In the 1940 elections he survived as PM with the support of two elected independent politicians. He is Australia's longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total. 436 likes. [3][4] Trade unions and many workers argued that the pig iron would be used in bombs and munitions in the invasion of China and articulated that they may also be used against Australia. Custom tools as well as cultivators, weeders, trowels and many other garden tools are made in Oregon by blacksmiths [9][10] There were no moves to stop the export of pig iron and scrap metal to Japan.[11]. The Dalfram dispute of 1938 (15 November 1938 to 21 January 1939) was a political industrial dispute at Port Kembla, New South Wales, protesting the export of pig iron from Australia to Japan. Pig-Iron Bob I found The Dalfram Dispute 1938: Pig-Iron Bob, very interesting and informative. Pig Iron Bob - A covers band local to central west NSW that has been much loved and respected since it... Jump to [17], In December 2006 the Illawarra Branch of the Society for the Study of Labour History erected a Plaque to commemorate the dispute, located near the Number 4 Jetty at Port Kembla where the Dalfram docked. [5], The Dalfram wasn't the first protest against Japanese militarism. [2], Melbourne waterside workers refused to load scrap iron on to a German ship in May 1938. Pig Iron to Yellow Cake A poem by John Tomlinson ©John Tomlinson 2006 From Pig Iron Bob to Yellow Cake John the story's been the same it's the rich who take the profits and the poor who end up lame. In 1938 while Robert Menzies (1894-1978) was Attorney General, he was given the nickname of “Pig Iron Bob” due to an industrial dispute [the Dalfram Dispute] with wharf workers who refused to load ships with scrap iron being sold to Japan, believing it would be used to make weapons to attack Australia. [2], It was during the Dalfram Dispute that the title "Pig Iron Bob" was coined in reference to the then Attorney General Robert Menzies. Just like it sounds. In early 1941, Menzies resigned and Arthur Fadden took over as Prime Minister. [18], In 2015 a feature-length film documentary was released called The Dalfram Dispute, 1938: Pig Iron Bob.[19]. The dispute followed Japan's invasion of Nanking in 1937 with Japan's military expansion into China. He met with an angry crowd where the main picture of this website was taken and a lady screamed out Pig Iron Bob, which lasted him an eternity. The Australian Council of Trade Unions in October 1937 called for a boycott of Japanese goods and an embargo on the export of iron to Japan in response to the Japanese aggression. It was also a finalist in the 15th Screen Producers Association of Australia Awards for feature documentary. In this context the term “pig iron” is so… It gave us information on how brave and determined the workers were and how much they cared about not only the Australian population, but the innocent Chinese civilians who may be murdered with that very same Australian scrap iron. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. A. Lyons, Prime Minister, to Mr Torao Wakamatsu, Japanese Consul-General in Sydney", "Prime Ministerial Press Release, Canberra", "finalists in the 15th Screen Producers Australia Awards", "Remember the Past and Work Together for Peace--Address by H.E. The day after the workers at Port Kembla capitulated Billy Hughes delivered a vitriolic speech attacking Japanese militarism and its threat to Australia. [2], The Lyons Government policy of appeasement of Japanese military aggression and opposition to the trade union bans on trade with Japan were not entirely unanimous. The Pig-Iron Song a song by Clem Parkinson©1964 Clem Parkinson Did you ever stop to wonder why the fellows on the job Refer to Robert Menzies by the nickname Pig-Iron Bob? The strike was the inspiration for the Australian Labour song Pig Iron Bob. Critics of Menzies dubbed him "Pig Iron Bob" because he fought with workers refusing to load iron ore bound for Japan to help them make weapons in the war against China. With David Field, Morrison James, Rob Sheens, Susan Ling Young. He had signed a contract with Japan to supply them with pig iron for making bullets for use in the Second World War. The impurities of pig iron are removed to some extent by oxidation. [16], On 24 January, Jim Healy met with Government representatives and received an unofficial assurance that no more pig-iron would be shipped to Japan, although it is debated to whether this was actually the case or that some shipments of scrap metal and pig iron were made. The molten cast iron is led into moulds of required shapes to form what are known as cast iron castings and slag is removed from the top of cast iron at regular intervals. Workers responded by little demonstrations along the small coal mining villages along the coast and over 1000 people in Wollongong. The ship was chartered by Mitsui to supply the Japan Steel Works Ltd in Kobe, a part of a contract for 300,000 tons of pig-iron. Pissin' time : The duration that something that doesn't last very long doesn't last. External Affairs minister Billy Hughes appears to have attempted to undermine the government policy according to at least one historian, who conjectures this may have been due to Hughes' past links with the Waterside Workers' Federation, being the first President of the union in 1902. In May 1938 the Joseph Lyons Government announced the embargo of iron ore from Yampi Sound in Western Australia to Japan, citing that there were only limited quantities that were needed for local production. The ship was chartered by Mitsui to supply the Japan Steel Works Ltd in Kobe, a part of a contract for 300,000 tons of pig-iron. Cheap batteries, for example, "don't last pissin' time." It became famous for providing the nickname of Pig Iron Bob to Attorney General Robert Menzies, later to serve as Prime Minister. The blast furnace is a counter-current gas/solids reactor in which the descending column of burden materials [coke, iron ore and fluxes/additives] reacts with the ascending hot gases. Bill Hobbin, a former Methodist minister, and Stan Moran, the well-known wharfie and communist Domain orator. In October 1937 Sydney waterside workers walked off the Tamon Maru when they learned that scrap iron was on board and destined for Japan. Plonker : Not a compliment. [2], The dispute brought together the Illawarra labour movement and elements of Sydney's Chinese immigrant community and contributed in a small way to the breakdown of the White Australia policy. Pig Iron Bob Finds a further use for Scrap Iron: Barbed Wire for his Cold War Concentration Camps Les Louis During the Cold War in Australia in the early 1950s, the Left alleged that the “Fascist” Menzies Government intended to silence its opponents in concentration camps – a charge that has been dismissed as typical communist paranoia. All Steel First prices, news and market analysis can be found here on www.metalbulletin.com. A crowd protests outside Wollongong Hotel on January 11, 1939, while Prime Minister Bob Menzies had lunch. 4 jetty Port Kembla to load pig iron for Kobe, Japan. Her Excellency Madam Fu Yng, the Chinese Ambassador, unveiled the Plaque. Pig Iron Bob and Ming the Merciless This 1938 cartoon by Will Mahony tarnishes not only Menzies, but the entire Lyons Cabinet, with the ‘Pig Iron’ epithet. It became famous for providing the nickname of Pig Iron Bob to Attorney General Robert Menzies, who later became the Australian Prime Minister. [2], On 21 January 1939 after 10 weeks and two days on strike the waterside workers at Port Kembla decided to load the pig iron "under protest". Abstract The Pig Iron dispute occurred almost fifty-five years ago. [20][21], In July 2015 H.E. Red Pig Garden Tools ™ over 30 years of designing and producing hand forged garden tools that will last for years. 1937 with Japan 's invasion of Nanking in 1937 with Japan to supply with! Sale of Pig iron page to meet with union officials across the road but the large crowd initially prevented.... Responded by little demonstrations along the small coal mining villages along the coast and over 1000 in. 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