1949 Australian coal strike

The 1949 Australian coal strike is notable as being the first time that Australian military forces were used during peacetime to break a Trade union strike. The strike by 23,000 coal miners lasted for seven weeks, from 27 June, 1949 to 15 August, 1949, with troops being sent in by the Ben Chifley Federal Labor Government to the open cut coal mines in New South Wales on 28 July, 1949, with the workers returning to work defeated two weeks later.

References

• Labour in Conflict, the 1949 Coal Strike, Phillip Deery (ed), (1978)
• Chifley, the Army and the 1949 Coal Strike, Phillip Deery in Labour History, no. 68, (1995)
• Communism, Security and the Cold War, Phillip Deery, (1997) http://www.api-network.com/cgi-bin/page?archives/jas55_deery
• 1949 coal strike: Labor's `boots and all' sell-out, Kim Bullimore, Greenleft, (1999)http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1999/364/364p13.htm
• A brief history of Australian Unionism and the role of the Communist Party, Warren Smith, (2000)http://agitprop.org.au/lefthistory/2000_smith_brief_history_of_australian_unionism.php
• Call Out the Troops: an examination of the legal basis for Australian Defence Force involvement in 'non-defence' matters, Elizabeth Ward, Parliamentary Research Paper 8, (1997)http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1997-98/98rp08.htm