How the AWU was formed

Tradition says that the AWU was founded on Saturday 12 June 1886, at a meeting of shearers convened at Ferns Hotel, Ballarat, in regional Victoria.

What was formed that day was the Australasian Shearers’ Union (ASU), at the initiative of a 23-year-old Creswick shearer David Temple. Temple had been inspired by another Creswick local, William Guthrie Spence, who was already secretary of the Amalgamated Miners Association (gold miners) and had a union office in Creswick.   Temple became the ASU foundation secretary, and as a mark of respect, Spence was invited to be ASU foundation president.

David Temple (1862-1921)

Good news travelled fast. More shearers unions were formed in north and south NSW (Bourke & Wagga), and they merged with the Creswick Branch in January 1887 to form an Amalgamated Shearers’ Union (ASU).   Later in 1887, a Queensland Shearers Union was formed, but they (suspicious of the southern states) stayed separate and only joined the national AWU in 1904. By 1888, two more branches (Moree NSW and South Australia) had joined the ASU.

Temple and Spence organised Victoria through their Creswick Branch, which also served as the new union’s national office.

The shearers were a proud bunch, protective of their skills, their hard work and their pay rates. At a February 1891 conference in Adelaide, the far-sighted ASU decided to establish a second union – the General Labourers Union (GLU) – for shedhands and all other farm workers, not shearers. This initiative really made the formation of the AWU just a matter of time. The GLU was effectively a sub-branch of the ASU – ASU president Spence was GLU secretary, and the GLU president was an NSW ASU organiser Arthur Rae. The GLU flourished, and could easily have become larger than its parent ASU.

ASU and GLU conferences were organised for February 1894 in Sydney. On the motion of Donald Macdonell, secretary of the ASU Bourke Branch, both unions voted (by majority, with some opposition) to come together and form the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU). So – technically – the AWU by that name began on Monday 19 February 1894.

William Guthrie Spence (1846-1926)

Donald Macdonell’s crucial role – marshalling the numbers for the necessary motions and rule changes – is important and a bit controversial, reflected in later events. The NSW shearers felt that their numbers justified a greater say in the affairs of the union, and they had some criticism of how the Creswick (effectively the Victorian) Branch was running things. They moved that the national office of the new union be moved to Sydney (where it remains today), and they moved that a branch secretary (i.e. David Temple) could not also hold office as AWU General Secretary.  Temple continued to serve as Creswick (Victorian) Branch Secretary until 1900, but wasn’t very happy and ultimately moved out of union activity.

For different reasons, Temple (who died in 1921) and Spence (who died in 1926) were distant from the AWU in their final years. At the time, the AWU was probably a bit unfair in not giving them enough credit as the union’s founding spirits. In recent years, the legacy of Spence and Temple (in particular) has been more properly recognised – they are real heroes.

Donald Macdonell was a Victorian, born (and buried) at Stuart Mill near St Arnaud, but worked as a shearer along the NSW-QLD border, being a founding member of the ASU Bourke Branch in 1886. Without taking anything away from Temple and Spence, it is clear that early AWU members regarded Macdonell as a towering figure in the formation of the union.

Macdonell was the fourth general secretary of the AWU (following Temple and short stints by Spence & Rae after Temple), serving from 1899 until his early death in office in October 1911. Macdonell died at the age of 49, from aggressive cancer, and he was the first serving official to die on the job. The union was devastated with grief at the loss of a dynamic and effective leader.

Donald Macdonell (1862-1911)

He had successfully persuaded the AWUQ (Amalgamated Workers Union of Queensland) to join the national AWU in 1904, had guided the federal registration of the AWU in 1905 (the first union registered under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act) and seen the creation of the Pastoral Industry Award in 1907 by CCCA President Richard O’Connor (the first Industrial Award).

In 1936, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the AWU (ASU), the AWU’s Federal Executive journeyed to Ballarat and to Donald Macdonell’s graveside at Stuart Mill, to pay their respects. The union delegation included surviving foundation members from 1886, who regarded 1886 as the real birth of the AWU – at Ballarat and Creswick, but also at Bourke and Wagga.

David Cragg (1957-2025) was a dedicated unionist and member of the AWU Victorian Branch for 39 years, serving as an organiser, administrator and WorkCover officer from 1991-2009. He was then elected Assistant Secretary at the Victorian Trades Hall from 2009-2018. David was also a keen historian, chronicling the AWU’s history in his retirement and was awarded Life Membership in 2023.