Remembering Eveleigh's Workers
Much of NSW's industrial and labour history is linked to the the Eveleigh rail yards. A workers register was started in 1999 with a proposal for a Worker's Wall on the site from that time now being investigated by the RWA. There is however not just a need for a Wall to remember the workers there is also a need for a repository of memorabilia and oral history to capture and convey some of the stories and social history of the people who worked and lived in the area and who made the rail ways work. Here you will find some ideas of how this element could be incorporated into a heritage interpretation for Eveleigh.
The following was presented by Associate Professor Lucy Taksa, PhD Director, UNSW Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of NSW and presented to the Heritage meeting about the future of the Eveleigh Railyards in Ocxtober 2008. Dr Taksa is an eminent Labour Historian and has written widell about Eveleigh.
This paper by Dr Lucy Taksa was presented at the Interpretation Australia conference in 2007. The paper compares Eveleigh with other workshops around Australia. The paper can be found at www.interpretationaustralia.asn.au/Default.aspx?TAG=IAA.Web.Public.Resources.Proceedings.2007 as Taksa, L. (2007) ‘Nostalgia or Nostophobia?: Trends in the interpretation of Australia’s railway industrial heritage’, Building Blocks – Interpretation Australia Association National Conference, 2007 (Papers selected for conference participation by a Committee of Experts in the field of heritage conservation, management and interpretation). File is PDF 87KB.
There will be heritage activities on 5 August at ATP, Carriageworks and The Chief Mechanical Engineers Building at Eveleigh as part of a Heritage Community Day. This is the program to these events on 5 August.
Associate Professor Lucy Taksa (Director, Industrial Relations Research Centre and Australian School of Business, UNSW) launched the Worker's Register with Premier Bob Carr (whose father worked at Eveleigh) on 29 August 1999 at an open day held by the ATP. Her proposal was not only the register but also a keeping place for the social history and a workers wall. Despite early discussions with NSW Government they have not taken up these ideas for Eveleigh as yet. The Midlands Redevelopment Authority in WA did ask Lucy Taksa to advise them on the Midlands redevelopment. The photos in this PDF show the WA wall that was dedicated to the Midland Railway workers. These photo's were circulated to the Eveligh Heritage meeting on 28 October 2008 by Dr Taksa. File is 926 KB PDF.