People Australia

Milton Patrick Austral McCarney (1909-1974) upholsterer, saddler and trade union official

Birth: 24 May 1909 at Junee, New South Wales, son of native-born parents Joseph Bernard McCarney (1880-1914), railway employee, and Eileen Margaret, née Newbury (1886-1948). Marriage: 1936 at Lewisham, Sydney, NSW, to Sydney-born Monica Alma Sullivan (1912-1991). They had one daughter and four sons. Death: 30 March 1974 in Lewisham Hospital, Sydney; usual residence William Street, Granville, NSW. Religion: Catholic. 

• His grandfather John Vincent McCarney (1847-1935), native-born of Irish parents, was a railway train driver, traffic inspector and writer.
• When Milton was five-years-old his father died leaving a widow and three young children. In the early 1930s Milton was an amateur entertainer in Lewisham, Sydney.
• McCarney was elected organiser with the Vehicle Builders Union (VBU) in April 1949. He was secretary of NSW branch of the VBU from about 1951 to about 1974. Federal president, VBU.
• Executive member of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party. Delegate to ALP Conference; and to NSW Labor Council. Senior vice-president, NSW Labor Council. Described in 1965 as “acknowledged Catholic church leader in the Trades Hall”
• Union delegate to the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Delegate to International Labor Organization, Geneva, 1966.
• Pioneered the Shop Delegate Schools in Australia.
• Cause of death: carcinomatosis (primary undetermined).
• His widow, who later remarried, was also active in the ALP.

Sources
Vehicle Builder, May 1967, July 1973; May 1974 Vol. 23 No.5.