Aboriginal people are advised that this feature contains the names of deceased people.
On 1 May 1946 in Western Australia, one of the longest and most significant industrial actions in Australian history began—the Pilbara Aboriginal Stockmen’s Strike. This strike would last until 1949 and saw hundreds of Aboriginal stockmen, domestic workers, and station hands throughout the Pilbara region walk off in protest of the harsh conditions they lived and worked under.
This act defied the Aborigines Act 1905 (WA), which granted pastoralists permits to employ Aboriginal workers who were not legally able to leave the station without a permit. Aboriginal people working on cattle and sheep stations were largely unpaid—often given rations of flour, sugar, and tea instead—and forced to live in sub-standard conditions with limited personal freedom. It was a system built on exploitation and control that allowed vast fortunes to be built on the backs of an Aboriginal workforce.
Years in the making, the strike was led by Nyamal man Clancy McKenna, Nyangumarta man Dooley Bin Bin, Nyamal man Peter Kangkushot Coppin, and white unionist and prospector Don McLeod. Aboriginal lawmen McKenna and Bin Bin first approached McLeod with the idea. Their goal was simple: to be treated as human beings, not as property. Aboriginal labour was essential for rural production in WA, and the protest was planned for the start of the shearing season when workers were needed most.
Word of mouth was crucial to its success. The story goes that McLeod made a calendar up to 1 May, and McKenna and Bin Bin copied this, marking the days on food tin labels or scraps of whatever they could find. They then travelled to other Pilbara stations, recruiting station workers to mark off each date until the walk-off to coordinate when they would leave the station. In total, nearly 800 Aboriginal workers joined the walk-off across 20 stations, demanding fair pay and basic rights.
Despite pressure to return—including intimidation via threats and arrest—the strikers stood firm and formed self-sufficient camps, working small-scale mining operations to support themselves. It was the first time many experienced independence after working for pastoralists since childhood. Now, they challenged not only the power of the pastoralists but also the foundation of a colonial system that had denied Aboriginal people autonomy for generations.
The strike ended in 1949 after a government representative promised that a new standard would be applied across the Pilbara. This standard would follow Mount Edgar and Limestone stations, where the strikers’ demands had been met prior to the shearing season. Concessions were granted, and many workers returned to their stations. Other strikers, including Bin Bin, refused to go back to station work, instead forming mining cooperatives of their own.
The government later backtracked on its promises, and strikers had to negotiate with pastoral stations individually for better terms.
The strike was significant in advancing the claims of Aboriginal people to Indigenous rights to land and sovereignty and casting a light on their fight for fair wages and better working conditions. Although the strike did not result in immediate wage equality or sweeping reform, its legacy remains a turning point in the fight for Aboriginal rights in Australia and inspired future movements, including the Wave Hill walk-off in 1966. It forced the nation to confront that its prosperity was built, in part, on the unacknowledged labour of Aboriginal people.
Today, the Pilbara Strike is remembered not only as an act of resistance but as an expression of dignity, asserting the right to determine one’s own life and labour. It showed the world that Aboriginal people were active agents of change and remains a powerful reminder that the path to justice often begins with a single, determined step away from injustice.
As we look back, we honour those who took that step.