Port Adelaide Workers Memorial

{{Short description|Memorial statue by John Tillett, in Port Adelaide}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file =File:Port Adelaide Workers Memorial.jpg | painting_alignment = | image_size = 250px | title = Port Adelaide Workers Memorial | alt = | caption = The memorial as it appeared in 1938 | other_language_1 = | other_title_1 = | other_language_2 = | other_title_2 = | artist = Mr John Tillett | year = Begun {{Start date|1918}}; completed {{Start date|1921}} | type = Statue | material = Granite and marble | height_metric = | width_metric = | length_metric = | height_imperial =  | width_imperial =  | length_imperial =  | diameter__metric = | diameter_imperial = | imperial_unit = in | metric_unit = cm | city = Corner of Commercial Rd and St Vincent St, [[Port Adelaide|Port Adelaide, South Australia]] | museum = | coordinates = | owner = [[City of Port Adelaide Enfield]] }}

The '''Port Adelaide Workers Memorial''' is a public [[memorial]] [[sculpture]] located in [[Port Adelaide]], [[South Australia]] which recognises people who have made a significant contribution to promoting [[Labor rights|workers' rights]] in the Port Adelaide community.

The memorial bears the names of many prominent figures in the South Australian [[trade union]] movement and [[Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)|Labor Party]], as well as workers who served in the Great War of 1914 -1918.

== History == After the death in 1916 of Hugh Garland, a prominent Port Adelaide trade unionist and founder of the [[Daily Herald (Adelaide)|Daily Herald]], a committee was formed by the local branch of the [[Australian Labor Party]] and representatives of the [[United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia|United Trades and Labour Council]] to organise for the creation of a memorial to honour the contribution of labour activists in the Port.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63757490 |title=Workers Memorial |newspaper=[[Sunday Mail (Adelaide)|Sunday Mail]] |date=2 November 1918 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The Port Adelaide city council granted permission for the statue to be erected in 1917, and funding for the project was raised through donations from a carnival and a social held by the Ladies Committee of the Labor Party. Part of the fundraising was carried out by the Port Adelaide Football Club which fielded a Women's side in 1918 to play on Alberton Oval against a team representing Thebarton.<ref name="First">{{cite news|date=1 November 1918|title=LADIES' FOOTBALL MATCH.|volume=6|page=1|newspaper=[[Port Adelaide News]]|issue=12|location=South Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212943951|access-date=14 February 2017|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Affiliated unions of the Trades and Labour Council each nominated past members for the 41 names included in the initial inscription.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106518700 |title=Workers Memorial for Port Adelaide: History of the scheme |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Adelaide)|Daily Herald]] |date=26 July 1918 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Of these, 8 had recently been killed during [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = Workers Memorial May Day Speech, 2011|url = http://www.surplusvalue.org.au/McQueen/lab_history/lab_hist_port_adelaide.htm|website = www.surplusvalue.org.au|access-date = 2016-01-15|first = Humphrey|last = McQueen}}</ref>

The granite base of the memorial was officially unveiled on 6 December 1918. At the ceremony, [[John Gunn (Australian politician)|John Gunn MP]], the leader of the State Labor Party, declared that the men whose names appeared on the memorial had "done great things for the trade union movement - when it was not respectable as it is today, when it was almost a crime to be a unionist, when men had to hold union meetings secretly, and when to be known as a unionist meant victimisation".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106530442 |title=Workers Memorial: Unveiling ceremony |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Adelaide)|Daily Herald]] |date=7 December 1918 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The marble [[Lady Justice|statue of Justice]] was installed in 1921 after being commissioned in Italy and donated by Mr. and Mrs. Winter, local merchants.<ref name="Labor Pioneers">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106639855 |title=Labor Pioneers |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Adelaide)|Daily Herald]] | date=15 December 1921 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

== Modern use == [[File:Port Adelaide Workers Memorial, Port Adelaide, 1 May 2021.jpeg|thumb|Port Adelaide Workers Memorial During South Australian May Day celebrations in 2021.]]

The memorial is currently owned by the [[City of Port Adelaide Enfield]] and managed by a committee made up of the Mayor and representatives of [[United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia|SA Unions]] and the Port Adelaide Federal Electoral Council of the [[Australian Labor Party]].

Each year the Committee nominates a single name to be inscribed on the monument, which is traditionally done during a ceremony on [[Workers' Memorial Day|International Workers Memorial Day]] or as part of [[International Workers' Day|May Day]] celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Council Agenda & Reports, 9 June 2015|url=https://www.portenf.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/minutesAgendas/9%20June%202015%20Council%20Agenda%20&%20Reports.pdf|website=City of Port Adelaide Enfield|accessdate=15 January 2016|page=20}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.portadelaidewiki.org.au/index.php/List_of_names_on_the_Workers%27_Memorial,_Port_Adelaide List of names on Port Adelaide Workers Memorial (Port Adelaide Enviropedia)] * [http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/social/display/51484-workers-memorial Port Adelaide Workers Memorial profile (Monument Australia)] {{Port Adelaide landmarks |state=expanded}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Adelaide]] [[Category:1918 sculptures]] [[Category:Monuments and memorials in South Australia]] [[Category:Labor monuments and memorials]]