Summary

This item is one of our 50 Treasures: Celebrating 50 years of James Cook University.

Dr. Lyndon Megarrity answers the question 'Why is this significant?'

The Townsville branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was established on 6 January 1894 at the Alexandra Hotel, Flinders Street. The ASE held its regular weekly meetings at this venue for several years before moving to the Grand Hotel (1898) and later the Townsville Trades Hall (1909). Held in James Cook University's Special Collections, the branch's surviving minute books (1894 to 1909) provide a record of its local, regional and national activities.

The ASE originated in Great Britain during the 1850s. It was a large trade union organisation catering mainly for skilled engineers with branches across the world, especially in English-speaking countries. In exchange for higher than average weekly union dues, branch members were entitled to claim for branch funds to assist them with loss of income due to periods of sickness, unemployment, industrial action, accidents, and old age. The weekly meetings of the Townsville branch reflected the ASE focus on member benefits at a time when government support for social welfare was severely limited. The minutes frequently recorded individual members claiming 'donations' (presumably member benefits), although during the 1900s, provision of funding for superannuation became a more pressing priority.

The opening of the branch in the port town of Townsville reflected the district's need for skilled engineers in a growing economic region which boasted sugar mills, the Ross River Meatworks and railway workshops. Apart from providing members with benefits, the Townsville ASE attempted to enforce uniform wages and conditions by writing official letters to employers and requesting that their members demand these standards. Members who did not comply with local ASE directives could expect to have their membership called into question at branch meetings. For example, on 22 April 1899, the Townsville secretary was 'instructed to write to Bro[ther] Scott to give reason why he worked overtime after having received notice not to do so by District Committee without extra pay'.

The surviving minute books of the Townsville branch quietly reveal the transition that was taking place within the ASE. By the 1900s, Australian branches, including Townsville's, were encouraging less skilled workers to join the union as 'trade protection members', who paid lower weekly fees and had restrictions placed on access to benefits. Growing membership saw the Townsville branch shift from its conservative, inward-looking focus in the 1890s towards becoming a radical player in north Queensland unionism during the 1910s, playing a key role in mass strike action on the Townsville railways in 1914.

The ASE was renamed the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1920 and later merged with a number of unions. The most recent successor to the ASE is the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union.