People Australia

Arthur Charles ('Treg') Treglown (1928-1982) miner, trade union official and alderman

Birth: 7 May 1928 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, son of Francis Sydney Treglown (1897-1955), fitter, and Frances Veronica, née Brady (1899-1956). Both parents had been born in Broken Hill; his father was of Cornish descent, his mother of Irish. Marriage: 4 September 1948 at Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral, Broken Hill, to Shirley Freda Sheehan (1929-2001), born at Broken Hill. They had three daughters and three sons. Death: 15 August 1982, at Roseworthy,  South Australia. Religion: Catholic. Buried in Broken Hill, NSW. 

• Started work as miner in 1945 and worked through ranks from an underground miner to contract development miner in the Big Mine and the South.
• Held official positions in the Workers' Industrial Union of Australia (Broken Hill) including first full-time president from 1960 to 1979. WIU of A delegate to Barrier Industrial Council and Barrier District Assembly of the Australian Labor Party.
• Miners' Federation national delegate at conferences in West Germany, Britain and Soviet Union in 1970. Elected federation general vice-president February 1971, retaining position until his resignation through ill-health in 1979, when he was succeeded by Queenslander ‘Digger’ Murphy. Acting general president 1973.
• Played prominent role in the revival of the South mine following its closure by Broken Hill South in 1972.
• Trustee of Barrier Industrial Council. Alderman on Broken Hill Council in the 1970s.
• Member of Broken Hill & District Hospital Board. Member, Regional Development Advisory Board.
• Died while visiting family in South Australia. Cause of death: influenza and diabetes mellitus (years) and aplastic anaemia (years).

Sources
Pete Thomas, Miners in the 1970s: a narrative history of the Miners’ Federation (Sydney [1983]; Common Cause, 7 March 1979, 8 September 1982, p 2; photo and obituary, Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill), 16 August 1982, p 1.