People Australia

Francis Elijah (Frank or ‘Pony’) Williamson (1874 or 1882-1968) blacksmith, trade unionist, farmer and political activist 

Birth: possibly in 1874 or in 1882 at Kingston, near Hobart, Tasmania, son of Francis Williamson (d. by 1920), contractor, and Jane, née McGregor (d. after 1920). Marriages: (1) 20 April 1905 (giving his age as 24) at the Catholic Church, Horsham, Victoria, to native-born Mary Jane Malone (1886-1977), a house-keeper. They had two daughters and two sons. The marriage had ended by 1917 and they were divorced in March 1920. (2) 6 April 1920 (giving his age as 38) at Mooonee Ponds, Melbourne, with Congregational forms, to native-born Ruby Victoria Maria Dobson (1886-1976). The marriage ended in divorce in July 1924. (3) 1924 in Victoria to native-born Lilian Mary Irene (Rene) Case, later Morris (1900-1995). They had one daughter and one son before this marriage, too, ended in divorce, in May 1944. Death: 18 July 1968 (aged reputedly 94) in his usual residence at Wyena Road, Pendle Hill, New South Wales. Religion: buried with Anglican rites. 

• Grew up in a poor family with his father being unlucky with crop prices and ill-health. Attended Macquarie Street Ragged School in Tasmania at 8 years of age, which was the only school available in the area for children of poor parents.
• First left school at 10 years of age to work on a dairy farm for 18 months. Returned to school aged 12, paying 9 shillings a week, after his mother received an inheritance from Scotland of £500 and his father became a cartage contractor at which he was moderately successful.
• Frank became a blacksmith.
• Joined the newly-formed Socialist League at 14 years of age and became secretary at the age of 15 . It met secretly in the cellar of a small hotel at the corner of Macquarie and Elphinstone streets, as Socialists were called ‘red agitators’ and were likely to be victimised in work and with trumped-up court charges. Joined Wharf Lumpers Union in Hobart aged 17.
• Went to Victoria in 1896 and linked with Labor and Socialist groups. In the same year he went to New Zealand and later stowed away and worked his way for three years to China, Japan, India and London (where he met Tom Mann, Ben Tillett and Ramsay Macdonald), France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia.
• Returned to Australia and joined the Australian Workers’ Union in 1899 and represented the AWU at annual conventions until late in his life. Visited Melbourne in 1901 before moving on to Tasmania where the Tasmanian Workers Political League was forming.
• Returned to Victoria in 1903 and gained work as a blacksmith in Hamilton during the forming of the Hamilton Political Labor Council and spoke with Tom Mann. He claimed to be one of the so-called ‘rat bags’, of whom there were seven, who supported King O’Malley, Labor MP, to campaign for a Commonwealth Bank in 1903.
• Organised country agricultural implement makers and ironworkers into a union in 1904 and assisted with organising a Victorian Drovers’ Union (which later became part of the AWU).
• Worked at May’s Foundry at Horsham. In Horsham he became joint secretary for J. K. McDougall’s successful election campaign for Corangamite in 1907. Organised first Labor Day march in Horsham in 1908. Formed a country branch of the Agricultural Implement Makers Union in 1909 in Horsham; Secured an extension of the Wages Board Award for three cities, to country areas in 1910. Member of Wages Board in 1911 for the union (AWU?).
• Involved in anti-conscription campaigns throughout Wimmera and Mallee in 1916-1917. Helped to win the seat of Dundas for Bill Slater for the Australian Labor Party in November 1917, while Slater was on active service.
• Moved to Sea Lake 1920-1924 and re-formed the ALP branch. Moved to Manangatang, 1924-1932, gave his occupation as implement maker on the electoral roll and formed an ALP branch. To Healesville to re-form an ALP branch in 1932-1937. Farmer at Toolangi from 1937 to 1943.
• To Canberra and became senior officer with Federal Prices Branch and Secretary of Clerks Union Branch in 1944. Official of Canberra Trades and Labour Council. Active member of committee for parliamentary representation for the Australian Capital Territory.
• Contested Federal seat of Deakin (Victoria) in 1943. Active on other bodies including the ‘New Education Fellowship’ and the ‘Good Neighbour Council’.
• To a small farm in Greystanes near Parramatta, New South Wales, in 1952, living on his own. Formed an ALP branch at Greystanes. Relocated to Pendle Hill, near Parramatta in 1966 and elected as ALP Branch President.
• Among his associates in the Victorian Labor Party he was know as ‘Pony’ because of his small stature.
• Occupation given as market gardener, and his age as 94, on his death certificate. Cause of death: coronary occusion (sudden) and arteriosclerosis (years).

Sources
Recorder, Vol. 3 No. 6, Oct. 1968 pp.2-5; Common Cause, 24 August 1968, p 4; ALP NSW Branch, Presidential Address by C. T. Oliver, June 1969, p 13; Len Fox, Broad Left, Narrow Left, (Chippendale, NSW, 1982), pp 202-205.