People Australia

William (Bill) Frame (1907-1987) ironworker, trade union official and Communist 

Birth: 24 August 1907 at Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of William Frame (1881-1963), mine under-manager, and Jemina Mary, née Valentine (1882-1948). Marriages: (1) July 1929 at Lithgow, New South Wales, to Martha Smith (1910-1929). They had one son. (2) 30 January 1934 at the Congregational Church, Wollongong, NSW, to Florence Simpson (1908-1975), born at Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 30 September 1987 in Royal North Shore Hospital, North Sydney; usual residence Balgownie, Wollongong. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Arrived in Australia about 1925. Was an ironworker at Lithgow in 1929.
• In 1932 transferred to Port Kembla, delegate from Spin Pipe Department.
• Assistant Secretary, Federated Ironworkers’ Association (FIA), Port Kembla, from 1937 to 1943, in wake of Annabel Strike, looking after office work.
• Secretary of FIA, Port Kembla, 1943-1952.
• Long term Communist Party of Australia member and South Coast District Committee member for several years. In 1941 stood as State Labor candidate against Australian Labor Party candidate, receiving 17% of vote.
• Successfully dampened down industrial militancy during World War II.
• Teetotaler, but accessible to union members in popular Steelworks Hotel run by Lindsay family.
• Prominent in 1945 strike, organising relief for strikers. Organising munitions workers in Western Australia in 1945 when Balmain FIA dissidents attempted to address meetings.
• Local popularity assisted the outmaneuvering of Groupers, who retained him due to skills as court advocate.
• Believed that ballot rigging and innuendo that he was inebriated caused his defeat by Industrial Groups candidate by 6 votes in 1952.
• Secretary of Taxi Co-operative, Wollongong. Secretary/Manager Wollongong Workers’ Club. Outstanding personal skills as meeting convenor.
• Competent tennis player.
• Cause of death: carcinoma (metastatic) and carcinoma of pancreas.

Sources
Information from Sally Bowen and Bill Frame (son) 1992; Illawarra Mercury, 1 October 1987; United States National Archives, Labor Attache’s Report No. 47, 22 May 1947; Beverley Firth, ‘The industrialisation of Wollongong with special reference to Australian Iron and Steel Proprietary Limited 1926-1976’, PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 1986.