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Solidarity Park commemorates the union`s struggle against "The Third Wave" of industrial reform in West Australia.

Solidarity Park, formerly known as The Workers’ Embassy, is a landscaped park containing five memorial structures and is used as a place for remembrance, public protest, recreation and as a thoroughfare to Parliament House. All structures in the park were constructed in 1997 during the six month trade union occupation of the site as part of the Third Wave Campaign.

The Third Wave is regarded as one of the most significant labour struggles in West Australian history when the Liberal Government introduced legislation that would significantly restrict the ability of unions to protect members and the general community from unfair and exploitative employment practices.  

On 29 April 1997, 30,000 unionists and community supporters marched on Parliament House to demand the scrapping of these unjust laws. The Government rejected this demand. So, on 1 May - May Day - the site was pegged and legally claimed by unionists under the provisions of the Mining Act.

The unions co-ordinated a 6 month long, 24 hour a day, protest occupation of this site in defiance of the pending legislation and attempts by the Government to require union and community protesters ‘move on’. They refused to do so and, although the legislation was passed, it was never fully enacted for fear of further union backlash. The change of government in 2001 saw the laws repealed.

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