People Australia

William John Retallick (1862-1931) miner, grocer, trade union official and mayor

Baptised: 19 October 1862 at St Blazey, Cornwall, England, son of John Retallick (1837-1911), copper miner, and Mary Ann Sleeman, née Cullum (1841-1929), who before her marriage “worked at dressing tin”. Marriages: 18 June 1885 in the residence of the brides’ parents at Yelta, South Australia to Anna Maria (Hannah or Annie) Polkinghorne (c,1865-1911), born at Redruth, Cornwall. They had one son and two daughters; two children died in infancy. (2) 1919 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, to a widow, Catherine Lily (Lily), née Bowden, late Nicholls (1865-1961), also born in Cornwall. Death: 12 January 1931 at Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia; usual residence Moonta Bay, SA. 

• Arrived in South Australia aboard the Morningstar as an infant with his parents on 15 February 1863. Family spent time in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales for a few years, before settling in Moonta, South Australia, where his father was a storekeeper.
• William was educated in the public school at Moonta and left to work in the Moonta mines when he was 12 years old.
• Moved to Barrier, New South Wales, about 1886. Was a miner along the line of lode for many years. Became one of the first stewards of the Amalgamated Miners’ Association. Later was a grocer, keeping a general store. Commissioned justice of the peace in November 1897.
• Elected to Broken Hill Council in February 1899 joining Jabez Wright and four other Labor aldermen for six years at least, was mayor in 1902 and on occasion acting-mayor. Left the council in February 1908.
• Returned to South Australia about 1921 and worked at various places on the west coast.
• While employed as a powder monkey in a quarry at Port Lincoln in 1929 he met with an accident and was hospitalised for six months. Retired to live in Moonta Bay. Deeply interested in mining and held the rights of Poona Mine at Moonta.
• Cause of death: broncho pneumonia, auricular fibrillation (3 days) and cardiac failure.

Sources
Barrier Daily Truth, 6 September 1933.