People Australia

William Leslie (Bill) Quinn (1903-1970) coalminer, trade unionist and Communist

Birth: 17 July 1903 at New Lambton, Newcastle, New South Wales, son of English-born parents James Alfred Quinn (1872-1947), a miner, from Barnsley, Yorkshire, and Clara, née Horton (1877-1954), from Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Marriage: 27 April 1929 at New Lambton, Newcastle, New South Wales, to Dulcie Violet Shaw (1907-1970). They had one daughter and one son. Death: 4 January 1970 at Swansea, NSW. Religion: buried with Presbyterian forms. 

• Worked as a coal miner in the Lambton district near Newcastle until the 1930s Depression; moved to Lithgow in search of work.
• Soon returned to the Newcastle district and was employed at West Wallsend mine. Settled at Swansea. Worked at North Wallarah mine by mid-1930s.
• In 1937 was elected president of his miners' lodge. Retained that position, except for two years, until 1956.
• Member of the Communist Party of Australia from the 1930s. Occupied executive positions on his party branch.
• It was in civic affairs that he made his greatest contribution. He was leader of the Swansea Progress Association for about thirty years. Served on Lake Macquarie Shire Council for three terms between 1944 and 1959. Foundation director of the Swansea Workers’ Club from 1944.
• CPA candidate for Shortland in Federal election in 1958.
• After retirement, became active in pensioner movement. Delegate to the Combined Pensioners Association. Affectionately known as ‘Mr Swansea’. Quinn park, near Swansea Olympic pool, was named in recognition of his community service.
• Cause of death: acute pulmonary oedema and chronic myocarditis.

Sources
Ross Edmonds, In Storm and Struggle. A History of the Communist Party in Newcastle 1920-1940 (1991); Tribune, 22 February 1954, 14 January 1970; Common Cause, 12 September 1964.