BARCALDINE, often described as the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party, has welcomed news today from Treasurer Curtis Pitt that from 2016 the state will once again be celebrating Labour Day on the first Monday in May.
Families, schools and tourism operators in particular have been subject to holiday alterations by successive governments, beginning with Anna Bligh, who transferred the Queen’s Birthday holiday from June to October.
Campbell Newman’s government then restored the Queen’s Birthday holiday to June and moved Labour Day to October, saying it would ensure the state’s tourism operators could capitalise on the Queen’s Birthday holiday in a traditionally quiet time of the year, and it brought the state in line with New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT.
This latest decision by Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government honours a key election commitment and mirrors the Bligh government’s holiday changes.
Describing it as rightful, Mr Pitt added that Labour Day in Queensland had been commemorated in May since 1891.
It was on May 1, 1891, that Australia’s first May Day march took place in Barcaldine and the western town has built a festival around that historic occasion, the Tree of Knowledge festival.
Barcaldine ALP representative Cheryl Thompson said not having a public holiday in May last year had affected the whole town, which it could ill-afford in a tough year.
“A lot of unions normally come out and march but they couldn’t last year, and family reunion plans for the long weekend didn’t happen either,” she said.
Barcaldine’s premier tourism product will have to put up with similar conditions this year as the changes don’t come into effect until 2016.
A spokeswoman for the treasurer said it had been decided to continue the status quo this year as it would have been too disruptive to change the Labour Day holiday at such short notice.
In the meantime, Barcaldine’s ALP branch is hoping government ministers will march in Barcaldine this year alongside the state’s longest-living ALP member, Kevin O’Leary, who turns 100 this year.
Organisers plan to use this year’s activities as a platform to mark the 125th anniversary of the 1891 Shearers’ Strike and first Labour Day, which Mr Pitt said the government would be supporting.
Sally Cripps
Journalist
Journalist
