Black Armada Ban

The Black Armada Ban was a refusal by dockworkers in Australian ports to not serve Dutch ships as to assist the rebels in the Indonesian Revolution from 1945 to 1949.

Background

Australia's trade union movement had grown very largely since the 1890s, with it only getting bigger with the Great Depression. With the end of World War II, anti-colonial movements swept European colonies in Asia and Africa, and many trade unionists sympathised with the desire for the desire for peace and democracy in other countries. An independence movement in Indonesia (then a Dutch colony) launched a revolution with the support of Indonesian trade unions, who made an international call for solidarity, which Australian trade unionists responded to.

Events

The five hundred Indonesian seamen who walked off the ships were housed in the top floor of the Trades Hall (the dance floor) for three weeks. Blankets were provided from American stores by Chinese working for the Americans at Bulimba, and meals were brought from Chinese restaurants. Many of the Chinese met at the long table in the dining room at our house on the hill and their leader Albert was the only one, to my knowledge, who spoke English. They were delighted when my mother and we three girls waited on them with tea and cakes. On one occasion Albert took us down to their Bulimba camp where we were surprised to see that the Chinese seemed to run the camp!

Thousands of returning soldiers added a volatile element to the labour movement. Australian troops were reported to have graffitied on buildings and old tanks in Indonesia at the end of the war, “We fought for freedom—let’s give it to the Indonesians.”