Most strikers went back to work in November because they could not afford to continue. Support from nonstriking unionists dwindled. The Illawarra miners were among the stragglers that returned to work in January 1891. Many industries around the Tasman Sea ground to a halt. The strike caused much bitterness over the use both of strikebreakers and police. Governments employed armed military troops and special police in all the major ports of Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Dunedin. The strike coincided with the start of the "long depression" of the 1890s. Labor Party members won in subsequent elections starting in South Australia in January 1891. The Australian Labor Party did not form until Australian federation in 1901. The party's origins, however, date to 1891 and the formation of the NSW Labor Electoral League and the United Labor Party in South Australia. Between 1894 and 1919, Australasian state and national governments passed legislation that established a distinctive system of conciliation and arbitration. In the wake of the 1890 Maritime Strike, states established industrial tribunals for settling industrial issues and the sponsorship of trade unions.
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