An eight-hour day parade in Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1907

On 21 April 1856 stonemasons in Melbourne downed tools and walked off the job in protest over their employers’ refusal to accept their demands for reduced working hours. This brought the employers to the negotiating table and led to an agreement whereby stonemasons worked no more than an eight-hour day.

It took much longer for all workers to win the eight-hour day. It was not until 1916 that the Eight Hours Act was passed in Victoria and New South Wales.