People Australia

Michael John Downey (Mick) Page (1871-1940) public servant, trade union official and “father of superannuation”

Birth: 23 May 1871 at Gulgong, New South Wales, son of native-born Michael James (Ned) Downey (1844-1875), hotel keeper, and Bridget, née Costello, later Page (1836-1900), born at Windgap, Kilkenny, Ireland. Marriage: 1900 at Camden, NSW, to Gertrude Mary Kenny (1879-1933). They had one daughter and one son. Death: 7 December 1940 at a hotel in South Grafton, NSW; usual residence Elamang Avenue, Kirribilli, North Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Educated at St Joseph’s College, Hunter’s Hill.
• Appointed junior clerk, Sydney, in NSW Public Service on 3 December 1891. In charge of Leave and Relief Section for several years.
• Appointed to West Sydney Division of the Federal Electoral Department in 1914 when permanent Divisional Returning Officers were constituted.
• Took an active interest in NSW Public Service Association from its beginning in 1896. Founding member, Professional and Clerical Association. President of the Council of Public Service Organisations. Representative from Professional and Clerical Assoc. on Council of Public Service Organisations.
• Discontented with working conditions when postal services were transferred to the Commonwealth and along with a group of similar-minded people successfully campaigned through the Council of Public Service Organisations for a Royal Commission of Postal Services. Many reforms were made to Postal Services, particularly in NSW, as a result of the Royal Commission.
• President of Federal Council of Associations in NSW and in this position became active in the movement for Superannuation from 1910. Advocated for superannuation through the Public Service and Parliamentary channels which culminated into the Superannuation Act in 1923.
• Appointed as employee representative on Superannuation Board in 1923, based in Melbourne.
• Transferred to the Division of Batman, Clifton Hill, Victoria. Moved to Queanbeyan, NSW, when the Superannuation Board's Office was moved and he was in charge of Eden-Monaro Division. Appointed to Division of Parkes, Ashfield, 1930.
• Re-elected employees representative on Superannuation Board, 1931. Retired from the public service in May 1936.
• Was a prominent Catholic layman of Sydney and attended Mass daily.
• Viewed as the “father of superannuation”.
• Cause of death (coroner) coronary occlusion.

Sources
Australian Postal Clerk, 26 September 1931, p 16; Bruce Juddery, White Collar Power: a history of the A.C.O.A. (Sydney, 1980).