The Bull System

The early 1900s were a particularly turbulent time on Australia’s waterfronts. This was primarily due to the insecure and dangerous nature of the work as well as labour hire rules and working conditions that significantly worsened under a new Transport Workers’ Act, resulting in industrial action and increasing conflict with the Permanent and Casual Wharf Labourers’ Union.

During the first decades of the 1900s, wharfies were employed under what was known as the Bull System. Under this labour hire system, foremen would select workers each day from a pick-up point, where both union and non-union workers would congregate and fight for the scarce jobs that existed, with workers usually chosen on their physique. Shipowners wanted workers who had a large build and looked like they could handle the arduous work, the ‘bulls’. They also favoured the non-union workers, believing them to be less troublesome and more compliant. This inevitably led to brawls between union and non-union labour. It was argued that the system was “open to discrimination, favouritism and bribery” (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History Melbourne Branch 1991).

Wharfies desperate for income would wait at wharves hoping to be picked up for shifts that saw them working in unsafe conditions lugging extraordinarily heavy loads between wharves and ships for impossibly long hours. In Sydney, the best-known pick-up point was located along the docks at Millers Point and became famously known as the Hungry Mile. Workers gathered here and often walked from wharf to wharf looking for shifts, with many left without work. Similarly, in Melbourne, workers would gather at stevedores’ offices on Flinders Street for the twice-daily pick-ups, competing against each other for work. Those that missed out often gathered against a brick retaining wall on the opposite side of Flinders Street that became known as the Wailing Wall.  

The Second World War was the catalyst for the end of the Bull System. The demands of supplying the war machine were enormous and the shipping industry as it operated at the time, was not coping with the demand. Against a backdrop of growing concern, the Curtin Government announced the formation of a Stevedoring Industry Commission in 1942. The Commission brought together Australian and overseas shipowners, government representatives and representatives of the WWF, including General Secretary Jim Healy, who sought to determine the best ways to meet labour needs and stabilise the industry. The outcome was a great result for the union, not the least of which because it ended the loathed Bull System. 

The Bull System was replaced by the Gang System, heralding a more equitable labour hire system. Under this system, wharfies organised themselves into self-selected gangs. These gangs were allocated to employers by the Stevedoring Industry Board. Shifts were rotated among gangs and men worked in shifts lasting six to eight hours. The system was also seen as an important step in the decasualisation of the industry, with attendance money of 12 shillings paid to workers who reported for work if there was no work available (Pyrmont History Group n.d.).   

References 

Australian Society for the Study of Labour History Melbourne Branch 1991, ‘Ship to Shore: A History of Melbourne’s Waterfront and its Union’s Struggles’, Recorder, No. 166, <https://labourhistorymelbourne.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Recorder-no.-166-February-1991.pdf> 

Australian Trade Union Archives 2002, Stevedoring Industry Commission, <https://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE1425b.htm> 

Pyrmont History Group n.d., The Bull System, <https://pyrmonthistory.net.au/the-bull-system>