People Australia

Alfred Platt, 1954

Daily Mirror (Sydney), 9 June 1954, p 10

Alfred George (Barney) Platt (1897-1976) horsebreaker, carrier and trade union official

Birth: 7 September 1897 at Spring Hill, Brisbane, Queensland, son of Alfred Platt (1875-1960), factory manager, born at Sandhurst, Victoria, and Annie Elizabeth, née Casey (1874-1949), born at Longton, Surrey, England. Marriage: 1924 at Ashfield, New South Wales, to Alice M., née Hoban. Death: 7 March 1976 in hospital at Turramurra, Sydney, NSW; usual residence Hamel Crescent, Earlwood, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Family had moved to Sydney by 1908.
• Barney was working as a horsebreaker, employed for two years by a veterinary surgeon at Camden, NSW, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 25 August 1915. Served with the 14th Field Artillery Brigade in France and was a bombardier when he was seriously wounded in action in September 1918. He was again admitted to hospital, suffering from facial burns, in May 1919. He returned to Australia in June 1919 and was discharged on 28 September 1919.
• Later worked at Anthony Hordern's. Electoral roll in 1930 gave his occupation as “carrier”. Became active in Amalgamated Road Transport Workers' Union, NSW branch in mid-1930s after commencing work at J. Meloy Ltd. Personable, talented and ambitious, he was elected union organiser in 1939. With support of Communists and other left-wingers he sought to overthrow the incumbent union leadership headed by Alfred Birkinshaw.
• Resigned organiser's position in 1941 in an unsuccessful bid for secretaryship. Elected branch president with 'progressive' backing in July 1942. Following Birkinshaw's dismissal, Platt was elected provisional branch secretary in August 1942. Was branch assistant secretary from November 1942 and branch secretary from April 1943, retaining position until 1959. Also president TWU federal branch from 1945 to 1957 and delegate to Labor Council of NSW for several years.
• From 1945 on, his tenure of office was characterised by bitter factionalism and personalised and centralised strategy of strict adherence to arbitration. He initially cultivated left/'progressive' support by pursuing policy of ambitious organisational expansion embracing taxi drivers, lorry owner-drivers and regional sub-branches, but broke with 'progressive' officials in mid-1945, encouraged the formation within the union of an Australian Labor Party Industrial Group and led a team of grouper candidates to victory in 1946 branch council elections.
• By 1948 he had begun to lose support of leading groupers including Jack Kane, J. Carroll and Jim Coubourne but retained secretaryship at elections held in 1948, 1950 and 1953, and on the formation of second industrial group in union in 1953 he successfully sought support from anti-grouper forces in ALP.
• Defeated by Ernie Wilmot in 1956 election for secretaryship of NSW branch of federally-registered TWU, he used his position as secretary of the State-registered union to attack Wilmot and supporters. But defection of officials to Wilmot camp continued, with Platt acquiring sobriquet of 'little Fuhrer'.
• Relinquished position amid controversial circumstances in July-August 1959 following victory of anti-Platt team in State union elections.
• Cause of death: cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, ischaemic heart disease, carcinoma bladder grade 2.

Sources
Mark Bray and Andrew Rimmer, Delivering the Goods; the Transport Workers’ Union in New South Wales 1888-1986 (Sydney, 1987).