People Australia

Cullinan, John Martin (Jack) (c.1871-1951) shearer, trade union official, Communist 

Birth: probably c.1871 Dungarvan, Ireland son of John Cullinan, store and hotel keeper, and Mary Ahern. Never Married. Death: 7 July 1951 in Callan Park hospital, Lilyfield, Sydney. 

• To Australia as youth and trained as teacher.
• 1890 became itinerant shearer, took prominent part in 1891 and 1894 strikes, Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) pioneer and active in Australian Labor Party.
• Organiser for AWU, Bourke branch, for 7 years. Closely allied with Arthur Rae in these initiatives.
• Anti-conscriptionist during WWI, again working closely with Rae. AWU organiser, Armidale, but fell foul of right-wing leadership of union for exposing fraudulence and became ‘the most detested rebel of …all’. Apparently carried revolver to protect himself from AWU right-wing.
• Contested ALP preselection for the House of Representative seat of Gwydir in 1919 but was defeated by L. L. Cunningham, who won the seat.
• Removed from position with AWU Western (Armidale) Branch by administrative fiat. Found work on waterfront, joining Waterside Workers’ Federation.
• In 1948 joined Communist Party of Australia as it was ‘the only party that is honest in my eyes’.
• Cause of death: myocardial degeneration and arteriosclerosis. Old age pensioner in 1951, Death registered under the name Cullivan.

Sources
Ernest Lane, Dawn to Dusk (1939), chapter XX; joins CPA, Tribune (Sydney), 13 October 1948, p 4-5 [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208112781]; Common Cause, 21 July 1951.