Colin Cleary's authoritative study on the Labor party and the union movement in regional Australia focussing on the Ballarat region in Victoria. This area has produced notable leaders including Prime Ministers Alfred Deakin and John Curtin, and more recently Victorian Premier Steve Bracks. Ballarat Labor was been sponsored by the AWU and launched by Steve Bracks on December 11th, 2007.

"Ballarat Labor – From Miner Hesitancy to Golden Age" is an enthralling history of the early hesitancy of the miner-support, the dominance of the AWU and its daily newspaper, The Evening Echo, edited by Jim Scullin, the defection of local Labor hero, Charlie McGrath, the capacity of the Agriculture Minister, Reg Pollard, to attract the farming-vote, the battles between left and right leading up to the 1955 ‘Split’ and the means of emergence from the wilderness to the present ‘Golden Age’.

"This rich and detailed study of the labour movement in Ballarat covers a wide range of activity maintained for more than a century. Reminding us of notable figures - Jim Scullin and Steve Bracks, W.G. Spence and Ted Rowe - and local stalwarts, it is a testament to their endeavour."

"This study weaves National, State and Local potitical events into a comprehensive history of electoral fortunes of a Labor Party in Central Victoria. Cleary's work enhances understanding of the diversity & dynamic creature that is the Australian LaborParty"