People Australia

David James Sullivan (1862-1942) iron moulder and trade union official

Birth: 21 July 1862 at Melbourne, Victoria, son of Irish-born parents Patrick O’Sullivan or Sullivan (1836-1895), a slaughterman, from County Clare, and Margaret Josephine, née Morgan (1835-1927), from Castletownroche, Cloyne, County Cork. Marriage: 7 April 1890 at Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, to Margaret Teresa O’Meara (1861-1934). They had two daughters and one son. Death: 9 November 1942 at St George District Hospital, Kogarah, Sydney; usual residence Ferrier Street, Rockdale. Religion: Catholic. 

• Lived at Paddington, Sydney, and was a prominent member of the Protectionist Union in the 1890s. Was secretary of the Friendly Trade Society of Ironmoulders of NSW in 1892.
• Attended first conferences of NSW, Victorian and Queensland moulders’ societies in 1898 at which a code of rules was drawn up and subsequently endorsed by the three societies that formed the basis of the Federated Iron Brass and Steel Moulders Union of Australasia formed in 1899.
• First federal secretary and from 1890-1913 (defeated) was also NSW secretary.
• Occasional contributor of letters to the press after he left office, firstly from his residence at Paddington, and then from Rockdale, urging improvements in facilities such as the train service.
• May have been the David J. Sullivan who was prominent in the Australian Industries Preservation League in the 1920s and 1930s.
• Cause of death: auricular fibrillation and myocarditis.

Sources
W. J. Hargreaves, History of Federated Moulders’ (Metal) Union of Australia, 1858-1958 (Melbourne, 1958); Federated Moulders’ Report, 1913 pp 78-79.