A little bit of history of Labour Day
The first Labour Day parade was held in Melbourne on April 21st, 1856.
It commemorates the granting of the eight-hour working day for Australians and remembers those who struggled and succeeded in ensuring decent and fair working conditions in Australia.
Known as Labour Day in Queensland and the Northern Territory and May Day in other Australian states.
Labour Day is celebrated at different times across Australia because each state achieved the 8-hour day on different dates.
Workers were required to work long hours each week . . . 10 to 12 hours a day six days a week. While a change was made to the hours worked each day, the five-day workweek we enjoy today took almost a century longer to be adopted finally in 1948.
Australians now enjoy better working conditions than at any time in our history.
It took another 30 years for the Americans to follow our example. In 1886 they decided that May 1 should be the day of a universal work stoppage. On this day 200,000 of them left their work and demanded the eight-hour day.
Treat yourself and rejuvenate your body.
