People Australia

Thomas William O'Toole (1886-1957) miner and trade union official

Birth: 28 July 1885 at Washington, Durham, England son of Edward Toole [or O’Toole] (1854-1935), a miner, born at Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland, and Annie, née Dinning (1858-1944), a domestic servant, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. Marriage: 25 April 1906 at Maitland, New South Wales, to native-born Margaret Maywood McMillan (1883-1948). They had two daughters and five sons. Death: 19 June 1957 in Royal Newcastle Hospital, Newcastle. Religion: Anglican. 

• His father was a veteran of the Afghan war and was stationed in the British Army in India for many years.
• Arrived in Queensland with parents and siblings aboard the Waroonga on 17 October 1887.
• Began mining in Tasmania, where his father was general secretary of the Miners Federation. The family subsequently transferred to Kurri Kurri NSW.
• Worked with his father and siblings at Pelaw Main from about 1909. In March 1923 he and his brother Edward (1887-1923) were buried beneath a fall of coal at the colliery. Edward was crushed to death. Thomas escaped with bruises and abrasions. He was again seriously injured in an accident in 1942, when he and his son Thomas (1908-1982) were buried in a fall of coal at the colliery. He then became a shiftman.
• As had his father and uncle, Thomas took an active interest in the Labour movement. He was active in Pelaw Main miners lodge, of which he was an official from about 1912. He was president from 1912-1923, treasurer until 1926 and then secretary to 1954.
• He was elected a member of the Shale Employees' board of management and the Australian Coal and Shale Employees’ Federation central council about 1943. In May 1944 he was appointed industrial inspector of the Coal Commission for the Northern Coalfield. He was prominent in movement for union's recovery from crisis of early 1930s.
• Member of the Australian Labor Party, Kurri District Hospital board, Kurri Workers' Club, Citizen's Relief Committee and the May Day Committee.
• Cause of death: carcinoma of stomach.

Sources
Edgar Ross, A history of the Miners' Federation of Australia ([Sydney] 1970); Andrew William Metcalfe, For freedom and dignity: Historical agency and class structures in the coalfields of NSW (Sydney, 1988); information from E Ross, 1991.