ROCKING THE FOUNDATIONS (1985)

Meet the ordinary workers who saved Sydney from the developers’ wrecking ball. Pat Fiske’s electrifying documentary follows the NSW Builders Labourers Federation – a union that used its collective power to prevent the destruction of Sydney’s historic areas, public parklands and harbour foreshore – defying developers, governments, and the very idea of what a union could be.  

Decades on, with equality shrinking and housing affordability in crisis, the dangerous idea at the heart of this film feels urgent again: collective power, wielded boldly, can still change a city. Essential viewing for every Sydney-sider.  

With introduction by the film maker.  

Directed by Pat Fiske, Australia, 1985, 92 min, PG 
Digitally restored by the National Film and Sound Archive 
Image: courtesy of Ronin Films