Wharfies' Mural

About this event

One of the museum’s iconic treasures, the Wharfies’ Mural is on display next to the Tasman Light. It is a window into the cultural movements that occurred among workers on the waterfront during the 20th century, and a reminder of their significant role in broader Australian politics and society. IN THE EARLY 1950s, a group of workers at the wharves of Sydney’s Darling Harbour decided to paint a mural. But this wasn’t just an artwork to decorate their lunchroom walls and liven up the time spent indoors when rain stopped work. It was a mural designed to reflect the struggles, victories and aspirations of their fellow workers. In 1872, the first trade unions representing waterside workers were formed in Port Adelaide, Sydney and Port Melbourne. By 1902 these state-based unions had joined to form the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF). During the first half of the 20th century, waterside workers around Australia campaigned for and won important wage and work conditions. The WWF became a national trade union under the leadership of future Australian Prime Minister William ‘Billy’ Morris Hughes, who negotiated for an agreement with employers for general uniformity of wages and conditions among shipping companies. The WWF Sydney Branch was subsequently established at 60 Sussex Street in the city. The waterside workers’ canteen at the time was right in the heart of the busiest docks and wharves in Sydney. This area is now known as Barangaroo, and is home to parklands, restaurants, a casino and apartments – a far cry from the Great Depression of the early 1930s, when these wharves on the eastern side of Darling Harbour were known as the ‘Hungry Mile’. The name came from when casual waterside labourers and the unemployed would tramp along the docks each morning looking for work.