Research Online

Michael K. Organ, Brickies: Working life at the Thirroul Brickworks 1972-1983, Illawarra Unity - Journal of the Illawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History , 6(2), 2006, 55-71. “Brickies” - Working life at the Thirroul Brickworks 1972–1983 Michael Organ Abstract : Michael Organ worked at the Thirroul Brickworks between 1972-1983. he following article is an account of his experiences there as a young boy fresh out of school. The annals of Australian labour history are full of stories of mining disasters, the hardships of long drawn out strikes, union battles with government and bosses, and instances of extraordinary individual actions to defend hard won wages and conditions. However the more mundane trials, tribulations and misadventures of working life for those involved in seemingly non-hazardous industries are often left unrecorded. The brick, tile and pottery sector is one which does not figure prominently in accounts of working class struggle...

The Sixties at Wollongong: student affairs in a regional Australian university Michael K. Organ  Source: Illawarra Unity - Journal of the Illawarra Branch for the Study of Labour History , 9(1), 2009, 40-60. Special Issue: The Sixties. Abstract : The sixties were a time of revolution – sexual, cultural, spiritual, political and musical. he Beatles rose and fell, humankind reached the moon, the horrors of the Vietnam war were exposed amidst the threat of nuclear holocaust, millions died silently in China from starvation and Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and Woodstock revealed the power of this new ‘pop’ music. he United States largely took the lead in driving western societal change, and Australia followed, though in a somewhat muted and delayed manner. A snapshot of events during the sixties at the University of Wollongong – then the Wollongong University College – highlights some of the issues which filtered down to this then small regional campus located on the outskirts of Sy...