People Australia

Ramsay McKillop, 1889

Ramsay Robert (Bob) McKillop (1857-1926) labourer, trade union official, estate agent and Labor activist 

Birth: possibly on 24 April 1857 at Stirling, Scotland, son of Ramsay Alan McKillop (b.1828), indigo planter, and Isabella, née Stewart (b.1828). Marriages: (1) reputedly 1877 at Sydney, New South Wales, to Fanny Mary Blanche Poole (1856-1905). Their daughter and two sons were registered under the name Poole. (2) 1908 at Sydney to Mary Ann Larsen. Death: 1 March 1926 at Harbord, Warringah, Sydney. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Moved to India as a child. Reputedly educated as a civil and mechanical engineer in India. Returned temporarily to Britain before coming to Australia in 1873. Settled in Sydney.
• Employed managing various large engineering works. Wharf Labourers’ Union delegate to Labour Congress, Brisbane, 1888.
• Joined newly-formed Wharf Labourers’ Union during strikes of 1890s; member of the defence committee of Maritime Strike. President of the Wharf Labourers’ Union for several terms. Appointed delegate with purpose of resuscitating unionism in Illawarra district. Organiser for the Australian Workers’ Union.
• Vice-president of the Trades and Labor Council (TLC); president, Sydney TLC, 1892. Sydney Wharf Labourers’ Union delegate on the Eight-hour Committee 1900. Special organising secretary of TLC during strike in Broken Hill. Amalgamated Shearers’ Union Delegate to TLC, Cobar.
• Endorsed Labor candidate for Quirindi in 1894, he was defeated by R. H. Levien. Member of the Royal Commission into Chinese gambling appointed by the Parkes government in August 1891. Director, Australian Workman newspaper and helped to launch the Daily Post.
• Was in business at Harbord in his later years and president of the Harbord Tramway League, prominent in the agitation for extension of the tramway to what was formerly known as Freshwater. Councillor on Warringah Shire Council from 1922 to 1926 when he was elected president.
• Cause of death: aortic insufficiency.

Sources
H. J. Gibbney and Anne G. Smith (eds), A Biographical Register 1788-1939, vol 2 (Canberra, 1987), p 60; Official Souvenir for the Eight-Hour Demonstration 1900 p 58; Australian Worker, 10 March 1926 p 1, 17 March 1926 p 1.