People Australia

Tim Slater, c.1941

Frederick Howard Reid (Tim) Slater, also known as Frederic (1907-1980) gas worker and Communist 

Birth: 1907 [25 April according to one service record or 21 May according to another] at Broken Hill, New South Wales, son of Walter Herbert Slater. Marriage: 19 June 1944 to Dimpsey Maude Gowland (1909-2008), a mental nurse, born at Broken Hill. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 22 July 1980 at Adelaide, South Australia. 

• Spent his childhood in Ceduna, South Australia. Began work on a farm. Returned to Broken Hill, NSW, but could not find regular work, similar to many others at the time.
• Served for two months in the militia in 1925.
• Joined Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in 1931 at Broken Hill. Worked for CPA in Broken Hill in an unpaid capacity and wrote for the bulletin ‘Plod’ which was addressed to mineworkers.
• ‘Humped his swag’ and looked for work in outback SA, New South Wales and Queensland.
• After part-time duty in the Citizens Military Force, Slater transferred into the Australian Imperial Force on 25 November 1941, Ninth Division, and served in the Western Desert. Transferred to New Guinea from August 1943 to February 1944. From April to December 1945 he served in Borneo. In the armed forces he joined with other Communists in campaigns such as the ‘battle bonus’, sold Tribune and collected monies. Was discharged on 18 January 1946.
• Full-time worker for CPA in Adelaide after World War II. Wrote for South Australian Tribune. Was a stoker in retort houses Brompton gasworks and worked 16 years as gasworker until retrenched. An active member of the Gasworkers’s Union. Council labourer for six years.
• Visited Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with Australian trade union delegation in 1960. Remained committed to CPA when Socialist Party split in 1971.
• Member, Australian-USSR Friendship Society. Contested state seat of Gumeracha for CPA opposing premier, Thomas Playford. Contested Barossa for CPA in 1962.
• Interests included Robert Burns, Russian ballet, stamp collector, match-box labels, native wildflowers and football. Prominent worker for schoolboys in the Teatree Gully football club.
• Cause of death: cachexia (6 months), widespread malignant disease (3 years) and carcinoma of prostate.

Sources
Tribune, 6 August 1980.