Ep 23 – Resistance on the line: the radical history of telephone operators
From the 1880s until the 1980s, telephone operators were at the centre of the communications industry in Australia. Before the invention of the internet or mobile phones, virtually all telecommunication across the country and internationally took place through landline telephones. And operators, who connected calls to their intended destination, were completely essential to that process....
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2:12:24
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2:12:24
Ep 22 – The 1970s women’s liberation movement
In the late 1960s and 1970s, a powerful and radical new movement arose in Australia challenging the widespread oppression that women faced across the country – the women’s liberation movement. Women in Australia in this era had plenty to fight about. It was illegal to get an abortion, and divorce was extremely difficult to obtain....
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1:12:23
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1:12:23
Ep 21 – Radical Chinese workers in Australian history
Throughout Australian history, non-white migrant workers have consistently been stereotyped as docile, submissive, and willing to work for extremely low wages. Nowhere has this been more true than for Chinese workers in Australia, who from the 19th century until the present day have been demonised for their alleged enthusiasm for undercutting white workers and happily...
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1:07:48
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1:07:48
Ep 20 – The struggle against anti-Aboriginal racism in 1920s and 1930s Australia
When Australia was invaded in 1788, the new colony’s nascent ruling class deployed violence and repression on two fronts. On one side of the frontier, the colonial administration used troops and pastoralists to wage genocidal war against Aboriginal nations, and on the internal side of the frontier, very often the same troops and the same...
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1:13:48
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1:13:48
Ep 19 – Jobs for women! Fighting sexism at the Port Kembla steelworks
Since it was founded in the 1920s, BHP’s Port Kembla steelworks has completely dominated the town of Wollongong, employing over 25,000 workers at its peak and physically towering over the city. For much of its existence, the steelworks also systematically discriminated against women. Company management deliberately confined women to only the lowest-paying jobs, refused to...
People’s History of Australia is a podcast and blog looking at Australian history from the perspective of ordinary people fighting together for a better life.
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