How the west was lost: the story of the 1946 Aboriginal pastoral workers' strike

The story of the 1946 Aboriginal Pastoral Workers’ Strike. Eight hundred aboriginal station workers walked off sheep stations in the north west of Western Australia, marking the beginning of a strike which lasted more than three years. The strike was more than a demand for better wages and conditions, it was a struggle for basic human rights.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

David Noakes

co-producer

David Noakes

Heather Williams

production company

Friends Film Productions

Market Street Films

Duration

01:12:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1987

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

017483

Language

English

Audience classification

G

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Civil rights

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Western Australia

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Aboriginal Australians - Social conditions

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Strikes and lockouts

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Australia

History → Australia - History - 1945-1965

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/78785--how-the-west-was-lost-the-story-of-the-1946-aboriginal-pastoral-workers-strike-a/ |title=How the west was lost: the story of the 1946 Aboriginal pastoral workers' strike |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=19 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1987

Please note