The labour movement in Newcastle during the Great War, 1914-1918

This thesis is an attempt to tell the story of the labour movement in Newcastle during the First World War. The period was chosen because of its interest and because it was remote enough in time to be unclouded by contemporary prejudices. The author was provoked into considering the topic by Professor James Hagan of Wollongong University, who was writing a history of the New South Wales Labor Party. He complained that there was nothing written on the A.L.P. in Newcastle although it was the largest non-capital city in Australia, except J.C. Docherty's Honours Thesis on the Newcastle Conscription debates. The challenge was interesting, due to a long-standing involvement in Labor Party politics in Newcastle, and a curiosity whether the local perspective has been accurately reflected in the history written from the state and federal levels.