The Great Strike 1917

A century ago, a seemingly innocuous management decision in a Sydney tram depot sparked an industrial dispute that would have longstanding and profound effects on the nation: a card system was introduced to record work times and output, in a drive for greater efficiencies. Around 100,000 Australian workers walked off the job to protest the changing workplace conditions. A striker was shot and killed, a filmmaker had his film censored, and within six weeks it was over. The Great Strike 1917 retells this largely forgotten story, which shaped Australian society and the labour movement for a century and beyond.