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Biographical entry Healy, James (1898 - 1961)

Born
22 March 1898
Manchester, England
Died
13 July 1961
Occupation
Trade Union - Official

Summary

Born West Gorton, Manchester, England, Healy fought in the First World War, receiving a medical discharge in 1918. He emigrated to Queensland with his wife and sons in 1925. He was elected to the local committee of management of the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia [WWF] in 1928 and appointed to the trades and labor council at Mackay in 1929. That same year, he began his term as branch president of the WWF.

In 1937 he was elected General Secretary of the WWF and became founding editor of the national journal, The Maritime Worker. From 1942 to 1949, he was a member of the Stevedoring Industry Commission and from 1946 to 1955 oversaw the absorption of the rival Permanent & Casual Wharf Laborers' Union of Australia into the WWF.

In 1957, he was appointed to the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

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Archival resources

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Dutchy Young interviewed by Richard Raxworthy in the Labor Council of New South Wales oral history project, 1986?, ORAL TRC 1948/8; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
  • Interview with Ted Bull, Communist, trade unionist, Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Waterside Workers Federation, 1967-1979 - interviewer, Barry York, 1988, ORAL TRC 2375; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

University of Wollongong Archives

  • Albert Smith and Ray Elliot - 'Dalfram Dispute', 1938 - 1939, B12; University of Wollongong Archives. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

  • Markey, Ray and Svensen, Stuart, 'Healy, James', in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 14, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 421-423. Details

Ross G. Elford

Created: 4 October 2001, Last modified: 5 July 2010