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Alfred Walker (?–1898)

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Alfred Walker (? - 1898) compositor, journalist and trade union leader 

Birth: unknown. Marriage: unknown. Death: 1898 London. 

  • Vice president and secretary of the Queensland Typographical Association 1886. Secretary Brisbane Trades & Labour Council 1887.
  • Co-founder Workers' Political Reform Association, Brisbane 1887. With William Lane founded the Boomerang, Brisbane 1887, becoming business manager and Lane's close friend.
  • Agent for Lane's New Australia Settlement Association, leaving Sydney to sail to Argentina in May 1891. In 1893 with William Saunders and Charles Leck, located suitable site for settlement in Paraguay. Became the first of the new Australia colonists and trustee of a new settlement.
  • Remained at New Australia when Lane and followers moved to breakaway colony at Cosme. Withdrew from New Australia in 1897.
  • Went to London and worked briefly for The Times but died of pneumonia soon after arrival.

Sources
Gavin  Souter, A Peculiar People: the Australians in Paraguay, (Sydney, 1968); D. J. Murphy (ed.), Labor in Politics: State Labor Parties in Australia, 1880-1920 (St Lucia, Qld, 1975; Stuart Svensen, The shearers’ war; the story of the 1891 Shearer’s Strike (Brisbane, 1989); Mary Gilmore, 'New Australia's Three Musketeers', Bulletin (Sydney) 25 January 1928, pp 2 & 5 (https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-597212567).

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Citation details

'Walker, Alfred (?–1898)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/walker-alfred-32387/text40148, accessed 27 June 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012