ABSTRACT
Prior to 1810 manufactured goods were largely imported apart from processing food and beverages and building materials. By the 1820s manufacturing included breweries, distilleries, flour mills, tanneries, printing, foundries, soap and candle making, wool-cloth, tailoring, boot and hat-making. As in building, manufacturing unions pursued mutual insurance and operated a House-of-Call. The House-of-Call was also one of several measures used to ensure only duly-apprenticed tradesmen were employed. Building-trades societies were included to avoid repetition, and there are many similarities with benefit societies formed by clerks, labourers, seamen and others. Other health and hours-related concerns were evident in tailoring, including opposition to outwork. Craft-based organization of tailors and bootmakers was threatened by imports and mechanized production. As in other industries there is evidence of a progression from informal single-workplace organization through to multi-workplace collective action and then unions, especially in New South Wales, and Van Diemen’s Land.
