Labour council
[[Melbourne Trades Hall]] was opened in 1859 with [[Labour council|Trades and Labour Council]]s and [[Trades Hall]]s opening in all cities and most regional towns in the following forty years. During the 1880s [[trade union]]s developed among [[Sheep shearer|shearer]]s, [[miner]]s, and [[stevedore]]s (wharf workers), but soon spread to cover almost all [[blue-collar]] jobs. Shortages of labour led to high wages for a prosperous skilled working class, whose unions demanded and got an [[eight-hour day]] and other benefits unheard of in Europe.