People Australia

Gerald Macadam (Gerry) Dawson (1905-1979) carpenter, trade union official and Communist

Birth: 15 July 1905 at South Brisbane, Queensland, son of Jams Cresent Reagh (Cress) Dawson (1874-927), a labourer, born at Stafford, Westland, New Zealand, and Queensland-born Anna Maria, née Ott (1874-1950). Marriage: 18 February 1928 at the Congregational Church, South Brisbane, to Queensland-born Gladys Pokarier (1908-1958), a waitress. They had two daughters and two sons. Death: 18 May 1979 at Annerley, Brisbane. 

• Gerry was apprenticed as carpenter. He was active in relief work struggles in Queensland and anti-fascist agitation during the 1930s.
• Initially an Australian Labor Party member, she was secretary of the Dutton Park branch. In 1940 he joined the Communist Party of Australia and was a member of the Queensland CPA executive for many years.
• Elected job delegate and in 1942, became a full-time official of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (Building Workers’ Industrial Union) and union delegate to Queensland Trades and Labor Council.
• In the late 1940s he was industrial advocate for Queensland Trades & Labor Council, arguing cases on basic wage and annual leave. He was “at his best when … tearing a jagged strip off arbitration, its basic wage niggardliness, its pomposities”.
• He was secretary of the Queensland Building Group; member of BTD apprenticeship committee for 21 years. National president of the Building Workers’ Industrial Union (BWIU) for 14 years and Queensland State secretary for 27 years.
• Member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions for 12 years. In 1956 led BWIU delegation to China.
• Voiced early warnings about asbestos. He was an ‘aggressive and tough man’, ‘tart in speech’ with a ‘rasping voice’. Retired in 1969.
• Suffered severely from Parkinson’s disease in his last years. 

Sources
Building Worker, June-July 1979; Socialist, 6 June 1979; Tribune (Sydney), 22 October 1969, 30 May 1979.