The Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit

In 1953, Sydney wharfies Jock Levy and Keith Gow, along with Norma Disher, a clerk at the Trade Union Club, established the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit. The aim of the unit was to produce films that would counter “misinformation and anti-worker propaganda in the mainstream press” (Nash n.d.). It was not surprising that the unit developed out of the WWF Sydney Branch, with this branch enjoying a strong cultural and artistic life through various recreational activities such as art classes, choirs, recitals and concerts, often hosted at the Federation’s headquarters in Sussex Street in the Sydney CBD.

Levy, Gow and Disher were all involved in the New Theatre, which was established in 1932 as the Sydney Workers’ Art Club. Over its 90-year history, the New Theatre has produced more than 500 productions, with a focus on social and political issues. In addition to their involvement with the New Theatre, Levy and Gow established a waterfront drama group known as the Maritime Industries Theatre. All three were also active in the Communist Party of Australia.

Jock Levy directed, Keith Gow designed and built the sets and Norma Disher produced costumes and music (Nash n.d.). Their work caught the attention of WWF Sydney Branch Secretary Tom Nelson, who saw a trailer they had filmed to promote their latest play, and subsequently approached them to make a short film for Union’s campaign on pensions. Out of this, the film Pensions for Veterans was created and the WWF Film Unit was born.

Perhaps the Unit’s best known film was the 1955 production The Hungry Miles, which told the story of the Federation’s industrial conflicts against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the loathed labour hire system known as the Bull System, that operated on the waterfronts for much of the early 1900s, prior to the introduction of the Gang System. The film included a large cast of wharfies as extras, used to dramatise the incredibly challenging conditions on the waterfront.

The WWF Film Unit produced sixteen films, including November Victory about the 1954 Waterfront Strike and Four’s a Crowd, in which Jock Levy portrayed four different types of ‘problem’ waterfront workers. They also produced films for other trade unions, such as Hewers of Coal for the Miners’ federation and Not Only the Need for the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Their work took them all over Australia and they purchased a Kombi van, which was used as the Unit’s mobile production vehicle as well as for screening films (Milner 2003).

With the Film Unit’s work becoming more prolific, the associated costs of funding the Unit also grew. While the WWF Executive appreciated the importance of the Unit’s work, they no longer felt that the Federation could continue the financial burden of funding it, and Port Kembla Branch Secretary Ted Roach proposed that the Unit be terminated and replaced by a “trade union co-operative film unit inside the ACTU, through the NSW Trade and Labour Council” (Milner 2003). Although there was support from other unions for this proposal, unfortunately it never materialised. The WWF Film Unit was disbanded in 1958, a victim of dwindling funds and competing priorities.

References

Milner, L 2003, Fighting Through their Filmwork – The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, <https://www.labourhistory.org.au/hummer/vol-4-no-2/filmwork/>  

Nash, M n.d. Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit, Cinema Reborn,      

Our History 2023, New Theatre, <https://newtheatre.org.au/our-history/>