In 1945, the Barcaldine branch of the ALP had 150 members present at monthly meetings.
With branches from other towns it worked towards a ‘New Deal for the West’ and kept closely in touch with local MLA, E. W. Davis. The New Deal scheme aimed for improved transport, education, communication and water conservation. There were many affiliated groups throughout the west. But manpower was short, loan money unavailable and new materials almost impossible to procure in the immediate post-war period (Hoch, 2008, p. 101).
1991 Centenary of Great Shearers' Strike in Barcaldine
As Prime Minister Bob Hawke said when he opened the Australian Workers’ Heritage Centre in Barcaldine during the celebrations on Saturday 4 May 1991,
“Our Party sprang up, almost simultaneously, in different places across this vast continent in 1891. So no single place can claim to be the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party. But if there is a single event and a single place that brings together all the themes, the spirit, and the meaning of the events which, together, led to the creation of the ALP, it is here – in the central west of Queensland, here in Barcaldine. . . [The Labour pioneers of Barcaldine are part of our heritage]. Not just the workers’ heritage. Not just the heritage of the Labor Party. They are a proud part of the heritage of Australia and the Australian people.”
