People Australia

Robert Golightly Allen (1899-1969) coalminer, wharf labourer and journalist

Birth: 22 September 1899 in Ashington, Northumberland, England, son of William Allen, master tailor, and Mary, née Parker, or Golightly. Marriage: 10 December 1926 at Waverley, Sydney, New South Wales, to Lela Laura Davison. They had one daughter. Death: 2 August 1969 at Corrimal, New South Wales.

• Worked as a miner in England. Arrived in Australia aboard RMS Benalla on 25 May 1925.
• 1926, dismissed from South Bulli colliery for ‘persistent defiance of management’. 
• Militant Minority Movement (MMM) militant.
• 1928, prominent in organisation of One Big Union (OBU) of the Unemployed among displaced coalminers, and ‘known agitator against constitutional government’.
• 1930, journalist with Labor Daily, Illawarra, sympathetically covering strikes and 1931 Bulli dole riot. Replaced by J.T. Lang when criticisms of government became too strident.
• 1934, organiser of anti-eviction housing reform movement for unemployed in Illawarra. Outspoken in 1934 local government elections in which he regarded rivals as New Guard supporters.
• 1938, admitted to membership of Waterside Workers' Federation.

Sources
Len Richardson, The Bitter Years: Wollongong during the Great Depression (Sydney, c.1984).