People Australia

Richard Harry (Dick) Nash (1890-1951) 

Birth: 2 July 1890, Ascot Vale, Melbourne, Victoria. Son of Harry Avis Nash, miner, and Elizabeth Phoebe nee Stroud. Marriage: Ruby Piper, in Western Australia, 1913. They had five sons and one daughter. Death: 12 December 1951, Perth, Western Australia, Anglican.

• Moved to Kalgoorlie with parents in 1897;
• Educated at Lake View State School;
• Became junior mechanic; Later started as copy boy on staff of Kalgoorlie Miner and progressed to proof-reader, 1904-10;
• Gained work on Kalgoorlie Tramways 1910-15, WA Government Tramways 1915-22;
• Founding member of Kalgoorlie Tramways Union and Secretary until 1916 when he moved to Perth and gained work on trams;
• Secretary, WA Electric Tramways Employees Union, 1922-39;
• Workers' representative on industrial boards and other bodies for many years;
• Secretary Perth THC, 1939-43;
• Joined Metropolitan District Council ALP 1917 as delegate from local tram union, pres. for second term in 1918 when big tramways strike occurred, secretary 1922, treasurer, trustee, and secretary 1939-43;
• Secretary Labor Day Committee, 1923;
• Member Subiaco Municipal Council for 12 years;
• Senator 1943-51 (died in office);
• Pre-selection candidate for East Perth in 1922 but defeated by T. J. Hughes;
• Contested Subiaco WA 1930;
• Member, Standing Committee on Public Works 1946-49;
• Consumers representative on Board of Metropolitan Market Trust of WA;
• Member, Advisory Committee, Perth Public Hospital;
• Adviser to Australian delegation post-war conference, San Francisco 1945. 

Joan Rydon, A Biographical Register of the Commonwealth Parliament, 1901-1972 (Canberra, 1975); Death Certificate of Ruby Nash, Perth 3937/1979; Australian Worker, 7 March 1923 p.15; Westralian Worker, 29 June 1923 p.5, 4 Sept. 1942