Lockout

In 1929, in the face of collapsing demand for coal and a deepening economic crisis, mine owners in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia; announced, with the support of government, that they would cut miners’ wages and strip them of their workers rights. When the workers refused to agree to these terms the mine owners locked the gates. 10,000 miners, pit boys and their families now found themselves without a job. What began as an dispute about industrial labour ended up overpowering a government, crippling an industry and besieging a community. This event challenged the rights of every Australian worker, and redefined the political and industrial landscape of a country that witnessed an event forever remembered as ‘The Great Australian Lockout.’

On December 16, 1929, community anger escalated into a violent day of rioting, with police firing on protesting miners, killing one and wounding many others. In an ensuing crackdown on protest, men, women and children faced harassment and beatings by armed police squads in what became known as the ‘Rothbury Riot’ or ‘Battle of Rothbury.’ This is a film of veterans who tell the story of this era…