People Australia

Harry Davis, 1950

Horsham Times (Vic), 17 January 1950, p 5

Henry Owen (Harry ‘Brahma’) Davis (1900-1968) trade union official 

Birth: reputedly 3 March 1900 at Beechworth, Victoria, son of native-born parents Henry Owen Davis (1882-1918), farmer, and Sarah Isabella, née Scott (1869-1954). Marriage: 1927 in Victoria to native-born Helena Jean Drummond (1903-1981). Death: 1 October 1968. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• He was a stoker and gasfitter at Beechworth gas works when he attempted to enlist in the Royal Australian Navy in April 1917 but was not accepted as he was under age and did not have his parents’ consent.
• Australian Workers’ Union member for fifty years. Official of State branch (Victoria-Riverina) from 1934 to 1968. Served as secretary from 1945 to 1968.
• Federal president of the AWU from 1949-1964.
• Key figure in split within the Australian Labor Party in Victoria during 1950s, following disputes with Cain Labor government re margins for construction government workers and disputes with ALP executive.
• Nickname reflected pugnacious, bull-like physical build, perhaps also negotiating style.
• In 1961 waged a racist campaign against Immigration Reform Group and Asian immigration.
• Was a confidante of Tom Dougherty.
• cause of death: coronary occlusion (minutes); coronary atherosclerosis with ischaemic myocarditis (years); essential hypertension (years); nephrosclerosis and renal failure (years); chronic bronchitis (years).

Sources
Merrifield papers, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne; Mark Hearn and Harry Knowles, A history of the Australian Workers Union 1886-1994 (Melbourne, 1996); Bill Guy, A life on the left: a biography of Clyde Cameron (Kent Town, SA, 1999).