<P> The eight - hour day might have been realised for many working people in the US in 1937, when what became the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S. Code Chapter 8) was first proposed under the New Deal . As enacted, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented about twenty percent of the US labour force . In those industries, it set the maximum workweek at 40 hours, but provided that employees working beyond 40 hours a week would receive additional overtime bonus salaries . </P> <P> In Puerto Rico in May 1899, while under US administration, General George W. Davis acceded to Island demands and decreed freedom of assembly, speech, press, religion and an eight - hour day for government employees . </P> <P> The Australian gold rushes attracted many skilled tradesmen to Australia . Some of them had been active in the chartism movement, and subsequently became prominent in the campaign for better working conditions in the Australian colonies . The eight - hour day began in 1856 in the month of May . </P> <P> The Stonemasons' Society in Sydney issued an ultimatum to employers on 18 August 1855 saying that after six months masons would work only an eight - hour day . Due to the rapid increase in population caused by the gold rushes, many buildings were being constructed, so skilled labour was scarce . Stonemasons working on the Holy Trinity Church and the Mariners' Church (an evangelical mission to seafarers), decided not to wait and pre-emptively went on strike, thus winning the eight - hour day . They celebrated with a victory dinner on 1 October 1855 which to this day is celebrated as a Labour Day holiday in the state of New South Wales . When the six - month ultimatum expired in February 1856, stonemasons generally agitated for a reduction of hours . Although opposed by employers, a two - week strike on the construction of Tooth's Brewery on Parramatta Road proved effective, and stonemasons won an eight - hour day by early March 1856, but with a reduction in wages to match . </P>

When did the 8 hour work day start in australia