image Credit to NFSA)
Australia is a wonderful country and I love it!
I have travelled the world and there are so many things about it that make it great. The wonderful people, multiculturalism (that actually works), freedom of thought & religion, the beautiful weather, wonderful shores and the Government.
Yes, I am complimenting the Government believe it or not.
They do an incredible job of allowing businesses to flourish as well as protecting the rights of ‘the worker’ which brings us into what ‘Labour Day’ is. It’s a public holiday that I have never gave much thought and it’s one of those under rated days which I wanted to understand.
Labour Day is a celebration of the 8-hour work day which was a result of workers fighting for their rights after years of exploitation through long hours, poor pay, unsafe working conditions and not having a fair go.
This all started with the first protest in Melbourne on 21st April, 1856. On this day of political revolution; stonemasons and building workers stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
The fact we are celebrating this today was due to their success and Australia is one of the first countries in the world to achieve an hour work day. As I write this blog, my wife totally laughed at the idea of a ‘8-hour work day’. This is true friends especially when you work in Sydney not counting traffic. However, this ironic humour does not detract from the wonderful workers who would have worked in horrendous conditions during the Industrial Revolution to create our wonderful society today.
My advice and thinking? As you enjoy Labour Day, remember the sacrifice of the wonderful workers from previous generations that have made everything all possible for us.
I love their work! To Labour Day wonderful friends and enjoy.
Sources & Thanks: Wikipedia, NFSA, “Australian Public Holidays: Labour Day”. alldownunder.com. 1998. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
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