People Australia

Reg Groth, n.d.

Reginald William (Reg) Groth (1914-1994) railway employee, trade union official and parliamentarian

Birth: 1 February 1914 at Horsham, Victoria, son of native-born parents James Henry (Harry) Groth (1882-1972), farmer, later labourer, and Australian Workers' Union pioneer, and Nellie May, née Plush (1880-1969). Marriage: about 1956 probably at Adelaide, South Australia, to Dorothy Vera Mayo (1928-2007). He had four sons. Death: 20 March 1994 in a nursing home at Salisbury, Adelaide; usual residence Frost Road, Salisbury. 

• Employed with the Commonwealth Railways in South Australia, beginning as a casual porter at Quorn in 1936, working as a shunter then guard before he resigned on 16 December 1945.
• Most of his working life was spent as an Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) member and representative. From 1955 to 1970 he was an organiser with the SA Branch. From 1960 to 1969 he was vice-president; president from 1969.
• A supporter of branch secretary-elect Donald Newton Cameron, in 1965 Groth and Cameron along with nine other officials were expelled from the AWU by Tom Dougherty for alleged breach of rules.
• Reinstated after successful appeal using affavadits prepared by Clyde Cameron, presented by Roma Mitchell QC.
• Elected Australian Labor Party member of the State House of Assembly for Salisbury on 30 May 1970. Served on several parliamentary committees. Left parliament on 14 September 1978.
• Cause of death: cerebro vascular accident.

Sources
Mark Hearn and Harry Knowles, A history of the Australian Workers Union 1886-1994 (Melbourne, 1996); Bill Guy, A life on the left: A biography of Clyde Cameron (Kent Town, SA,  1999; Australian Worker (included in Labor News) Spring 1994.