The North Australian Workers' Union (NAWU) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

between 1927 and 1972. It was a publisher of a newsletter in Darwin, the ''

Northern Standard The ''Northern Standard'', also known by the uniform title ''Northern standard (Darwin, N.T.)'', was a newspaper published in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 1920 or 1921 to 1955. The paper was published by the North Australian Wor ...

''. The union was involved in

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

' working conditions on

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stat ...

s in the 1960s. In 1965 the Union applied to the

Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and from 1973 to 1988 as the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, was a tribunal with powers ...

to amend the Northern Territory’s pastoral award to remove sections discriminating against Aboriginal workers. The pastoralists resisted strongly; the Commission eventually agreed, but in consideration of the pastoralists' concerns of what it would cost them, delayed implementation by three years. This delay helped lead towards the

Gurindji strike The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle sta ...

(Wave Hill walk-off). The union was deregistered in 1972.

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