People Australia

James Thom, n.d.

James Norman Thom (1899-1987) electrician, trade union official and parliamentarian 

Birth: 8 October 1899 at Warroo, Forbes, New South Wales, son of native-born parents Frederick Alfred Ernest Thom (1866-1935), police officer, and Sarah Mary, née Burke (1868-1942. Marriage: 3 September 1921 to native-born Thelma Agnes Wall (1901-1976). They had six daughters and three sons. Death: 10 October 1987 at North Ryde, Sydney. Religion: Catholic [on service record]. 

• Educated at country convent schools. Served apprenticeship as electrician, Sydney.
• After serving four years in the senior cadets and one year in the militia, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 14 October 1918; not called up for service.
• Worked with the Mains Section of the Chief Electrical Engineers’ Branch of the NSW Railways and Tramways. Promoted to assistant shift electrician at White Bay Power Station.
• Joined Electrical Trades’ Union of Australia (ETU) in 1916. Delegate in Department of Railways substations and power stations in NSW; executive member of NSW branch, 1930; organiser NSW branch, 1936; assistant NSW secretary, 1940-1941.
• He was NSW secretary of the ETU from 1941 to 1948 and federal secretary from 1948 to 1964. An executive member of the Trades and Labor Council of NSW from 1941 to 1964, he was president from 1956 to 1964 and trustee from 1941. He was executive member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1946 to 1964.
• Thom had joined the Australian Labor Party in 1917. He was president of the Gladesville branch, and minute secretary to state conference for fifteen years.
• Elected a member of the NSW Legislative Council from 22 March 1950 (casual vacancy) to 5 November 1978.
• ETU’s first representative of the Railway Board of Reference in 1935 and continued until 1947. Represented licensed electricians on the Electrical Contractors’ and Electricians’ Licensing Committee, and employees in the electrical industry on the Electricity Advisory Committee of NSW from 1941. Member of the State Electricity Authority of NSW from 1946.
• Director of Radio station 2KY, 1956-1964. Member, Apprenticeship Council. Member, Totalisator Agency Board, 1964-1970. TLC delegate to International Labor Oganisation conference, Geneva, in 1952 and ICFTU conference, Berlin, in 1952. Editor ‘Electrical and Radio Handbook’ 1957.
• Recreational interests included golf, swimming, surfing and fishing.
• Cause of death: hypostatic pneumonia (1 week), cerebral atherosclerosis (4 years), urinary infection (2 weeks) and ischaemic heart disease (years).

Sources
Heather Radi, Peter Spearritt & Elizabeth Hinton (eds), Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament 1901-1970 (Canberra, 1979); Electrical Trades Journal, 31 May 1950 p.1; ETU News, September 1962, October 1972, Labor Year Book, 1973; Polar: The Greatest Servant, ETU (1984?) pp 97-98.