Organise, Educate, Control The Amwu in Australia, 1852-2012

Andrew Dettmer is National President of the AMWU. He has held that position since mid 2012. Prior to this he was Queensland and Northern Territory State Secretary of the union from 2003 and was a Federal Industrial Officer of ADSTE from 1988. He has been involved in the labour movement and the Australian Labor Party for over 30 years. Originally from Victoria, he has recently moved back there from Queensland to undertake his duties as National President. Andrew has a lifelong interest in labour and trade union history, and holds an Honours degree in history from Monash University. Andrew Reeves is currently a Professorial Fellow at Charles Darwin University and Deakin University where he works on collaborative research and cultural projects. A historian by training, he worked for many years in Australian museums and more recently as a senior advisor to Senator Kim Carr, then Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. He has published widely in the fields of labour and industrial history and material culture studies. Coauthor, with Anne Stephen, of Badges of Labour, Banner of Pride, a pioneering study of the place of banners and celebration in the Australian labour movement, his most recent book is a history of the mineworkers in Vic0toria's black coal industry, Up from the Underworld: Mineworkers and Community in Wonthaggi, 1909-1968.