Senator The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC, New South Wales Minister for Environment and Heritage
The iconic Broken Hill Trades Hall in Far West NSW is now one step closer to being recognised on the global stage, after being nominated for World Heritage consideration.
The historic site has been a symbol of the labour movement for more than 100 years, and was crucial in the fight for workers' rights after the mining boom during late 1800s.
The Workers Museum in Copenhagen examined hundreds of halls from around the world before selecting the Broken Hill Trades Hall as one of four exemplar candidates for nomination.
The application has been submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre for consideration alongside the Victorian Trades Hall in Melbourne and two halls in Europe.
These four buildings make up a transnational World Heritage nomination led by Denmark and The Workers Museum in Copenhagen, to recognise important workers' assembly halls (known as trades halls in Australia) which are representative of the international democratic labour movement.
The Broken Hill Trades Hall is an iconic building within the local CBD. The distance and remoteness of this hall from where the industrial revolution took hold in Europe demonstrates just how important the international labour movement has been, and this is one of the primary reasons it features within the nomination.
The hall underpinned the early workers' rights movement in Far West NSW. It acted as an office, meeting place, and social centre for workers as they campaigned for the rights of workers, and in particular improved working conditions for miners, including limiting underground hours and setting the benchmark for health and safety reforms in the mining industry.
If formally accepted, the transnational nomination will be assessed by experts and considered by the World Heritage Committee, who will decide in 2027 whether the property will be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The Albanese Government worked closely with the Broken Hill Trades Hall Trust, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, as well as the New South Wales and Victorian governments, throughout the World Heritage nomination process.
Images available here.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt:
"The Albanese Government was very pleased to submit this application for World Heritage nomination. Just making the submission is a significant milestone, and we hope to know as early as next month if the UNESCO World Heritage Centre has accepted the nomination for assessment.
"Trades halls like this one are a critical chapter in the globally significant story of workers coming together and advocating for their rights. The Broken Hill Trades Hall continues to stand tall, demonstrating worker power and underpinning generations of organising for better wages and conditions.
"All Australians should feel proud of our nation's outstanding contribution to the international labour movement and the working conditions we know today."
Quotes attributable to the NSW Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage, the Hon Penny Sharpe MLC:
"The iconic Broken Hill Trades Hall is one of the most remote trades halls in the world. It is a symbol of the history of Broken Hill as a union and mining town.
"The hall has been an important symbol of the labour movement for more than 130 years and was crucial in the fight for workers' rights during the mining boom in western NSW."
