On This Day In History

May 1st, 1946: The Pilbara strike, a strike by indigenous Australian pastoral workers for human rights, fair wages, and better working conditions, begins. It involved more than 800 workers walking off from their jobs and lasted for over three years.

Strikers were met with violence and unlawful arrest but ultimately won their demands. The 1946 Pilbara strike is remembered as the first and one of the longest industrial strikes by Aboriginal people since colonization.