Canterbury University Press takes a fresh look at the strike of ‘51

Published by the Communications and Development Department

 

5 August 2004

 

The 1951 waterfront lockout was a defining moment in New Zealand trade union history.

 

Lasting 151 days, it involved as many as 22,000 workers at a time when the population was around one million people.

 

The Big Blue: Snapshots of the 1951 Waterfront Lockout is an anthology of short stories written by people involved or affected by the dispute, edited by Wellington historian David Grant.

 

The Canterbury University Press publication presents the experiences of the locked-out workers and their families, as well as union leaders, government officials and a major political figure.

 

“These accounts highlight the propinquity and emotion that came with first-hand experience of the conflict,” Grant says.

 

“It is an event that has not been written about since 1962 and there’s a lot of new evidence, new insights, cartoons that have never seen the light of day before, poems and photos, which made it an interesting project for me to work on.

 

“It’s easy to read as the contributors all come from a range of backgrounds and write on different view points of the event. It is a style that makes it accessible to everyone, and it’s a very fascinating topic to read about.”

Contributors include 1951 lockout veterans Ted Thompson, Bill Andersen and Bill ‘Pincher’ Martin, activists Rona Bailey and Dick Scott, playwright Renée, trade union leaders Ken Douglas, Chris Kenny and John Whiting, prominent public servant Noel Woods, oral historian Judith Fyfe, veteran Australian unionists Alwyn Allport, Alistair Couper and Harry Black, diplomat Hon. Sandra Lee, historians Bruce Brown, Anna Green, Melanie Nolan, Jock Phillips, Pat Walsh and Redmer Yska, cartoonists Max Bollinger and Len Gale, poet Bill Sewell and several anonymous poets of the time.

 

The Big Blue: Snapshots of the 1951 waterfront lockout
Edited by David Grant
Published by Canterbury University Press

PRICE: NZ $29.99
Paperback, 228 x 152 mm, 216 pp; 8 pp photographs
ISBN 1-877257-28-1

 

For further information please contact:

John MacDonald
Communications Manager
University of Canterbury

Tel: +64-3-364 2910
Fax: +64-3-364 2679
Mob: +64-27-441 7280
john.macdonald@canterbury.ac.nz