Bundaberg Regional Libraries
Bundaberg Regional Libraries is one of the busiest and largest library services in regional Queensland. The Library branches in Bundaberg, Childers, Gin Gin and Woodgate Beach are popular community hubs. The Libraries serve a population of around 97,000; hold around 130,000 items; and issue approximately 1 million items per year.
Bundaberg
The 1911 Queensland sugar strike occurred after the phasing out of South Sea Islander labour in 1904, with workers claiming that many plantation owners had substituted black indentured labourers (sometimes referred to as slaves) with white ones. Workers sought better accommodation, wages and conditions, including an eight-hour day and a minimum weekly wage of 30 shillings, including food. The mobilisation of unionists from Bundaberg to Mossman was a major achievement, with the 1911 strike lasting over seven weeks in Bundaberg where the town's economy was largely based on the sugar industry. The end result of the strike was a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the sugar industry in 1911–12, which had been initially requested by Harry Hall, a Bundaberg AWA organiser in 1908 with a petition signed by 1500 Bundaberg sugar workers. The Royal Commission, with ALF Secretary Albert Hinchcliffe as secretary, concluded the AWA demands had been justified. The union victory was a watershed in organised labour in Queensland and Australia.