People Australia

Alexander Buik McLagan (also known as Alexander Buik McLagen) (1886-1970) miner, waterside worker, trade union official and mayor

Birth: 3 January 1886 at Cowdenbeath, Dundee, Scotland, son of James McLagan (1858-1898), spirit merchant’s shopman, and Betsy Douglas, née Buik (1860-1944). Marriage: 3 June 1912 at Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland, to Mary, née Clark (1888-1971). They had nine children. Death: 8 April 1970 at Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Described as a miner when he arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, aboard the Demosthenes on 18 February 1914, en route to Sydney from London.
• Lived at Carrington and worked as a coal trimmer (wharf labourer) in Newcastle.
• Succeeded Jack Eiffe as secretary of the Newcastle coal trimmers’ branch of the Waterside Workers’ Federation in 1926. Active in the Australian Labor Party.
• From 1925 to 1945 he was an Alderman on Carrington Municipal Council and then on Greater Newcastle Municipal Council; he was mayor of Carrington in 1928-1930 and 1933-1934 [mayoral allowance was £1 per week]. Candidate for West Ward in Newcastle municipal elections in 1947.
• In 1939 was president of the Carrington branch of the Heffron Labor Party, selected to represent Newcastle electorate at the unity conference on 26 August 1939.
• Wife Mary was a member of the Carrington branch of the Labor Women’s Central Organising Committee and was active in the community.
• Cause of death: coronary sclerosis and myocardial infarction
• Son Alexander junior (1919-2012) prominent trade union official.