People Australia

Robert Gibson (Bob) Heggen, also known as Heggan (1909-2005) labourer, ironworker, trade unionist and Communist

Birth: 29 December 1909 at Balmain South, Sydney, New South Wales, son of Frederick Raymond Heggen (1873-1964), a mariner, later labourer, born at Temple-Effin, Island Magee, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and Jessie Margaret, née Thomson (1881-1954), born at Moruya, NSW. On Robert’s birth registration his father’s place of birth is given as Balmain, NSW. Marriage: 12 November 1938 at St Oswald’s Anglican Church, Haberfield, Sydney, to Alma Bessie Mason (1910-1992), born at Grafton, NSW. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 8 January 2005 at Wollongong, NSW. 

• Bob’s paternal grandfather William (1846-1928) had moved to Australia with his wife and elder children about 1880 and lived at Balmain in Sydney. William and his son Robert, were seamen, the latter working on ships in NSW waters in the 1890s and later in the dredge service.
• By 1938 Bob was a labourer living at Fairy Meadow, in the Illawarra district, NSW. After his marriage, he and Alma lived for many years at Smith Street, Fairy Meadow. The couple organised activities such as flower shows and dances for the local branch of the Red Cross.
• Bob was a member of the rank and file committee of the Federated Ironworkers Association. From about 1941 he worked at Metal Manufacturers Ltd at Port Kembla, NSW, and was the union delegate at the plant.
• In 1942 he joined the Communist Party of Australia and was active in its Fairy Meadow branch, involving himself in the branch’s theatre group. He sold hundreds of the CPA’s Tribune newspaper on the job, and was prominent in producing the CPA bulletin, Copper Tag.
• In the 1950s and 1960s he was prominent in the struggle against the Industrial groupers within the Port Kembla branch of the union and welcomed the defeat of the opposing forces in 1970-1971.
• He retired in 1974 and was president of the Retired Ironworkers’ Association and delegate to the South Coast Labor Council. He was also “the hardworking publicity officer” for the southern area council of the Combined Pensioners Association.