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Manifesto of the Queensland
Labour Party to the
people of Queensland
(dated 9 September 1892)
Inscribed 2009
What is it
A political manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party in
Australia from 1892.
Why was it inscribed
The manifesto is regarded as a formative document
of the Labour (now spelled ‘Labor’) Party in both
Queensland and Australia and as a factor in the election
of the first socialist government in the world, the shortlived
Anderson Dawson administration in Queensland in
December 1899. As such, it has world significance in the
history of the labour movement.
Where is it
State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
The Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was the
product of a period of political and social upheaval in
Queensland. The collapse of the Maritime Strike and
the Queensland Shearers’ Strike in 1890 and ‘91 had
been setbacks for the Australian labour movement which
precipitated a new approach: rather than simply taking
industrial action, it now also turned its attention to the
electoral arena and parliamentary representation.
This venture by a labour movement into parliamentary
politics was not a purely Australian phenomenon. Britain,
New Zealand, Canada and the US were facing similar social
and economic upheaval and labour movements in other
countries were moving in a similar direction.
However, the Australian labour movement was at the
forefront. The manifesto was among the first documents
to tackle parliamentary representation of labour seriously
and in practical terms and as a surviving document from
the period, it is rare if not unique. In this respect, its
significance is important not only for the history of the
labour movement in Queensland and Australia but across
the wider world.
The manifesto was also one of the planks upon which
the Queensland and Australian labour movement
� Charles Seymour Thomas Glassey �
developed and was a central document in the formation
of the Australian Labour Party.
The document itself listed the party’s grievances against
the political and economic establishment of the day and
advocated the protection of jobs; however, it was not
revolutionary or communist in its aims.
Its author was Charles Seymour (1853–1924) who
was prominent in the Queensland labour movement
and its signatory was Thomas Glassey, an Irish-born
former coal miner and president of the Labour Party
in Queensland. Glassey had previous experience in
electioneering: before his arrival in Australia, he helped
in the election to Parliament of Thomas Burt, one of the
first working-class MPs.
Anderson Dawson’s seven-day Labour administration in
Queensland in December 1899 was the first ever Labour
government in the world. Five years later, J.C. Watson’s
minority administration in the Federal Parliament became
the first national Labour government.
� The front page
of the manifesto
(following page) Parliament
House in Brisbane
in the late 19th century �
Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party to the people of Queensland 391