People Australia

John (Jock) Stewart (1876-1957) electrician, trade union official and parliamentarian

Birth: 1 January 1876 at Argyllshire, Scotland, son of John Stewart (1842-1884), fisherman and farmer, and Barbara, née Thompson (1841-1882). Marriage: 31 December 1903 at Partick, Argyllshire, with forms of the United Free Church of Scotland to Blanche Ogilvie MacFarlane (1881-1971), “sewing machine transferrie” [1901 Scotland census]. They had four sons. Death: 8 April 1957 at Home of Peace, Petersham, Sydney, NSW. Religion: Presbyterian funeral. 

• Described his occupation as electrical engineer and storekeeper on his marriage registration.
• Arrived in Australia with his family in 1912. Worked as an electrician for Mark Foy’s department store.
• Joined the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) in 1922; federal councillor and federal executive member ETU. Delegate to NSW Labor Council in 1928; vice-president of the NSW branch from 1929 to 1931.
• Appointed organiser ETU in 1931-35; was assistant secretary in 1935-1939. Was secretary of the ETU from 1939 until 1941 (resigned).
• ETU delegate to  the Labor Council of NSW from about 1924 and was president of the council in 1931.
• Member of the Electrical Advisory Committee 1935-1945.
• Member of the Australian Labor Party. Described in 1930 as being a member of the “inner group”, including Emil Voigt, J. J. Graves and Jock Garden, who controlled the party for Jack Lang. With Jack Beasley and others was a member of the ALP’s first wireless committee.
• Member of the Socialisation Committee for ALP 1931-1933. Member of the central executive in 1928-1929 and 1939-41; trustee in 1951-57.
• Was defeated when he contested the Federal seat of South Sydney for the ALP in 1931. Member of the ‘Hands Off China’ Committee 1938. Replacing W. E. Dickson, he was general secretary of the NSW branch of the ALP and member of the federal executive from June 1941 to 1950.
• Elected Labor member of the Legislative Council of NSW on 24 September 1941 (casual vacancy). Was an influential supporter of John Curtin and Bill McKell against the Lang rump. Held the seat until 8 April 1957.
• Director of Amalgamated Wireless (A’asia) Ltd. Delegate to United Nations conference in Paris 1948. Visited United Kingdom in 1955.
• Cause of death: cerebral thrombosis and arteriosclerosis.
• Two of his sons served in the military forces during World War II.

Sources
Heather Radi, Peter Spearritt & Elizabeth Hinton (eds), Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament 1901-1970 (Canberra, 1979); Malcolm Henry Ellis, The red road: the story of the capture of the Lang party by Communists, instructed from Moscow (Sydney [1932]), and The Garden path (Sydney, 1949); Christopher Cunneen, William John McKell (Sydney, 2000), pp 124, 137 & 149; ETU News, April 1957 p.3, October 1972; Electrical Trades Journal, 27 June 1941, p.10.