Summary

The Amalgamated Metal Workers' and Shipwrights' Union (AMWSU) in North Queensland can be traced back to the inaugural meeting of the Townsville Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers on 6 January 1894. In 1920, the society changed its name to the Amalgamated Engineering Union and steady growth in the local area saw the formation of a second branch at Oonoonba and in all major northern provincial centres.

The de-registering of the Sheet Metal Working, Agricultural Implement and Stove Making Industrial Union of Australia in 1972 saw members join the Amalgamated Engineering Union which, a year later in 1973, became the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union (AMWU). Also de-registered in 1972 was the Boilermakers' and Blacksmiths' Society of Australia whose members went on to join the AMWU in 1973, thus making it Australia's largest trade union. This was eclipsed in 1976 when AMWU and the Federated Shipwrights' and Ship Constructors' Association of Australia amalgamated to become the Amalgamated Metal Workers' and Shipwrights' Union.

This collection includes considerable material on award and working-conditions' negotiations in the North Queensland sugar industry during the period 1965-1982, and, in the mining, power and transport industries from 1976 - 1982; research material (1973-1980); information on courses and seminars for unionists (1968-1983); Townsville branch correspondence (1971-1982); a large assortment of books and pamphlets, some of which detail activities of the AMWSU in the years between the two world wars; minutes of meetings (local, state and national), including a broken set of the Townsville branch from 1894 to 1968.

Items in this archive have been digitized (see Related Links)

This material can be read in conjunction with the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union Archive which contains additional records of the Amalgamated Engineering Union Minutes, and the Fred Thompson records (see Related Links).