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Charles Frederick (Chick) Petersen (1920–1988)

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Charles Frederick (Chick) Petersen, also known as Peterson (1920-1988) coalminer, trade union official and Communist 

Birth: 23 November 1920 at Charters Towers, Queensland, son of Charles Mathias Petersen or Peterson, baker and Alice, née Simpson (1898-1974). Both parents had been born at Charters Towers. Marriage: details unknown, to Dorothy May maiden name unknown. Death: 1988 details unknown. 

  • Coalminer, working at Collinsville and Scottville mines, North Queensland, before and after World War II.
  • Called up for full time service in the Citizen Military Forces on 30 September 1942. Served in the Australian Army Medical Corps. Transferred to the Australian Imperial Force on 2 June 1943. Served as a hospital orderly in the Pacific the during war, contracting malaria. Discharged at Brisbane on 6 July 1946.
  • After the war, worked briefly as a carpenter in Melbourne.
  • Returned to Collinsville State mine about 1946, subsequently moving to Scottville mine. Member of the Communist Party of Australia.
  • Shiftmen's representative, then secretary of Scottsville branch of Queensland Colliery Employees' Union, holding position until 1971. Member of the Queensland board of management of the Miners' Federation from 1961 to 1971. Elected District Queensland secretary in 1971, retaining position unopposed until his retirement in 1980.
  • Visited Soviet Union in 1973. In 1979 was gaoled for refusing to pay fines for participating in illegal street march.
  • Brother of Henry ('Pike') (1926-1954) Petersen killed in Collinsville mine disaster 1954.

Pete Thomas, Miners in the 1970s: a narrative history of the Miners’ Federation (Sydney [1983], and  The coalminers of Queensland: a narrative history of the Queensland Colliery Employees Union. Volume 1 Creating the traditions (Ipswich, 1986).

Additional Resources and Scholarship

Citation details

'Petersen, Charles Frederick (Chick) (1920–1988)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/petersen-charles-frederick-chick-34586/text43486, accessed 18 February 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Charles Petersen, c.1942

Charles Petersen, c.1942

National Archives of Australia, B883, QX53596

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Peterson, Charles Frederick
Birth

23 November, 1920
Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia

Death

1988 (aged ~ 67)

Occupation or Descriptor
Military Service
Key Organisations
Political Activism