People Australia

Hugh Sutherland, 1940

Daily News (Sydney), 1 April 1940, p 2

Hugh Henry (Hughie) Sutherland (1883-1952) engine driver, trade union official, Labor party activist 

Birth: 1883 at Cobar, New South Wales, son of Hugh Joseph Sutherland (1841-1913), a builder, born at Tongue, Sutherland, Scotland, and native-born Margaret Evelyne, née Nicholson (1845-1883). Marriage: 5 February 1908 at Cobar to native-born Florence May Hemsley (or Pike) (1888-1984). They had four sons. Death: 15 May 1952 in hospital at Newcastle, NSW. 

• Spent his childhood in Cobar. Worked as winding engine driver at Cobar copper mines. Joined Barrier Ranges Engine-drivers’ Union in 1897. Foundation member of Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen’s Association of Australasia (FEDFA). Black-listed for union activity and forced to leave Cobar.
• Joined the ALP about 1900. Went to Sydney working on wharves; then back to engine-driving, but again black-listed.
• To Newcastle in 1916, working at Broken Hill Proprietary Co. steel works. Active in 1916 steel strike and 1917 general strike. Subject of company injunction restraining him from further involvement in 1917 strike.
• To NSW south coast, becoming winding engine driver at Coal Cliff Colliery. Elected organiser of FEDFA Coast (NSW) district branch, c. 1920 retaining position until 1942 when ill health forced him to leave post.
• In early 1920s was secretary of the Closer Unity Committee of mining industry unions. President of the Newcastle Labor Day Committee 1924. Active member of ALP’s Adamstown Branch 1924. Supporter of formation of joint union-ALP Northern District Assembly.
• General president of FEDFA 1930-1933; president of Coast District Branch 1943, retaining position until his retirement at the end of 1950. Represented union on ACTU.
• Contested preselection for State seat of Adamstown in 1927, ALP candidate for State seat of Newcastle in 1932 and for Newcastle City Council by-election in 1936.
• Supported Miners’ Federation in 1949 coal strike; campaigned against Menzies government’s Communist Party Dissolution Bill.
• In his youth was a well-known amateur boxer; fought in tournaments in Sydney. Retired to northern NSW to fish. He built his last home at Toukley, partly from timber from the steamship Gwyder, wrecked near Noraville.

Sources
Common Cause, 14 August 1924, 24 May 1952; The Safety Valve, June 1952.