E NEWS 30TH OCTOBER 2026
Hi! I am standing in for Fei who is on Sick Leave till next week.
I hope you had a good Labour Weekend, with time for relaxation, family time, concerts, pictures, walks or…….. But I wonder if you gave a thought to Samuel Parnell.
Samuel Parnell achieved fame as the founder of the eight-hour working day in New Zealand, a right he had fought for as a carpenter at Petone in early 1840. Today his name is often linked with Labour Day, which has been celebrated as a holiday since 1900.
“Parnell was born in London, where as a young man he worked at a large joinery. Shortly after his marriage in September 1839, he left for New Zealand on the Duke of Roxburgh, arriving at Britannia (Petone) beach on 8 February 1840. Among Parnell’s fellow passengers was a shipping agent, George Hunter, who asked the carpenter to build him a store. Parnell’s response has entered New Zealand folklore:
“I will do my best, but I must make this condition, Mr. Hunter, that on the job the hours shall only be eight for the day … There are twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves. I am ready to start tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, but it must be on these terms or none at all.”
‘You know Mr. Parnell,’ Hunter replied, ‘that in London the bell rang at six o’clock, and if a man was not there ready to turn to he lost a quarter of a day’. ‘We’re not in London’, said Parnell. With few tradesmen in the young settlement, Hunter had little choice but to accept the carpenter’s terms. As Parnell later wrote, ‘the first strike for eight hours a-day the world has ever seen, was settled on the spot.’”
Other employers tried to impose longer hours, but Parnell enlisted the support of other workmen and informed those arriving on incoming ships of the local custom. In October 1840 a meeting of Wellington workmen apparently resolved to work eight hours a day, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. – anyone offending would be ducked into the harbour.
As the 50th jubilee of European settlement in New Zealand approached in 1890, the emerging trade union movement looked to its origins. Parnell was invited to write a short narrative of the introduction of the eight-hour day, and Wellington citizens formed a committee to honour him during the first annual Labour Day demonstration on 28 October 1890. Seated on a brake drawn by four horses, he headed the march to Newtown Park where he was heralded as ‘the father of the eight hours movement’.” (from New Zealand History; Samuel Parnell – on the internet)
The eight hour working day was to be a significant part of New Zealand society for many years.
But the story got forgotten and pressure came on for Saturday trading and then Sunday trading and workers needs for relaxation and family time was lost.
It’s what happens when the “stories” get forgotten. On Sunday I want to say a little more about this and also All Saints and All Souls Days. We will go a little deeper in exploring some of the issues – with the help of a piece of furniture!
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Kind Regards
Jim Cunningham
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/eab4d3718e33/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10143192
