On 21 April 1856, seven hundred building workers marched through central Melbourne demanding that their employers reduce their working hours from ten to eight hours a day. They succeeded in winning an eight hour day (although still working 6 days per week).
This was to prove an inspiration for other workers in Victoria and the rest of the world and helped establish Victoria’s reputation as an industrially-progressive colony.
Melbourne’s first eight-hour day procession was held on 12 May 1856, when building workers marched through the city behind a banner declaring Eight Hours Work, Eight Hours Rest, Eight Hours Recreation.
Regional towns also established an annual eight-hour day procession, and it quickly became the biggest and most spectacular annual procession across Victoria.
In 1890, the Ballarat Branch of the United Ironworkers’ Assistants Society commissioned Kift & Smith, a local firm of commercial painters and decorators, to make this banner to use in the Ballarat eight-hour day procession.