Equal pay protest, Zelda D'aprano (top right), Melbourne
1969
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Equal pay protest, Zelda D'aprano (top right), Melbourne
Date of work:
1969
Reference number:
LIB-EVE 000053
Level of description:
Part from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materials
Part of:
Source:
Image provided by Edwina Byrne for 'Workers' rights walk'
Access restrictions:
RestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
RestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
https://www.search.org.au/zelda_d_aprano2ZELDA D'APRANO: 1928 – 2018Zelda D’Aprano was most famous for chaining herself across the doors of the Commonwealth Building in Melbourne in 1969, in protest against the limited nature of the recent decision on equal pay in the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. Over the next several decades she became an earnest and fierce, but always good-humoured, supporter of the many causes she deemed necessary to overthrow the patriarchy. She joined the CPA in 1950 at the age of 21, but left in 1971 in protest against its sexism.Zelda worked in many jobs – as biscuit maker, usherette, seamstress, dental nurse and office worker – and was an active trade unionist. She also became a writer, peace activist, member of the Union of Australian Women, grandmother and great-grandmother.Zelda was born in Melbourne on 24 January, 1928 to working-class migrant parents, Shimshon Orloff (later known as Sam), who had worked as a wheelwright until the coach- building industry collapsed, and Rachel Orloff, who worked in the clothing industry. Born respectively in the Ukraine and Russia, where their families suffered anti-Semitic persecution, Shimshon and Rachel were taken as children to Palestine, where they met and married. After migrating to Melbourne in 1923, they made their home in the Jewish community of Carlton, where Rachel, dismayed by the poverty and slum conditions of Melbourne's inner suburbs, joined the CPA in a bid to make the world a fairer place. As Zelda noted, her mother swapped her religion for the cause of left-wing politics.Zelda was educated at Lee Street Primary and Brunswick Domestic Arts but, keen to relieve her parents of the burden of her upkeep, left school just before she turned 14. She soon met Charlie D'Aprano and after "a wonderful romance", as she recalled, she received her mother's permission to marry shortly after her 16th birthday. Their daughter, Leonie, was born a year later in 1945. After five years of living in cramped rented rooms, the family moved into a newish housing commission home in West Heidelberg, where Zelda formed important earlyfriendships and political commitments.An enthusiast and idealist, Zelda joined the Heidelberg branch of the CPA when she was 21. Though later disillusioned, for two decades Zelda and her husband Charlie found in the Party a vital social network and a valuable historical and political education. When Leonie was young, they took it in turns to go to political meetings.In the 1950s, Zelda qualified as a dental nurse, working at Larundel Psychiatric Hospital where she was also elected as a shop steward. She later recalled:At the Party trade union activists’ meetings, I never spoke once. How could I? What I was doing was insignificant compared to all the wonderful things men were doing. No-one ever spoke of work being done in right-wing unions … I listened to their experiences for they knew so much and I had so much to learn. I would come away from these meetings thinking there was something wrong with my efforts or something wrong with me. I was damned if I knew how, why, or where I was wrong but my own experiences just didn’t fit into the scene that these great men talked about.After working for 15 years in the dental clinic, Zelda was refused permanency of employment, so resigned.A more exciting position opened up in the office of the communist-led Australian Meat Industry Employees Union which was taking a test case for equal pay to the Arbitration Court in 1969. Attending court hearings, Zelda was appalled to find that all the key players were men, including the union advocate, R. J. Hawke, future ACTU President and Prime Minister.I just couldn't believe this, and I thought, here are all the women, here we are, all sitting here as if we haven't got a brain in our bloody heads, as if we're incapable of speaking for ourselves on how much we think we're worth. And here are all these men arguing about how much we're worth and all men are going to make the decision.The court granted equal pay for equal work but, as so few women did exactly the same work as men, its application was strictly limited. Frustrated and disappointed, Zelda protested by chaining herself across the entrance of the Commonwealth Building during her lunch hour to draw attention to the cause. Her action became a media event and a second chain-up soon followed, when Zelda was joined by teachers Alva Geikie and Thelma Solomon at the entrance to the Arbitration Court.Armed with the new ideas and insights coming out of the newly emerging women's liberation movement, women activists such as Zelda began to form ‘consciousness-raising groups’ and planned action on numerous fronts to end women's treatment as exploited workers, as sex objects and victims of discrimination and violence, and more generally to overthrow the system that came to be called ‘sexism’. Zelda was conscious of being a part of a world-wide movement and was determined to change the world.In Melbourne in August 1970, Alva, Thelma and Zelda met at Bon Hull's place to form the Women's Action Committee. Fired up by the energy of an international movement, they called on their sisters to"join the women of England and America to protest against exploitation and discrimination [against] women". They decided on their own distinctively local actions. In the Melbourne CBD, they took a tram ride and insisted on paying just 75 percent of the fare, to highlight the unfairness of women's lesser pay rates; they protested against ‘Miss Teenage’ contests and joined a national conference on women and work and ‘female conditioning’ organised by University of Melbourne students.
Names:
Form/Genre:
Record number:
1299449
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | LIB-EVE 000053 | 1 JPEG : 512 KB | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |