Celebrations - Labour Day Traditional Cache

During an eventful camping trip over the New Year’s period of 2015 into 2016, the S.E.A.C (South East Auckland Crew) made a New Year’s resolution that each member of the team would place a cache in 11 out of the 12 months of 2016. This is the nineth cache in a series the we (LiverKiwi and lordcacher08) will place throughout the year for this particular challenge. Each cache will give some information about the day and the reason for the celebration chosen for that month. We hope you like it and will learn something from it.

Labour Day is a celebration of the 8 hour working day. Back in the 1800's, there were no regulation about how long people had to work so workers were often taken advantage of. The labour movement started among the unions and they advocated a lifestyle where people had 8 hours for work, 8 hours for recreation, and 8 hours for rest.

New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to adopt this philosophy back in 1840 when the carpenter Samuel Parnell won the eight hour working day in Wellington. The first Labour Day was celebrated on 28^th October 1890 with trade unions members holding parades followed by picnics and sporting events. Government employees were given the day off to enjoy the events and many businesses closed for at least part of the day.

Early Labour Day celebrations usually drew large crowds all over New Zealand, where union members would march behind large colourful banners and floats. Not only were these parades a celebration, but they also served as a political platform to fight for some industries where the 8 hour day was still not practiced, such as seamen, farm labourers and some retail and hospitality workers. They were also used to fight for better and safer working conditions.

During the early 20^th century, the Liberal Party which drove a lot of the labour movement was in decline and unrest was in the air. The Labour Party started to make it's presence felt and it condemned the Labour Day parades as they had turned into commercialised events where floats advertised stores and other businesses, temperance, theatres, circuses and patriotic causes. As the 1920's came around, Labour Day was more just a public holiday rather than the spectacle that it used to be.

The cache is placed along the lovely Roatary Walkway along the Tamaki Estuary. Come for a walk, bike ride, run or whatever takes your fancy and pick up some of the other caches that can be found along this walkway while enjoying the views of the estuary and surrounding area.

• Please replace the cache where and as you found it.
• Bring your own writing implement of choice.
• Co-ordinates obtained with a phone, so may be ±5m.