People Australia

John Valentine, 1938

Truth (Brisbane), 10 July 1938, p 25

John Crozier Valentine (1881-1949) locomotive engine driver and trade union official 

Birth: 1 December 1881, at Islington, London, England, son of Scottish-born parents William Valentine (1857-1902), coal merchant’s collector [in 1881], railway employee [at death], and his first wife Flora, née James (1851-1884). Marriage: 20 December 1904 at Brisbane, Queensland, to Brisbane-born Alicia Cornelia Eliza Bullock (1879-1956). They had two daughters and four sons. Death: 23 August 1949 in Brisbane Hospital. Religion: christened in Presbyterian church; buried with Anglican rites. 

• Arrived in Queensland with his parents about 1888. Received his education at the old Normal School, Brisbane. Was first employed by the Worker newspaper in the publishing room then as a compositor where his political views were founded. On the advice of his chief Dave Cummings, he joined the railways as a cleaner, became a fireman in 1906, and a driver in 1911. Saw service as far as Cairns in the north and Wallangarra in the south.
• Was a locomotive engine driver with sound knowledge of Westinghouse Brake, succeeding T. J. Brosnan as Queensland divisional secretary of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen (AFULE), 1919. Remained in the position for at least 23 years and was elected federal vice president of the AFULE in 1934.
• President Brisbane Trades and Labor Council in 1925 and 1926. Toured the United States of America with an Australian industrial delegation in 1927. On his return he published a series of press articles of his impressions.
• An advocate of unity within railway unions and honorary secretary of the Combined Railway Unions committee in Brisbane. Advocate in the State Arbitration Court.
• Established The Headlight, union journal and advocated that the AFULE purchase its own premises in Brisbane.
• A ‘genial comrade’, as well as something of a dandy he had a waxed mustache and bow tie. Was a member of the Queensland executive of the ALP in the 1930s.
• Unsuccessfully contested the ALP state seat of Enoggera in May 1923, the election for chairman of Ennoggera municipal council in April 1924 and the Australian Senate in 1928.
• In 1925 was appointed to a three-man commission led by (Sir) William Webb to inquire into “Traveston disaster”, the railway accident on the North Coast line on 9 June. In the 1940s he was an officer in the Rationing Commission.
• A freemason, he was a member of Gregory lodge, Cairns, in 1908-1909. Keen on sport, he participated in swimming and open boat sailing. He took an active part in football, and was vice-president of the Alderley Football Club in 1922 and 1923. Achieved some success as a baritone singer at eisteddfods.
• Cause of death: pneumonia and carcinoma of pancreas.

Sources
Locomotive Journal, 23 November 1938, 14 May 1942; Labor Year Book 1934-1935.