Coastal traffic grew, and copper was first mined at Mount Perry in 1871, which enabled Bundaberg to develop as a port and supply centre.

Queensland workers recognised the value in a strong united union movement and formed the Australian Labour Federation (ALF), a combined industrial and political organisation.

[1][7] The 1911 Queensland sugar strike occurred after the phasing out of South Sea Islander labour, with workers claiming that many plantation owners had substituted black slaves with white ones.

McCormack, who had been chairman of the Townsville strike committee, could see that the failure was due to the inability of the ALF to co-ordinate statewide action and conciliatory negotiations.

[1][11] As a precursor to the formation of the Australia-wide Australian Workers Union, McCormack and Theodore attended the AWU national conference in Sydney in 1912, and sought out interstate amalgamations.

The political affiliations of the AWA and subsequent AWU contributed to the election of the Labor government in Queensland in 1915, remaining in power for almost 40 years.

[1] Recognising the need for a formal meeting place for unionists, the Bundaberg Eight Hour Day committee approached the Lands Department in July 1919 for a site for a Trades Hall.

453) was drawn up by the Lands Department to the union trustees, for the northern half of the allotment on the western corner of Quay and Maryborough Streets, allowing a building to be erected on the site.

A meeting in May at the Brisbane Trades Hall, addressed by the Queensland AWU Branch President AW Riordan, sought support for a union representing the whole of Australasia.

He began his working life driving a parcel delivery van,[22] and became a representative of the Australian Carrier's Union in the Gladstone district in his youth.

Following its re-election in 1933, the partnership of Premier Forgan Smith and secretary of the AWU Clarrie "the red terror" Fallon, emerged as one of the most powerful political teams in Queensland history.

[1][31] The growing strength of the union, led Central Branch Secretary Clarrie Fallon to write to the Minister for Lands in 1945 seeking to purchase part of the Bundaberg property of the Trades and Labour Council to establish an office for the AWU.

[17] A new lease for the property (Lot 14) was drawn up in January 1947 under the names of the executive of the TLC, and then transferred to the AWU Branch Trustees, Clarence Edward Fallon, James William McCarter and John Alfred Moir on 21 March 1947.

[39] Goodsir and Carlyle were part of a group of modernist architects producing functionalist designs often found in hospitals, schools, and offices in the 1950s.

Governments and councils preferred this style, as its association with progress, innovation, efficiency and economy, made it an appealing choice in the post-depression era.

Characteristics of the functionalist style in Australia include asymmetrical massing, simple geometric shapes, clean lines, steel framed corner and strip windows, undecorated brick walls, curved external corners, flat cantilevered concrete awnings and low pitched or flat roofs concealed behind parapets.

According to the newspaper, the city had experienced a ten percent growth in the construction of industrial and commercial buildings during the 1952 calendar year, including fourteen new factories, a foundry, a number of auto maintenance businesses and eighteen new shops.

For example, District Secretary Gerry Goding travelled to Monto, Eidsvold, Cracow, Theodore, Biloela and Mount Perry in early November 1954.

The hall featured a stage and dressing rooms, and a small kitchen area, demonstrating the intent to derive income from its rental.

The local council used Fallon House Hall as an immunisation clinic during the week and in the late 60s, dances were held on weekends, as were other functions such as wedding receptions.

New ventures evolved, including the production of sugar harvesting and other agricultural machinery, which led to a decline in AWU memberships as the role of canecutters diminished.

[56] During 2009 the sugar industry again dominated the union's activities in Bundaberg, with members shut out of the Bingera and Millaquin mills after striking to protect leave entitlements.

The building sits on the eastern half of a rectangular 933-square-metre (10,040 sq ft) allotment with a grassed yard occupying the remainder of the site.

The coved ceiling consists of a grid of large, square sheets with timber cover strips, hanging fluorescent lights, and a long central feature panel ventilation grille.

[1] The toilet blocks have polished concrete floors, fibrous plaster sheet walls and ceilings, with timber coverstrips and cornices.

It is important in demonstrating the evolution of workers' history in Queensland and the influential contribution that the union movement has made to the development of the state.

[1] The site is associated with significant early union activity to improve workers' conditions in Bundaberg and Central Queensland, including the Eight Hour Day movement and the AWU from 1923.

The internal layout of the building illustrates its function, with office spaces for union organisers, administrative staff and district secretary.

Fallon House exhibits aesthetic characteristics of a well composed modernist building, highly intact both internally and externally, contributing to the streetscape of Quay Street Bundaberg.

Constructed at the time the union was at its peak in Queensland, the place demonstrates the work of the AWU in providing a purpose-built district office to serve their members.