Location New International Bookshop - Trades Hall
cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets
Join Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective for a rare screening of the documentary film ‘How The West Was Lost’.
In the 1940s in the north-west of Australia, a secret congress was organized by Pilbara Elders Dooley Bin Bin and Clancy McKenna, alongside white unionist and communist Don McLeod. It was an unprecedented gathering, with over a dozen interpreters present to deal with the 23 languages of the many Aboriginal groups pres...ent.
This congress decided to organize a strike in the Pilbara region to demand better wages and conditions, and to draw attention to the treatment generally of Aboriginal people in Western Australia.
On 1 May 1946, Aboriginal workers walked off the sheep stations, marking the beginning of a carefully organized strike that was to last three years. It is considered one of the most significant (and least known) political actions in Australian history, and went on to inspire the Land Rights movement of the 1960s.
Following the screening, we will have discussion about the relationship between unions, workers struggle and Aboriginal rights today. We will also discuss the work that MAIC is doing, and how people can support us.