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Thomas (Paddy) McDonald (1906–1966)

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Thomas (Paddy) McDonald (1906-1966) ironworker, engineer’s clerk and trade union official

Birth: 1906 in County Galway, Ireland, son of James McDonald, farmer, and Sarah Graham. Marriage: 28 June 1946 at the District Registrar’s Office, Paddington, New South Wales, to native-born Mary Rintoul, née Hutchison, late Walker (1905-1980), a widow with one son. They had no children. Death: 30 January 1966 in hospital at Wollongong, NSW; usual residence Daisy Street, Fairy Meadow, Wollongong. Religion: Catholic. 

  • Secretary of Federated Ironworkers’ Association, Lithgow, NSW, until 1931.
  • Secretary of Federated Ironworkers’ Association, Port Kembla, NSW, from 1932 to 1937 (defeated by communist Pat McHenry). Defeat coincided with the loss of a leg in a motor-cycle accident. Employed at Australian Iron and Steel on light duties until 1960.
  • Secretary of the Corrimal branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1950. Opened a new branch of the ALP, of which he became secretary, that year at his house in Fairy Meadow. Prominent activist for rate-payers’ rights.
  • Nominated as ALP candidate for Fairy Meadow ward in municipal council election in December 1950.
  • Cause of death: cerebral thrombosis and pneumonia.

Sources
Beverley Firth, The Industrialisation of Wollongong with Special Reference to AIS, 1926-76, PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 1986.

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Citation details

'McDonald, Thomas (Paddy) (1906–1966)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/mcdonald-thomas-paddy-34395/text43170, accessed 26 April 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Birth

1906
Galway, Ireland

Death

30 January, 1966 (aged ~ 60)
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Cause of Death

cerebral thrombosis

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Occupation or Descriptor
Key Organisations
Political Activism