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y separately published work icon On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 multi chapter work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In 1946 Aboriginal people walked off pastoral stations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, withdrawing their labour from the economically-important wool industry to demand improvements in wages and conditions. Their strike lasted three years. On Red Earth Walking is the first comprehensive account of this significant, unique, and understudied episode of Australian history.

'Using extensive and previously unsourced archival evidence, Anne Scrimgeour interrogates earlier historical accounts of the strike, delving beneath the strike’s mythology to uncover the rich complexity of its history. The use of Aboriginal oral history places Aboriginal actors at the centre of these events, foregrounding their agency and their experiences. Scrimgeour provides a lucid examination of the system of colonial control that existed in the Pilbara prior to the strike, and a fascinating and detailed account of how these mechanisms were gradually broken down by three years of striker activism. Amid Cold-war fears of communist subversion in the north, the prominence of communists among southern supporters and the involvement of a non-Aboriginal activist, Don McLeod, complicated settler responses to the strike. This history raises provocative ideas around racial tensions in a pastoral settler economy, and examines political concerns that influenced settler responses to the strike, to create a nuanced and engaging account of this pivotal event in Australian Indigenous and labour histories.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Clayton, Murrumbeena - Oakleigh - Springvale area, Melbourne South East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Monash University Publishing , 2020 .
      image of person or book cover 1829521386114969168.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 540p.
      Reprinted: Jan 2023
      Note/s:
      • Published February 2020.
      ISBN: 9781925835687 (pbk), 9781925835700 (ebk)
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

Malcolm Allbrook Review of Anne Scrimgeour, On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Malcolm Allbrook , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 229-232)
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism 'When Pilbara Aboriginal pastoral workers started coordinated strike action in May 1946, the Western Australian press did not know whether or not to take it seriously. ‘Nothing workem longa you’, a spokesman for the strikers, identified only as ‘Toby’, was quoted as saying by the West Australian; ‘We bin strike’. Displaying a common mixture of disdain and mockery, the report went on to blame visitors from other stations who induced the workers to stay up playing cards so they would ‘resent the necessity of early rising’,1 and it was this, rather than the intolerable work conditions, that had brought on the strike. Not all contemporary reports were so flippant. Soon after the strike had started, the same newspaper acknowledged the dilemma the pastoralists and the state government faced. The ‘squatters’ could not work their stations ‘without the help of the natives’, who in turn could not live without ‘the help of the station owners and other employers’.2 Both parties stood to lose from what was portrayed as a mutually beneficial relationship. Furthermore, most station owners, the argument went, provided well for their station workforces and, indeed, some said that they gained little return from their beneficence.' (Introduction)
NRB Readers’ Top 10 for 2020 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , December 2020;
[Review] On Red Earth Walking: The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Cybèle Locke , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 51 no. 4 2020; (p. 499-500)
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'Marrngu men and women (local Aboriginal people in the Nyangumarta language) tell the story of their successful three-year strike to decolonise the Pilbara in this monumental history by Anne Scrimgeour. Oral history recordings, conducted by Scrimgeour and transcribed and translated into English by Barbara Hale and Mark Clendon, enable Marrngu to speak truth to the deeply racist, violent, colonial power systems so well documented in the historical record. Extensive research, eloquent and nuanced analysis, new arguments and captivating storytelling make this a truly great historical work.' (Introduction)
Anne Scrimgeour : On Red Earth Walking: The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Kathy Gollan , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2020;
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'Anne Scrimgeour’s history of the Pilbara Aboriginal Strike recounts a pivotal moment in Australian history when white pastoralists had to start paying their Aboriginal workers.' (Introduction)
On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 by Anne Scrimgeour Jan Richardson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 420 2020;
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'It was only seventy years ago that Aboriginal workers in the north-west of Western Australia emerged from virtual slavery on the pastoral stations in the Pilbara region. Through their own efforts, and with encouragement from some white supporters, they radically changed the industry and undermined a colonising process of government control over them. Their protest is known as the 1946–1949 pastoral workers’ strike, which Anne Scrimgeour declares ‘has the quality of a legend’. In On Red Earth Walking she verifies the story. Her meticulous archival research and evidence, from those whose planning and actions were mostly not recorded, lead her to new understandings. It is her relationship with the strikers and their descendants that makes her book unique, for she conveys their response to colonisation through their eyes.'  (Introduction)
On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 by Anne Scrimgeour Jan Richardson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 420 2020;
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'It was only seventy years ago that Aboriginal workers in the north-west of Western Australia emerged from virtual slavery on the pastoral stations in the Pilbara region. Through their own efforts, and with encouragement from some white supporters, they radically changed the industry and undermined a colonising process of government control over them. Their protest is known as the 1946–1949 pastoral workers’ strike, which Anne Scrimgeour declares ‘has the quality of a legend’. In On Red Earth Walking she verifies the story. Her meticulous archival research and evidence, from those whose planning and actions were mostly not recorded, lead her to new understandings. It is her relationship with the strikers and their descendants that makes her book unique, for she conveys their response to colonisation through their eyes.'  (Introduction)
Anne Scrimgeour : On Red Earth Walking: The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Kathy Gollan , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2020;
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'Anne Scrimgeour’s history of the Pilbara Aboriginal Strike recounts a pivotal moment in Australian history when white pastoralists had to start paying their Aboriginal workers.' (Introduction)
[Review] On Red Earth Walking: The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Cybèle Locke , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 51 no. 4 2020; (p. 499-500)
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism

'Marrngu men and women (local Aboriginal people in the Nyangumarta language) tell the story of their successful three-year strike to decolonise the Pilbara in this monumental history by Anne Scrimgeour. Oral history recordings, conducted by Scrimgeour and transcribed and translated into English by Barbara Hale and Mark Clendon, enable Marrngu to speak truth to the deeply racist, violent, colonial power systems so well documented in the historical record. Extensive research, eloquent and nuanced analysis, new arguments and captivating storytelling make this a truly great historical work.' (Introduction)
Malcolm Allbrook Review of Anne Scrimgeour, On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Malcolm Allbrook , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 229-232)
— Review of On Red Earth Walking : The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949 Anne Scrimgeour , 2020 multi chapter work criticism 'When Pilbara Aboriginal pastoral workers started coordinated strike action in May 1946, the Western Australian press did not know whether or not to take it seriously. ‘Nothing workem longa you’, a spokesman for the strikers, identified only as ‘Toby’, was quoted as saying by the West Australian; ‘We bin strike’. Displaying a common mixture of disdain and mockery, the report went on to blame visitors from other stations who induced the workers to stay up playing cards so they would ‘resent the necessity of early rising’,1 and it was this, rather than the intolerable work conditions, that had brought on the strike. Not all contemporary reports were so flippant. Soon after the strike had started, the same newspaper acknowledged the dilemma the pastoralists and the state government faced. The ‘squatters’ could not work their stations ‘without the help of the natives’, who in turn could not live without ‘the help of the station owners and other employers’.2 Both parties stood to lose from what was portrayed as a mutually beneficial relationship. Furthermore, most station owners, the argument went, provided well for their station workforces and, indeed, some said that they gained little return from their beneficence.' (Introduction)
NRB Readers’ Top 10 for 2020 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , December 2020;
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (5)
Last amended 27 Aug 2024 13:39:21
Subjects:
  • Pilbara area, North Western Australia, Western Australia,
  • 1946-1949
Settings:
  • Pilbara area, North Western Australia, Western Australia,
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