Held By: This large, reproduction banner is held by the History Trust State of South Australia, State Heritage Collection. It was transferred from the United Trades & Labor Council when it shifted from Trades Hall, Adelaide in 2005.

Artist: Ziggy Moskwa

Funded By: Vehicle Builders Employees Federation of Australia, SA Branch. In 1993 this union became part of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

Produced: 1984

The original of this double sided banner is held by the State Library of South Australia. SLSA Catalogue numbers D 8824/R & D 8824/V. Official Pat Meehan recalled that it was painted by tradespeople who were members and carried in Labour Day processions in the 1940s and 1950s, before it was put away.

The banner was a cherished thing of our union…and it seemed a shame that it was just rolled up and forgotten about; so we unrolled it and had a look at it and saw how beautiful it was and the effort that was put into it. Not only that, it means something – the wording, the horses, the chariot. The coachmakers were migrants from England and they brought those words and symbols out with them.

Now a lot of work has gone into designing the banner…The side with the horses and chariot represented both the English and the Australian, and the other side was totally Australian with kangaroos and the tradesmen that we had in those days…I believe that if you go into the history of unions you only can benefit by history; you have to go back to go ahead. Pat Meehan

…my job was to reproduce a likeness of the original ‘Coachmakers of South Australia’ banner…their banner was lost and forgotten until recently when it was discovered at the bottom of the basement. Over the years it had deteriorated badly, and as 1983 was the centenary of the union’s foundation, another banner was commissioned. The old banner’s discovery was quite a surprise and had the effect of exciting the union into a search for its historical and cultural traditions. The banner became a focal point, an object of colour that represented the dignity and purpose in life sort after by the union’s members. Zig Moskwa, Artist

All Our Working Lives: A project by working people documenting their struggles and achievements, coordinated by Andrew Hill, Eugenia Hill, United Trades & Labor Council (SA), Working Women’s Centre, Trade Union Training Authority, Community Media Association, Kitchener Press, 1984, p. 114 & 115.