People Australia

Matt Grealy, 1951

News (Adelaide), 12 January 1951, p 3

Matthew Darby (Matt) Grealy (1893-1964) wood machinist and trade union official

Birth: 8 August 1893 at Mobilong, Murray Bridge, Australia, sixth of eleven children of Patrick Grealy (1855-1925), labourer and railway employee, born in Galway, Ireland, and Margaret, née Welsh (1860-1939), born at Derwent Haugh, Durham, England. Marriage: 8 October 1919 at Adelaide, South Australia, to Mary Eileen Beatty (1893-1967). They had two daughters and four sons. Death: 9 February 1964 at Adelaide. Religion: Catholic. 

• Lifetime of service to Furniture Trades Union, first as a federal councillor in 1928. Long-standing member of the Australian Labor Party. Was Federated Furnishing Trade Society (South Australian branch) delegate to the Labor Conference in February 1931.
• South Australian branch secretary from 1939 to 1964 and had long terms as federal president and federal secretary, the position held at time of death.
• Represented union movement on SA Housing Trust and during World War II was a member of Furniture Trades Advisory Panel.
• Sometime president of the Adelaide Harriers Amateur Athletic Club.
• Cause of death: cerebral haemorrhage and hypertensive cardio vascular disease.
• Older brother Thomas Walter (Tom) Grealy (1883-1959) was ALP candidate for parliament on several occasions.
• His son Joseph Matthew Grealy (1926-2008), ED, AM, was a Catholic priest and industrial chaplain.

Sources
Furnishing Worker, 7 May 1964.