"In 1856 a group of workers, mostly stonemasons and other skilled building workers, won an eight-hour working day from their employers. Soon after, it became a widespread principle for building workers to work an eight-hour day without a reduction in their pay. It was widely celebrated as a world first and Australia became known as a 'workingman's paradise'. By the 1880s, thousands of people turned out for the marches that commemorated the winning of the Eight-hour Day." That's from the Museum of Victoria's website, on the history of the 8-hour day.

They add this important qualification: "However, only a minority of workers initially won the Eight-hour Day. Chinese and Aboriginal workers, women and children generally worked longer hours for less pay." And go on to provide some more details of the working conditions of those people, plus some interesting graphics from the times.

That's a qualification few others make when discussing the history of the 8-day, even ostensibly radical accounts.