Welcome to the website of the Labour History Project. The struggles of working people have a long and significant history in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Labour History Project (formerly the Trade Union History Project) is an organisation dedicated to researching, recording, preserving and promoting this working-class history.
Formed in 1987 and made up of individual and institutional members, the Labour History Project organises seminars and conferences (such as the biennial Rona Bailey Memorial Lecture), publishes the LHP Bulletin, maintains the Bert Roth Award for Labour History, and supports a wide range of related projects (books, research, exhibitions, documentary films, archive projects and oral histories).
Current LHP Committee
The committee of the LHP is based in Wellington, but has members from around the country.
Cybele Locke & Mary Roberts-Schirato (Co-Chairs), Claire-Louise McCurdy (Secretary), Russell Campbell (Treasurer), Paul Maunder, Grace Millar, Ross Teppett, and Jeremiah Boniface
Bulletin
The April 2025 issue contains articles on the death of Norman Kirk, the abolition of Indian Indenture in Fiji, the solution to low wages as well as an extract from Jon Henning’s new book on nineteenth century New Zealand Labour History.
Bert Roth Award
The 2025 Bert Roth Award recognises two outstanding works of labour history, each bringing a distinctive approach to documenting workers’ struggles in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
Rona Bailey Lecture
The Labour History Project biennial Rona Bailey lecture was given by Dr Cybèle Locke and focused on the life of Rona Bailey.