Augusta Zadow teams with Mary Lee to fight scourge of sweatshop conditions in 1890s Adelaide factories
Augusta Zadow was a major force behind forming the Working Women’s Trades Union in South Australia in 1890. At right: Zadow's death in 1896 marked in a front-page tribute by The Weekly Herald, official newspaper of the Trades and Labor Council, United Labor Party and Democratic Societies of South Australia.
Augusta Zadow, who worked closely with suufragist Mary Lee, became South Australia’s first “inspectress under the Factories Act” in 1894, checking on working conditions for women and minors.
Christiane Susanne Augustine (Augusta) Zadow from Runkel, Ducky of Naussau, was educated at Wiesbaden and, on a scholarship, at the Ladies' Seminary, Biebrich-on-Rhine.
She became a companion and governess, travelling through Germany, France, Russia, Siberia and England. Just over four feet tall, she was fluent in several languages. Having seen women reduced to "veritable beasts of burden", on settling in London in 1868, she worked as a tailoress and helped oppressed female clothing workers in the East End. Here, she met her husband, Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Zadow, a tailor and a political refugee from Germany. Seeking a just society, they embarked with their three-year-old son in the Robert Lees as assisted migrants bound for Adelaide. Arriving in 1877, they lived in the suburb of Goodwood.
Zadow became an advocate for women working in Adelaide clothing factories and she was a major force behind forming the Working Women’s Trades Union in 1890. With Mary Lee and David Charleston, she drew of list of fair wages and prices.
With Lee, she also was a strong supporter of the Women’s Suffrage League. With women securing the vote in 1894, premier George Kingston appointed Zadow as inspector to back up his Factories Act.
Zadow died from haematemesis in 1896, while preparing a report on the Factories Act. Agnes Milne took over as inspector. The Augusta Zadow Scholarship is still awarded to individuals involved with women’s health and safety.
In 1900, the Sweating League was formed to rid the “sweating” system from male and female jobs. After a parliament committee in 1904 looked at the “alleged sweating evil”, a board was formed to regulate the wages of women and girls.