Annual Processions

Stonemasons' prize winning float, 1906

Eight Hour Day processions were held annually on April 21 and in 1879 the Victorian government declared it a public holiday. The processions became the largest public celebrations for decades, as workers marched with elaborate banners, floats and bands through Melbourne and country towns, watched by tens of thousands of people.

In 1934 the Eight Hour Day was renamed Labour Day.

The 1930s Depression and Second World War brought about the decline of the marches, the final occurring in Melbourne in 1951.

In 1955 Moomba was introduced to replace what had begun a century earlier as a celebration of the Eight Hour Day.