The Mount Isa Dispute of 1964/5 was a classic episode in Australian Labor history.
It was presented at first as a normal confrontation between an obdurate management and a stubborn workforce.
However, it soon became evident that this dispute was different.
An initially hostile press and public became increasingly sympathetic with the miners as evidence mounted that the Courts and Government were over-reacting, and that the Company had exploited the situation improperly.
By the end the dispute had more solid public and Union support than any major dispute before or since. In this book, we are given a rare glimpse of a major industrial dispute as it was seen from the inside, by the miners' charismatic leader, Pat Mackie. It is by turns an exhilarating, harrowing, exas-perating, hilarious and moving story.
About the authors This book started life as a series of tapes made by Pat Mackie soon after he left Mount Isa.
These tapes were transcribed and edited by Elizabeth Vassilieff.
The present book is in fact one of two volumes produced from these tapes, the other being a general biography covering Pat Mackie's career before the Mount isa period.
This will be published shortly under the title Many Ships to Mount Isa.
Elizabeth Vassilieff was for many years active in Adult Educa-tion in Melbourne, lecturing on the History of Modem Literature and the History of Modern Art for the CAE.
Her published work includes These Modern Writers (Georgian House) Peking Moscow Letters (Australian Book Society) and many articles. After the death of her artist husband, Danila Vassilieff, she took over the Vassilieff Art School.
Throughout this period she was active in the Peace Movement, and she retains a powerful concern for the rights of the ordinary citizen against encroachment by bureaucracy or business interests.
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Pat Mackie 2004 – Nansy Borlaise |
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