People Australia

Harold William Foster (1906-1977) bank officer and trade union official 

Birth: 1906 at Malvern, Victoria, son of Frank George Foster (1869-1951), a civil servant born in London, England, and native-born Jessie Elizabeth, née Cook (1874-1939). Marriages: (1) 1934 at Hopetoun, Victoria, to Phyllis Doreen (Phyl) Gray (1913-1938). They had one son. (2) 1940 at St Kilda, Victoria, to Una McVeigh Ward (1914-1971). (3) 11 September 1974 at Melbourne Registry Office to a widow Mary Lillian (Molly), née Chesswas, late Taylor (1911-1998). Death: 25 June 1977 at Lorne, Victoria. Religion: Anglican. 

• Educated at high schools at Mildura and Daylesford, where his father worked as clerk of courts. Harold joined National Bank of Australasia in 1922 serving in many city and country branches.
• In 1939 he transferred to Brisbane, Queensland, and first took an active interest in bank officers’ union when elected to State council of United Bank Officers’ Association of Queensland.
• Returned to Victoria, where he assisted in reforming sub-branches of the Australian Bank Officials’ Association (ABOA) in Warrnambool in 1942 and Bendigo in 1945.
• Delegate to federal conference and represented South Australian branch.
• In 1953 elected general president of the ABOA serving for fifteen years until retirement in 1969.
• Cause of death: bronchopneumonia and cerebrovascular disease.

Sources
Australian Bank Officer, May 1969; The Bankers’ Journal, February 1949, February/March 1953, Special Issue, 1954; Merrifield papers, LaTrobe Library, Melbourne.