Mural 1: History of the Waterfront

Installed 1982

Mural depicting historical figures, protest placards with dates and slogans about workers' rights, and a stack of brown sacks in the foreground.

Depicts the history of waterfront workers and unions in Woolloomooloo.

Artist: Merilyn Fairskye, Michiel Dolk

History of the Waterfront represents work on the wharves at Woolloomooloo in the era before automation. From 1872 through 1982, the union movement transformed working conditions for wharf labourers. This mural depicts the daily lives of the wharfies during this era, and some of the major moments and historical figures of the unions.

Mural diagram

Line drawing of the mural's layout, with numbered green circles marking 11 different people, structures, and objects throughout the busy environment.

Mural key

The wharves at Woolloomooloo. The Finger Wharf was built between 1911 and 1914 for wool shipping and served as the departure point for WW1 soldiers
The infamous ‘bull’ system, where the strongest and least troublesome were selected for work each day
Men working at night: 24-hour shifts were common
A group of wharfies from the 1940s or 50s, from stills taken from The Hungry Mile, a film made by the film unit of the Waterside Workers’ Federation
Placards with a history of Waterside Workers’ Federation achievements from 1872 to 1982
Officials of the union, including Jim Healy, legendary long-serving federal secretary
The gates to the waterfront, with the ever-present guard, scene of many a lockout during the 1920s and 30s
From a photograph by Harold Cazneaux of unemployed wharfies during the Depression
Demonstration behind the gates demanding the ‘double dole’
Work on the wharves before automation
Worker from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, impersonating a social realist wharfie, from a famous photograph by Henry Mallard

Waterside workers in Sydney formed the Labouring Men’s Union in 1872, which 10 years later became the Sydney Wharf Labourers’ Union. It was the first union to represent the interests of waterfront workers in Pyrmont and Woolloomooloo.

The early years of the union were difficult. Company unions and ‘scab’ labour were used to break fledgling union efforts to secure improved wages and conditions for its members, all who worked in extremely dangerous, unhealthy, underpaid and insecure conditions. But by 1902 membership had risen to more than 2,000 when Billy Hughes (later prime minister) was the union’s general secretary.

Work conditions included 24-hour and even 48-hour shifts, without dining rooms, change rooms or first aid. Conditions also included the infamous ‘bull’ system, where foremen selected the strongest, fittest and ‘least troublesome men’ each morning to get a ‘starting docket’ for a day’s work on the wharves.

The defeat of the bull system in 1943 and the start of the gang scheme by the union led a new era for waterside workers, where by 1972 the 35-hour week was achieved. In 1982 almost all port activity was transferred to Port Botany.

A mural depicts historical labour protests, workers holding placards, factory buildings and people engaged in industrial work. — Photo: Chris Southwood / City of Sydney

Next: Mural 2: Wallamullah – Place of Plenty →

View all Woolloomooloo history murals

Designed and painted by local artists Michiel Dolk and Merilyn Fairskye, these 8 murals on the railway pylons in Woolloomooloo preserve and celebrate the suburb’s unique history.