The Perth Trades Hall is a historic

trades hall A trades hall is a building where trade unions meet together, or work from cooperatively, as a local representative organisation, known as a labour council or trades hall council. The term is commonly used in England, New Zealand, Scotland and Aus ...

building in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia that has been occupied by various organisations of the Western Australian

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

movement. The building is now the WA headquarters of the

Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest union in the construction, forestry, maritime, textile, clothing and footwear production industries. The CFMEU has offices in all capital cities in Aust ...

(CFMEU).

Building history

Although the Trades and Labour Council (TLC) was established in Perth in 1891, finances to build a trades hall were not available until 1911, when

Alick McCallum Alexander McCallum (28 October 1877 – 12 July 1937) was an Australian politician. He was the Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch), Labor member for Electoral district of South Fremantle, South Fremantle in the Western Austra ...

became general secretary of the Australian Labour Federation, as the TLC was then called. Design and construction of the original trades hall building was largely due to the efforts of Ernest Henshaw. The three-storey neo-Georgian building was erected at 80

Beaufort Street Beaufort Street is a major road in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting the Morley, Western Australia, Morley area to the Perth central business district. For most of its length, it is a single-carriageway, tw ...

, the site of Perth's original Scotch College. The foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the fifth prime minister of Australia from 1908 to 1909, 1910 to 1913 and 1914 to 1915. He held office as the leader of the Australian ...

on 8 August 1911. The hall was officially opened on 20 April 1912 by

John Scaddan John Scaddan, Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916. Early life John Scaddan was born in Moonta ...

, who was the

premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

and a former trades hall secretary. In 1985 the building was sold and became the Delaney Gallery. The WA Heritage Council has listed it as Heritage Place No. 8783: Delaney Gallery (Trades Hall). A 2010 photograph in the register shows that the name "Trades Hall" has been reinstated above the portico. A new "Perth Trades Hall", at Unity House, 77-79 Stirling Street, was opened on

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

2000. It provided offices and meeting rooms for trade unions, the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

and other community and political groups. The TLC, now known as UnionsWA, relocated in 2007 to the CSA Building at 445 Hay Street, Perth. WA Labor relocated to new headquarters on 54 Cheriton St, Perth, alongside

United Voice United Voice was an Australian trade union from 1992 to 2019. It merged with the National Union of Workers to form the United Workers Union in 2019. United Voice was part of the Labor Left faction of the Australian Labor Party. The union was ...

. In 2013 the building was purchased by the

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest Trade union, union in the construction, forestry, wikt:maritime, maritime, Textile manufacturing, textile, Clothing industry, clothing and Shoemaking, footw ...

Western Australia so that the building would once again be used for its intended purpose of trade union business. A significant renovation process was undertaken by union workers restoring the building as far as possible to its original condition, with modern facilities provided for staff. On 29 June 2014 the building was re-opened by Michael O'Connor, the national secretary of the combined CFMEU National Divisions. At the official reopening he unveiled a plaque bearing the inscription "Back in the Hands of those who built it". The building now not only houses the CFMEU, but is regularly used by like-minded organisations as a meeting venue.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Alex McCallum biography

State Heritage Register entry
30 July 2004, at State Heritage Office
Assessment documentation
30 July 2004, at State Heritage Office
New Trades Hall: Officially opened by the Premier
'' Western Mail'', 27 April 1912, p. 50, at

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Trades halls in Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth Beaufort Street, Perth

Building history

References

Further reading

External links