Radical Newcastle

by James Bennett (Editor), Nancy Cushing (Editor), Erik Eklund (Editor)

The Star Hotel in Newcastle has become a site of defiance for the marginalized young and dispossessed working class. To understand the whole story of the Star Hotel riot, it should be seen in the context of other moments of resistance such as the 1890 Maritime Strike, Rothbury miners' lockout in 1929 and the recent battle for the Laman Street fig trees. As Australia's first industrial city, Newcastle is also a natural home of radicalism but until now, the stories which reveal its breadth and impact have remained untold. Radical Newcastle brings together short illustrated essays from leading scholars, local historians and present day radicals to document both the iconic events of the region's radical past, and less well known actions seeking social justice for workers, women, Aboriginal people and the environment

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

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Reviews

[Maddie Ham · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A paradox of radical politics is that sometimes the radical thing is to primarily defend and conserve community values and heritage, rather than embracing fundamental change."

Radical Newcastle is an empowering summary of Newcastle's extensive history of radical social movements in environmentalism, trade unions, science, religion, and more. The book recounts movements throughout Newcastle's history since the invasion in 1804, from trade unions and communism in the 1800s-1900s to modern day community initiatives that opposed gentrification as the working class' grip on the steel city faded post-BHP. There are a lot of emotions in this book, I went from being empowered by chapters on environmental victories to being brought to tears by the chapter on Catholic child sexual abuse in the Hunter Region. The book's main strength is also a weakness however as the wide spread of topics lead to me being bored by some of them. Overall, it is an excellent resource for studying the history of left-wing activism in Newcastle.