People Australia

William (Willie) Duncan (1894-1973) labourer, chemical worker, trade union official, industrial attaché in Russia 

Birth: 1894 at Footscary, Melbourne, Victoria, son of Richard Duncan (1866-1958), a labourer, later timekeeper, born at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, and his first wife, native-born Stella, née Stiles (1862-1904). Marriage: 1920 at Melbourne, to Daisy May Hagan (1897-1965). They had one daughter. Death: 10 September 1973 at Yarravile, Melbourne. Religion: Anglican. 

• Was a labourer, living at Yarraville, Melbourne, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 27 April 1917. Served as a gunner in the 36th Australian Heavy Artillery Brigade in France from April 1918 to July 1919.
• Granted leave from July to September 1919 to study general farming and sheep breeding at Tutshill, Barnstaple, Devon, England. Returned to Australia aboard the Port Denison in November 1919 and was discharged in Victoria on 13 December 1919.
• Resumed work as a labourer and by 1928 was a chemical worker. Elected general secretary of Federated Artificial Fertilisers and Chemical Worker’s Union. 1929 union delegate to Trades Union Congress. Employed by Cuming Smith & Co Pty Ltd, Yarraville.
• In 1942 was appointed by Curtin government as industrial attaché in the Australian Legation to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, first at the temporary capital Kuybyshev and later in Moscow. The mission was led by his lifelong-friend William Slater. The Argus reported that Duncan’s industrial unionism experience “will prove a valuable link in fostering a spirit of co-operation with Russian workers”. Others in the delegation included Keith Officer, Professor W. M. Crawford, John Fisher, Miss I. Saxby and Mrs Fisher. Later Jim Maloney replaced Slater.
• Duncan returned to Australia in 1945. Back in Australia, he, like Maloney, spoke critically about the Soviet regime. In a speech to Footscray rotarians he described it as “the most vicious and ruthless that the world has ever seen”, with “fifteen million people enslaved in Siberia”. He also delivered an address to the New South Wales branch of the Royal Empire Society reported in detail by Tribune in 1948 as ”anti-Soviet abuse”.
• Described as a “public servant” living with family at Yarraville in electoral rolls from 1949 to 1972.
• Cause of death: myocardial infarct and open prostatectomy.

Sources
Information from David Widdowson, 2000.