People Australia

Bertie Frederick Lake (1890-1976) farmer and Communist worker.

Birth: 25 March 1890 at Wigginton Bottom, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England son of George Robert Lake (1867-1936), carpenter, and Elizabeth, née Collier (b.1865). Marriage: 1924 in Perth, Western Australia, to Sarah Elizabeth (Saidie) Mills (1896-1956). Death 17 June 1976 at Inglewood, Perth, Western Australia. 

• Follower of Robert Blatchford in his youth. Attended socialist Sunday School at Watford, England, in the 1890s.
• In his youth he joined the British army, was a soldier in India and saw active service in the Persian Gulf.
• Emigrated from England to Australia in 1922. Was a farmer in Western Australia, forced off the land in 1936.
• Active in ‘Black Farms’ movement of 1930s. Expelled from Australian Labor Party in the 1930s because he was active in ‘Black Farms’ struggles.
• Joined the Communist Party of Australia in the 1930s and remained an active member until his death. Became committee member and secretary of the Council against Unemployment in the late 1930s with Eileen Perry.
• Prominent in the Movement against War and Fascism. A “farmer” in electoral rolls in the 1930s, he had no occupation in the 1940s, in the 1950s his occupation was shown as “machinist” then “caretaker”.
• A pensioner, he “worked full-time” with no payment for the CPA as one of its most active supporters, “selling Tribune, distributing leaflets and other publications, organising meetings and collecting signatures on petitions”. He “retired” at the age of 82 but continued to be actively interested in socialism until his death.
• Was a keen photographer, amateur sketcher and painter. Described as “a gentle Kiplingesque rank and filer with a streak of stubbornness and class awareness.”

Sources
Notes from interview with Vic and Justina Williams; ‘The First Furrough,’ pp. 148-151; John (Rivo) and Pat Gandini, ‘Bertie Lake – in charge of the tea (chai wallah)’, in The Western Worker (Perth), issue 10, September 2021, pp 12-13.