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Kōrero: Otago region

The sweating crusade, 1892

Image
The sweating crusade, 1892

The working conditions of women workers in clothing factories in Dunedin and other centres attracted criticism in the late 1880s and early 1890s, when employers wanted to cut costs because business was slow. The Tailoresses’ Union was set up in response. This cartoon shows union secretary Harriet Morison crusading against ‘sweating’ – badly paid work in poor conditions.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: H-713-106

by William Blomfield

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Malcolm McKinnon, Otago region – Workers until 1920, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/cartoon/22666/the-sweating-crusade-1892 (accessed 24 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Malcolm McKinnon, i tāngia i te 18 August 2009, updated 1 May 2015.