Introduction

The history of the Australian minimum wage exhibition begins with the great strikes of the 19th century, which led to the introduction of the first minimum wage, and then looks at major steps in the evolution of the minimum wage through to the the modern era. There are eight key moments in the historical timeline depicted in text, images and video.

• The Great Strikes: How it all started and the solution
• The first in minimum wage: The Victorian minimum wage
• The Harvester Decision: A national breakthrough and the basic wage
• Working it out: Cost of living versus capacity to pay
• The impact of the Great Depression
• The removal of award rate discrimination
• The wage explosion and economic crisis
• The modern era: The development of a modern minimum wage

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