People Australia

Michael Hurd, n.d.

Michael (Mick) Hurd (c.1940-1988) “burser” and storeman 

Birth: 1940 at Auckland, New Zealand, son of Ronald William Jackson Hurd (1909-1973), seaman and trade union secretary, and Patricia Devanny (1913-1980), political activist. Marriage: about 1961 at Fremantle, Western Australia, to Joan Elena Smith. They had one son and one daughter. Death: 9 February 1988 in hospital at Westmead, Sydney; usual residence Solander road, Kings Langley, Sydney.

• Came to Australia with his parents about 1943.
• Worked on shore after his wedding. Lived at Seven Hills, Sydney.
• Victim of ‘blue asbestos’. He died before his case for compensation got before the courts. This meant that his wife had to take an out-of-court settlement, which could not be improved on through Australian litigation laws after his death. The union estimated that this would have been about $200 000 less than what could have been gained through the courts had he lived that long.
• Death certificate gave “burser” as his occupation. Cause of death: malignant mesothelioma of pleura and hypercalcaemia.

Sources
Seamen’s Journal, May 1988.