People Australia

Edward George (Eddie) Robertson (1924-1962) ironworker, trade union official and Communist 

Birth: 23 June 1924 at Maree, South Australia, son of native-born parents George Henry Robertson (1901-1976), fettler, and Annie Evelyn, née Reid (1904-1980). Marriage: 6 June 1947 at Port Augusta, SA, to native-born Audrey Mavis Jarrett (1924-1998). They had two sons. Death: 30 April 1962 at Rockdale, Sydney, New South Wales. Buried in Adelaide, South Australia. Religion: non-sectarian burial. 

• Grew up in Tibooburra, New South Wales. Arrived in Whyalla, South Australia, with his parents about 1938. Soon after he gained work in shipyards in Whyalla.
• Member of the Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA) and of the committee of management of its Whyalla-Port Pirie branch. Delegate of FIA to SA Northern Districts Labor Conference 1944.
• Joined Eureka Youth League of Communist Party of Australia in Whyalla, aged 17. Became a member of CPA in 1942. Was SA State committee-member of the CPA and in 1950 became State secretary.
• Stood as Communist candidate for the Australian Senate in May 1953. Member of CPA central committee in about 1955. Member of CPA political committee about 1958 and of the secretariat of the CPA about 1961.
• Cause of death: coronary occlusion (coroner’s report).

Sources
Jim Moss, Sound of trumpets: history of the labour movement in South Australia (Cowandilla, 1985) p 349; Tribune (Sydney) 2 May 1962, p 9, 9 May 1962.