Riley, Frederick John (Fred) [junior] (1886-1970) miner, coal lumper, Socialist, journalist and trade union official
Birth: 18 May 1886 at Stirling East, South Australia, son of native-born parents Frederick John Riley (1861-1932), shoeing smith and later scaffolding inspector, and Susannah, née Williams (1858-1970). Marriages: (1) 1920 at Melbourne, Victoria, to Tasmanian-born Alice Ann (Nancy), née Large, late Warburton (1874-1940), a divorcée with four adult children. (2) 1943 at Melbourne to native-born Annie Elliott (Nancey) Warn (1899-1986), hairdresser. They had no children. Death: 2 April 1970 in his home at Walsal Avenue, Reservoir, Victoria.
- His father, Fred senior, was president of Adelaide Trades and Labor Council and a member of Thebarton Council as councillor and alderman for eighteen years. He was Government Inspector of Scaffolding from 1908 until retrenched in 1930.
- Young Fred was educated at Hindmarsh state school until the age of 13. Gained work as a billy boy and helper to a blacksmith. Was a blacksmith’s striker from about 1901 to about 1904. Worked as a wool presser and joined the Australian Workers’ Union in 1904.
- Became a miner at Broken Hill, New South Wales, worked in the Cobar copper fields and was active in the Amalgamated Miners’ Associations on those fields. Worked in the building industry in Brisbane, Queensland, and on the Mount Morgan mining field. Worked as labourer in Sydney, joining the United Labourers’ Protective Union, then as a coal lumper, joining the Sydney Coal Lumpers Union.
- Back in Adelaide by August 1914, he contributed to the Daily Herald (Adelaide), worked as a builders’ labourer and joined the Builders Labourers’ Union. Represented the BLU on the Trades Hall Council. Worked on South Australian railways and joined the Railways Union.
- Member of South Australian Socialist Party and a member of the South Australian APA (possibly the Australian Protectionist Association?).
- Moved to Melbourne in 1915. Was a coal lumper and later vigilance officer on Melbourne wharves. Executive member of the Melbourne Waterside Workers’ Union for about thirty years. Represented Melbourne wharf labourers on the Trades Hall Council after World War I and at the Australian Council of Trade Unions Conferences later.
- Represented wharf labourers at Australian Labor Party conferences for thirty-nine years. Organised relief for waterside workers during strikes in 1917 and 1919.
- Member of the Victorian Socialist Party in 1915-1919. Victorian correspondent to the Brisbane Labor Standard which was a Labor daily newspaper. Member of the Australian Journalists’ Association.
- Leader in anti-conscription movement. In Adelaide he and fellow peace activist J. F. Hills narrowly escaped being beaten and thrown in the River Torrens. Secretary of the Melbourne branch of the Australian Peace Alliance in 1916-1917, he was fined several times for issuing propaganda. Member of Militant Propagandists.
- Secretary of the Manufacturing Grocers Union from 1922 until he retired in 1961. President of the Food Trades Federation 1927-1928, and 1932-1933.
- Executive member of the Trades Hall Council for about forty years and president in 1931-1932. Chosen by union movement to collect evidence for Piddington basic wage case in 1921.
- Member of Federal Prices Commission and State Commodities Board during World War II.
- President of North Fitzroy ALP in 1921. Member of the central executive of the Victorian Branch of ALP; junior vice president and in 1941-1942 president.
- President of the Victorian branch of the Democratic Labor Party, 1960-1961. Represented State Branch at ALP Federal Conference.
- ALP candidate for Fitzroy Council 1918 and for Federal seat of Flinders against S. M. Bruce in 1919. Candidate for election to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1955.
- Author of biographical notes published in Recorder over several issues in 1973-1974.
- His wife Alice Ann, née Large, late Warburton (1874-1940), was “an energetic worker in the Labor movement”. She was a justice of the peace, a special Childrens Court magistrate, a member of the board of Management of the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy and a sometime president of the Labor Womens Central Organising Committee.
- Cause of death: bronchopneumonia (days) carcinoma of lung (12 months), pneumoconiosis and arteriosclerosis.
Sources
H. J. Gibbney and Ann G. Smith, A Biographical Register 1788-1939, vol 2 (Canberra, 1987), p 215; Merrifield Card Index, State Library of Victoria, p 199; Australasian Journalist, 15 April 1925; Australian Worker, 10 June 1931, p 13; Labor Call, 25 June 1931, p 8, 17 March 1932; Age, (Melbourne) 18 June 1941, Sun, 14 April 1947, 23 May 1947; Recorder, August 1973, No. 65 pp 3-7, October 1973, No. 66 pp 4-8, December, 1973 p 3, No. 67, February 1974, pp 5-11, No.68, June 1976, No. 82, June 1985, p. No. 134; Herald (Melbourne), 22 December 1961, 7 April 1970.