Abstract dark blue pattern with curved and geometric lines and shapes, resembling stylised waves or leaves, on a matching dark blue background.

Working Life

Working Life
May Day procession in Sydney in c1965. From left to right (holding the banner) are Charles 'Chicka' Dixon, Gilbert Jackson and Roy Carroll; the smiling man at left holding the 'Aborigines Full Rights' sign may be Ray Walker (photograph courtesy Noel Butlin Collection, Australian National University – hdl:1885/8925)

magari – to fish

binnie bow – I will make

wulunadarang – hunt

yarrabuni – mind your work!

banga or bangawarra – make or do

Sydney’s inner suburbs have long been a magnet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking work opportunities, shelter and connections with community and family. Many worked in private industry in Sydney’s southern suburbs but the biggest employer of Aboriginal people in the city was the Eveleigh Railway Yards. Aboriginal people were also involved in the trade union movement, seeking better pay and conditions for working people.

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Essays, Places
  • Aboriginal labour in Sydney

    Aboriginal labour in Sydney

    Author: Anita Heiss Because mainstream histories of Australia often render Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as invisible or describe them in negative terms, these histories often fail to recognise…

  • Federal Match Factory

    Federal Match Factory

    Sydney has long been a magnet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking work opportunities, shelter and connections with community and family. Many worked in private industry in Sydney’s…

  • Australian Glass Manufacturers

    Australian Glass Manufacturers

    Sydney has long been a magnet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking work opportunities, shelter and connections with community and family. Many worked in private industry in Sydney’s…

  • Francis Chocolates

    Francis Chocolates

    Sydney has long been a magnet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking work opportunities, shelter and connections with community and family. Many worked in private industry in Sydney’s…

  • Eveleigh Railway Yards

    Eveleigh Railway Yards

    Eveleigh Railway Yards was Sydney’s largest employer from the time it opened in 1886. It was also one of the biggest employers of Aboriginal people living in Sydney. Many Aboriginal…

  • Trades Hall

    Trades Hall

    When Aboriginal people began to organise politically, there were often sympathetic non-Aboriginal people to help in the struggle, some of them unionists. From the 1950s, unions and Aboriginal organisations worked…

  • Henry Jones IXL jam factory

    Henry Jones IXL jam factory

    Sydney has long been a magnet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking work opportunities, shelter and connections with community and family. Many worked in private industry in Sydney’s…