People Australia

Walter (‘Watty’) Doig (1900-1987), coalminer, and Communist activist 

Birth: 18 October 1900 in Slamannan, County of Stirling, Scotland, son of Walter Doig, master painter, and Susan, née Hale. Marriage: 1 September 1928 in South Richmond, Victoria, with Presbyterian forms, to Agnes McIlwain Smith. They had three sons and three daughters. Death: 15 July 1987 at Wonthaggi, Victoria. 

• Was a coalminer in Scotland and involved in struggles during and immediately after First World War. Widely read and ‘truly a working class intellectual’.
• Left Scotland for Australia in 1927. Worked in few small Victorian gold mines and as labourer, intending to return to Scotland. Arrival of Agnes Smith from Scotland preempted this plan.
• Watty and Agnes were inseparable for 60 years, largely associated with Wonthaggi, Victoria, and ultimately with Agnes was subject of film Strikebound.
• Communist Party of Australia member and organiser, coal miner and militant unionist but never sought union or political leadership positions. ‘Watty’s greatest skill was in inducing self-confidence in his fellow workers and comrades’.
• Cause of death cardiac arrest, having suffered hypertension and cardiac failure for years.

Sources
Tribune, 22 July 1987; Common Cause, 12 August 1987; information from E. Ross, 1990.