Kiwi born photographer Oliver Strewe and author Blanche D'Alpuget combined to produce The Workers , a record of men and women toiling throughout the nation , part of Australia's 1988 Bicentenary celebrations.
Strewe had covered the Portuguese withdrawal from Portuguese Timor , independence ceremonies of New Guinea and Vanuatu, photographed the production of ceramics in China for the Department of Foreign Affairs , produced a book, Bondi, and became a founding member of Wildlife Photo Agency .
In the case of journalist and author D'Alpuget , she lived in Indonesia in 1966 and Malaysia , wrote the highly acclaimed novels Monkeys in the Dark and Turtle Beach and the biographies of Sir Richard Kirby and Bob Hawke ; on marrying Hawke she became a member of the working team dubbed B1 and B2 after Bananas in Pyjamas.