The arrival in Port Kembla Harbour in 1938 of the grimy British Dalfram, to load pig-iron for Japan, coincided with Japan's barbarous war on China. At the time, Rupert Lockwood was a senior journalist and a communist. His book War on the Waterfront recalls a chapter in Australian history when 180 men in sweaty work singlets and hob-nailed boots sacrificed pay packets in favour of conscience.