People Australia

Ivey, John Henry (Harry) (1853-1936) engine driver, trade union official and mayor

Baptised: on 15 May 1853 at Gwennap, Cornwall, England, son of Thomas Ivey (1827-1907), blacksmith, and Susanna, née Moyle (1830-1906). Marriage: 24 January 1885 at Kapunda, South Australia, to Harriett Mutton (1865-1944), born at St Neots, Cornwall, England. They had four daughters and two sons. Death: 31 May 1936 at North Sydney, New South Wales.

• Left school in England aged 11. Arrived in Adelaide, South Australia, on 12 October 1865 aboard the barque Adamant with parents and siblings, who settled at Kapunda.
• Obtained work at Port Adelaide. Worked in charge of condensing plant and winches on immigrant ship Hesperus.
• Went back to England about 1871, then migrated to United States of America, where he worked on the Chicago division of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. Returned to Kapunda about 1875.
• Moved to Broken Hill about 1888. Foundation member of Barrier Ranges Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association; president on three occasions and secretary for many years.
• Elected alderman of Broken Hill Council for Burke ward in 1901. Mayor, 1904 to 1905, and from 1908 to 1909, during which he acted as bondsman for Tom Mann.
• Prominent activist in 1908-09 lock-out and strike, leading mass processions as Mayor. In 1909 his name was removed from the roll of Justices of the Peace. He left Broken Hill about 1913 to live in North Sydney.
• One son William James Pote Ivey (1890-1917), a clerk, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 15 June 1916 at Broken Hill, and was killed in action serving with the 40th Battalion at Messines, Belgium, on 7 June 1917.
• Was a member of the Independent Order of Rechabites for seventy years.
• Brother of Thomas Ivey.

Sources
Edgar Ross, A history of the Miners' Federation of Australia ([Sydney], 1970); H. J. Gibbney & Ann G. Smith, A Biographical Register 1788-1939, vol 1, (Canberra, 1987); Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill), 6 September 1933; 9 December 1944; Barrier Miner (Broken Hill), 15 February 1908, obituary, 1 June 1936, p 3.