Out and About

Trades Hall and city sights

On Tuesday April 16, the Year 11 Vocational Major (VM) students were lucky enough to visit the Victorian Trades Hall in Carlton. The students have been researching and learning what their rights and responsibilities are in the workplace universally, irrespective of the industry. Whilst at the Victorian Trades Hall students were able to work through typical scenarios young workers experience in the workplace and learn about the supports the Trades Hall provides to assist the young workforce across the state and across different industries.

The Year 11 students were then guided on a tour of the Victorian Trades Hall building, as it happened by a past MGSC student, learning about its impact on workers rights beginning with the eight hour movement in 1856. Our VM cohort were then guided through influential women within the unionist movement throughout history. Beginning with Helen Robinson who was a pioneer in advocating for female workers rights and working conditions and later a founder of the Tailoresses Association, the first female union body in Victoria in the 1880s. Later being photographed with the bronze statue of Zelda D’Aprano who now stands outside the Victorian Trades Hall Council building on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Street, depicting her iconic protest for equal pay for women. Another great opportunity to link what we have been learning in the classroom with how it is applied within the community.

Stephanie Loiacono 

VCE-VM Coordinator