People Australia

Ted Bull, Herarld & Weekly Times, 1967

State Library of Victoria, 49345068

Albert Edward John Patrick (Ted) Bull (1914-1997) waterside worker, trade union official and Communist

Birth: 29 January 1914 at Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, son of native- born parents Edward [or Edwin] Watkins [or Watkis] Bull (1876-1925), a wharf labourer, and Ida Maud, née Roberts (1884-1975). Marriages: (1) 2 April 1935 at St Brigid’s Catholic Church, North Fitzroy, to Winifred Doreen Sybil Wright (1914-2003). They had two sons before the marriage ended in divorce in October 1950. (2) 6 November 1950 at the Government Statist Office, Melbourne, to native-born Helen Irene (Nellie) Lacey (1918-1993). They had two daughters and a son. Death: 11 December 1997 at Melbourne. Religion: [on service record] Catholic. 

• After the early death of his father and leaving school at the age of 14 he was employed in a tobacco factory and in the Depression worked at various occupations in other States though he returned regularly to his family in Melbourne.
• Influenced by speeches by Ralph Gibson and Jack Blake, he joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1933.
• He was a labourer when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 27 January 1942 and served a driver in the 2/42 Australian Transport Platoon. After serving in Malaya to help repatriate prisoners of war, he was discharged in Victoria on 21 January 1946. In 1950 his occupation was barman. He held several jobs before becoming a wharfie.
• In 1953 Bull was elected vigilance officer of the Waterside Workers’ Federation, Melbourne branch, part of a ticket succeeding branch executive previously run by Groupers. He held office of secretary for more than 20 years.
• Bull was a foundation member of the breakaway Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) in 1964. A hardline Maoist, he held the line against containerisation and opposed permanency in the work force.
• In 1979 he retired from branch secretary’s position. He supported Maoist colleagues in the Builders’ Labourers’ Federation in the 1980s.
• Involved in Australia-China Friendship Society, he was active in numerous community campaigns in Melbourne. 

Sources
Maritime Worker, August 1979; Vanguard, 28 January 1998; Margo Beasley, Wharfies: The History of the Waterside Workers’ Federation (Rushcutters Bay, 1996).