People Australia

George Greenslade (1865-1941) coal miner, trade union leader, traveller and agent

Birth: 25 January 1865 at Huntley, Bendigo, Victoria, son of English-born parents John Greenslade (1829-1899), miner, from Holcombe Rogus, Devon, and Elizabeth, née Denton (1839-1877), from Chatham, Kent. Marriage: 1896 at Bagshot, Victoria, to Emma Weymouth (1876-1954). They had two daughters and one son. Death: 5 June 1941 in his residence at Hampton, Victoria. 

• Coalminer at Korumburra, Victoria, from 1893. Activist in Coal Creek lodge. Lodge delegate to Victorian Coal Miners' Association. Lodge check weighman prior to coal strike of 1903.
• Blackbanned by companies. Obtained employment as traveller. Went on a canvassing tour in support of Labor candidate Arthur A. Wilson for seat of Flinders in 1903 “travelling from place to place in a wagonette, in which will be carried a tent and cooking utensils”, speaking at every centre in the electorate.
• In 1905-1906 gave evidence to Victorian Royal Commission into the Coal Industry.
• He remained at Korumburra with his family, employed as a traveller and then an agent. Was a member of the committee of management of the Korumburra recreation reserve.
• In 1912 was member of delegation from Korumburra to minister for mines urging extension of area of coal workings. About 1914 the family moved to Footscray, Melbourne, where he worked as an agent.
• Cause of death: chronic myocarditis.

Sources
Outtrim News; Korumburra Times; Tocsin; 1906 Victorian RC into Coal Industry; information from M. Greenslade; P. D. Gardner, Too old to rat: the radical miners of South Gippsland 1893-1904 (Ensay, Victoria, 1994).