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David Paul (Roger) Whittaker (1899–1944)

This article was published:

David Paul (Roger) Whittaker (1899-1944) tramway employee and trade union leader

Birth: 6 June 1899 at Nethercote, near Eden, New South Wales, youngest of ten children of native-born parents Arthur Bernard Whittaker (1862-1934), labourer, later farmer, and Hannah ‘Anna’, née Whelan (1859-1922). Unmarried. Death: 11 November 1944 in St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

  • His sister Adella Carver was prominent in the Australian Labor Party.
  • Other siblings were settlers at Peeramon, near Yungaburra, far north Queensland, where his parents moved in 1918. His father returned to NSW and lived with him at Darlinghurst.
  • Associated with the R. J. Heffron’s Industrial Labor Party, Whittaker was an opponent of the J. T. Lang faction in the Australian Labor Party in the late 1930s.
  • President of the New South Wales branch of the Tramway and Omnibus Employees’ Association from 1936 to 1943 (working in Sydney office). Branch industrial organiser from 1943 until his death.
  • Elected general president of the Australian Tramway and Bus Employees Association in April 1944.
  • Died from injuries sustained when a car jumped the kerb and crushed him against the wall of a building in King’s Cross, Sydney.

Sources
NSW Tramway Journal, 10 Dec. 1944 pp 3, 5-6; Tramway Record, 8 December 1944, pp 6 and 9.

Additional Resources and Scholarship

  • death notice, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 November 1944, p 4
  • funeral, Tribune (Sydney), 16 November 1944, p 3

Related Entries in NCB Sites

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Citation details

'Whittaker, David Paul (Roger) (1899–1944)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/whittaker-david-paul-roger-32916/text41002, accessed 28 April 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Birth

6 June, 1899
Eden, New South Wales, Australia

Death

11 November, 1944 (aged 45)
Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Cause of Death

pedestrian accident

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Occupation or Descriptor
Key Organisations
Political Activism