Jump to content

File:Don't Scab! 1951 Waterfront Dispute (12229830095).jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file (1,519 × 2,243 pixels, file size: 4.1 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description

One of the biggest industrial confrontations in New Zealand history (known as the 1951 Waterfront Strike or Lockout, depending on your perspective) began on 13 February 1951. It lasted 151 days, and at its peak involved 22,000 workers clashing violently with the New Zealand government. More information on the dispute can be found here: www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/the-1951-waterfront-dispute

A week after the dispute began the National government declared a state of emergency. The 1951 Waterfront Strike Emergency Regulations were passed, giving police sweeping powers of search and arrest. Assisting strikers and their families (such as giving them food) was made an offence, as was the printing of union posters or pamphlets.

On the night of 18 March police found hundreds of these gummed-up flyers stuck around Wellington, Khandallah, Petone and Lower Hutt. Bearing the New Zealand Government's Coat of Arms and the words 'Issued by the New Zealand Department of Health', the now infamous design called on workers not to 'scab' (the term for strike-breakers). The flyer subverted a 1946 health flyer on disease by using the same image, and in doing so, lead to a major police investigation. Government employees were investigated; commercial printers and paper merchants across the city interviewed; and houses of unionists raided.

"We got a printer in Courtenay Place to print it on quality art paper with a gummed back, and he let us use his press after hours," noted the designer of the poster 50 years later. "I was editing the 'Public Service Journal' at the time and I got the blocks from the Department of Health, so that the coat of arms - and the rat itself - was paid for by the Health Department."

The flyer comes from three large files of pamphlets kept by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, and includes hundreds of other home-printed newsletters, flyers and strike ephemera.

Archives Reference: ADMO 21007 W5595 Box 3 25/9/20/8 Vol.3 www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=10074978

For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/ArchivesNZ

Material supplied by Archives New Zealand
Date
Source Don't Scab! 1951 Waterfront Dispute
Author Archives New Zealand from New Zealand

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Archives New Zealand at https://flickr.com/photos/35759981@N08/12229830095. It was reviewed on 8 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.

8 September 2016

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

15 January 2014

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current21:37, 8 September 2016Thumbnail for version as of 21:37, 8 September 20161,519 × 2,243 (4.1 MB)Vanished Account ByeznhpyxeuztibuoTransferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons

Global file usage

The following other wikis use this file:

Metadata