Survived by his wife, he died on 2 April 1970 at Reservoir and was cremated. Between 19 he had made four attempts to enter the New South Wales, Commonwealth and Victorian parliaments, standing once as a socialist, twice as an A.L.P. Strongly anti-communist since the 1930s, Riley was one of the delegates of the 'old', right-wing Victorian executive refused admission to the A.L.P.'s federal conference in Hobart in 1955, and one of the few non-Catholics to align himself with the Democratic Labor Party (State president 1960-61). A widower from 1940, he married Annie Elliott Warn, a 37-year-old housekeeper, on 17 July 1943 at St Luke's Anglican Church, Fitzroy. In January 1942 he was appointed an adviser to (Sir) Douglas Copland, the Commonwealth prices commissioner. Riley was a member of the Victorian Advisory Committee on Price Fixing (from 1939) and of its successor, the Victorian Prices Decontrol Advisory Committee (until 1954). Frank McManus, a Riley protégé, recalled his mentor as 'a wily tactician' who-as chairman of the agenda committee at various conferences-was 'followed like the tail of a comet by delegates who wanted some item on the agenda that Fred did not'. President of the Trades Hall Council in 1931-32, he was president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1941-42. According to one observer, he was 'the most subtle and charming propagandist at Melbourne Trades Hall'.įrom the mid-1920s Riley was a powerful force in the Victorian labour movement. He proved an effective defender of the interests of a largely female rank and file. After the unions had appointed him (1919) to collect evidence for the Commonwealth royal commission on the basic wage, his career took a crucial turn in 1922 when he became secretary of the Manufacturing Grocers' Employees' Federation of Australia and of its Victorian branch. In a civil ceremony at 362 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, on 27 April 1920 he married Alice Ann Warburton, née Large, a 44-year-old divorcee and fellow organizer of strike relief. He helped to collect and distribute more than £10,000 in relief, and to negotiate a settlement of the dispute. In 1919 he took part in the Melbourne waterfront strike. Riley was a founding member (1918) of the Y Club, a discussion group of socialists and rationalists, which he later served as secretary. A 'large, thick-set man' with a prominent chin, he frequently found himself involved in brawls for leading anti-conscription rallies he was often fined, even when he tried to protect Vida Goldstein and other women speakers from being attacked by off-duty soldiers. In 1916 he became secretary of the Victorian council of the Australian Peace Alliance. He moved to Adelaide before settling in Melbourne.
#Bobby riley white pages georgia free
At Wollongong in 1914, while defending the principle of free speech, he ignored a policeman's directive to cease addressing a public meeting and 'move on': he refused to pay the fine, and was gaoled for a week.
In Sydney, Riley associated with Harry Holland in socialist agitation. Young Fred left Hindmarsh State School at the age of 12 and worked as a labourer in every mainland State except Western Australia. His father was a leading trade unionist, a pioneering Labor Party activist and a municipal councillor. Frederick John Riley (1886-1970), political activist and trade unionist, was born on at Stirling, South Australia, eldest of six children of Frederick Riley, blacksmith, and his wife Susannah, née Williams.
0 kommentar(er)
