People Australia

Woods, Arthur Edward (Ted) (1901-1991) clerk, railway employee and trade union official 

Birth: 28 November 1901 at Shepherdstown, Adelong Creek, New South Wales, son of George Henry Woods (1870-1954), miner, gold quartz, and his first wife Mary Ann, née Ballard (1870-1957). Both parents had been born at Tumut, NSW. Marriage: 1924 at Sydney to Lucy Chalker (1899-1999), born at Adelong, NSW. They had two daughters and two sons. Death: 4 January 1991 at Canterbury Hospital, Campsie; usual residence Hall Street, Belmore, Sydney. 

• Worked in Railway Way and Works branch up to 1939 in all-round railway and administration work.
• Participated in organising and industrial work in NSW with Australasian Transport Officers’ Association from post World War I onwards. Honorary secretary of awards claims committee; general treasurer for several years.
• General secretary of the Railway and Tramway Officers’ Association (later Railways Salaried Officers’ Association) from 1940 until 1967 (retired). Federal secretary of federation in 1943-1948.
• Candidate for election for Australian Labor Party to the NSW Legislative Council in 1949.
• Presented with a wallet of notes from union at retirement function.
• Cause of death: uraemia, acute renal failure, ischaemic heart disease and gout.

Sources
Railway and Tramway Officers’ Gazette, 21 August 1939, p 9, 20 November 193,9 p 13, 20 January 1940, p 11; Transport Officers’ Gazette, Dec 1967 to Jan 1968 pp 1-2, May-June 1968, p 2.