Eastern Goldfields Operative Bakers Industrial Union of Workers Banner

This is a double-sided banner of the Eastern Goldfields Operative Bakers Industrial Union of Workers, complete with its original top pole and packing box. The banner was donated by Mr. D. Spence of 10 Elizabeth Street, Kalgoorlie. However, the packing box was inadvertently destroyed by the Conservation Department in October 1981.

History & Design

The banner was made in 1911 by Kalgoorlie artist W.F. Ramage.

Front Side:
The front of the banner features an illustration of a bakery on the goldfields, or a representative example typical of bakeries from that period. The artwork includes two women inspired by Walter Crane’s Angel of Freedom, a late 19th-century symbol of working-class emancipation and hope for a better future.

Ramage’s women, depicted in a Pre-Raphaelite style, hold shells overflowing with water—symbolizing abundance on the goldfields. Between them is the emblem of the Eight Hour Movement—three interlocking eights, representing the push for eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and eight hours of recreation, a campaign that had seen varying success since the 1850s.

The canvas-painted banner is bordered with silk in the traditional manner of banner-making.

Reverse Side:
The back of the banner showcases an illustration of a wheat harvest. On either side of the harvest scene are bakers, likely union officials from 1911. Each baker holds ears of wheat and flowers in one hand, while their other hands are raised together, lifting a loaf of bread. Surrounding them is the motto:

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall”

This phrase has long been associated with working-class solidarity and the labor movement.