Welcome to the Canberra Region Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History.

The ASSLH aims to encourage the study, teaching and research of labour history and to encourage the preservation of labour archives.

This website was designed by Webtrax with the assistance of the Bede Nairn Fund. It aims to present a selection of articles and publications that can easily be accessed by students, teachers and others wanting to know more about labour history and politics.

The ASSLH encourages open debate on questions relating to labour history and politics. The articles published on this website do not necessarily reflect the views of the ASSLH and its officers. New contributions welcome. Links to other websites do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the content of those websites.

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COMING EVENTS

Thursday 22 May 2025

Most of our talks deal with social and political history. Our next event offers something different.
Rhianne Grieve, an intellectual historian, will explore E. P. Thompson’s analysis of Robert Owen. Thompson, Grieve argues, found the earlier socialist thinker to be a problematic figure. Ultimately, he located the impact of Owenism in working people’s adaptations of its core ideas.

We will get under way at 6.00 pm on Thursday 22 May in Lectorial Room Two, RSSS Building, ANU.
As usual, all are welcome.

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Coming up ………..

You may also wish to keep the evening of 5 June free, when we will be hosting the launch of Bob Crawshaw’s new book Battle of the Banks: How ad men, barristers and bankers ended Ben Chifley’s boldest plan.

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Vale Norman Abjorensen (1947-2025)

Members and friends of the Labour History Society were saddened to hear of the death of Dr Norman Abjorensen on 2 May. An accomplished journalist, editor, academic and author, Norman was also our Branch President in 2009-10. At that time, he played a pivotal role in successfully lobbying the ACT and New Zealand Governments to jointly sponsor a memorial to Harry Holland, a labour pioneer in both countries.

Norman authored a number of books on Australian politics. Probably the best known was “The Manner of their Going” his intriguing study of Prime Ministerial exits, originally published in 2015 with an updated edition following in 2019.

As a tribute to Norman, we publish a link to his interview with Honest History’s David Stevens which was originally published on the Honest History website in 2014.

Stephens, David: Prime ministerial exits: an interview with Norman Abjorensen

The full text of the article can be found under the Articles drop-down menu. There is also a link to Michael Piggott’s review of his book, also on Honest History.

He will be sadly missed.

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Are you financial?

As we’ve started a new financial year we are also opening membership renewals for 2024-25.
Our membership fee remains $30 (with a $15 concessional rate), but we have moved our renewals online. You can renew here and contact me at this address with any queries about the process.

All the best,
Chris Monnox
Secretary

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Recent articles

Here are some of our recent articles. To search the complete list, click on the Articles and Publications menu.

Prime Ministerial Exits: David Stevens – an interview with Norman Abjorensen May 14, 2025 - Honest History, 24 February 2014 (updated) Norman Abjorensen is a Visiting Fellow in the Policy and Governance Program in the Crawford School at the Australian National University. He is a prominent media commentator on Australian politics, a former senior journalist, has written a book on Australian political parties and held overseas academic positions. Dr Abjorensen […]
Labor, the External Affairs Power and Aboriginal Rights December 9, 2022 - David Lee Originally published in Radical Currents, Labour Histories, No. 1 Autumn 2022. Australian Society for the Study of Labour History In 1900 the Australian Constitution gave the Commonwealth Parliament not a ‘treaty power’ but a vague power over ‘external affairs’. Its precise meaning remained elusive for most of the twentieth century. But from the […]
When the Australian ruling class embraced fascism November 21, 2022 - Originally published in Marxist Left Review 13, Summer 2017 When the Australian ruling class embraced fascism Louise O’Shea It is commonplace today to treat the far right and far left as mirror images of each other: both extreme, ideologically rigid, intolerant and similarly isolated from the sensible mainstream. But history demonstrates that there is little […]
Before the Teals, the DLP rewrote politics August 13, 2022 - This article first appeared in The Canberra Times of 5 July 2022 Before the teals, the DLP rewrote politics by Stephen Holt The election of sixteen House of Representatives crossbench members, including six or so Teal independents, on 21 May 2022 signals a big shift in the underlying structure of Australian politics.
Bob Hawke and Canberra’s ‘factional wars’ April 11, 2022 - By Stephen Holt (An edited version of this article appeared in The Canberra Times (Public Sector Informant) of 5 April 2022) There is an intriguing reference to political shenanigans in Cold War Canberra in Troy Bramston’s new biography of Bob Hawke. Bramston in an early chapter refers to a letter dated 24 October 1956. Written […]

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