People Australia

John Joseph (Jack) Olive (1898-1967) blacksmith, cane cutter, watchman and Communist 

Birth: 1898 at St Leonards, Sydney, New South Wales, son of William James (Billy) Olive (1869-1957), a blacksmith, born at Kyneton, Victoria, and Emily, née Denny (1869-1934), born at Yass, NSW. Marriage: 1919 at Chatswood, Sydney, to May Williams (1895-1979), a general servant, born at Stone, Staffordshire, England. They had four daughters and two sons. Death: 30 July 1967 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, Sydney; usual residence Queens Road, Asquith, NSW. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Was a blacksmith when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18 July 1915, aged 16, though he put his age up by two years. While on active service with the 13th Battalion at Ypres, France, on 8 August 1816 he suffered a gunshot wound to the right thigh, sustaining permanent injuries. He returned to Australia on 13 April 1917 and was discharged medically unfit on 10 May 1917.
• Worked with his elder brother Arthur as a cane cutter in Queensland. Joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1937.
• During World War II he worked on Commonwealth construction projects.
• Subsequently worked at the CPA's Tribune printery. For almost a quarter of a century he was “an identity at Pymble, regularly selling Tribune in all weathers and through all the times of political stresses”, becoming one of party's most successful newspaper sellers.
• Cause of death: subarachnoid haemorrhage (days) and cerebral aneurysm (months)
• His brothers Arthur and Douglas and sister-in-law Kath Olive were also CPA members.

Sources
Tribune, 9 August 1967.