8 June 1861: Queensland miners strike

8 June 1861: Queensland miners strike

From On This Day in Working Class History by Working Class History

June 8, 2026 · 1 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the miners' strike in Queensland on June 8, 1861, highlighting its significance in Australian labour history.

On this day, 8 June 1861, eight coalminers working in the Redbank mine in Queensland, Australia, went on strike demanding an extra shilling per ton in pay. The strikers' names were Thomas Jones, George Smith, Edward Davis, Hugh Carter, John Coleman, William Griffith, Abel Alford, and Thomas Stafford. While the strike was an important event in Australian labour history, some sources erroneously describe it as the first strike in Queensland, whereas in fact numerous groups of Chinese shepherds had gone strike in Queensland beforehand. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10816/redbank-miners-strike Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon . If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory . See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/today Browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/date Check out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.com Check out…

Topics covered

  • labour history
  • strikes
  • Australian history
  • mining
  • workers' rights

Keywords

  • Queensland
  • miners strike
  • labour history
  • Redbank mine
  • 1861

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Queensland, Redbank mine

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