People Australia

Vic Workman, n.d.

Victor Robert (Vic) Workman (1907-1984) farm worker, labourer, trade union official and Communist

Birth: 25 April 1907 at Blackhill, Coleraine, Derry, Northern Ireland, son of William George Workman (1898-1939), farmer, and his first wife Martha, née McDowell (1870-1922). Marriage: 15 August 1936 at Ryde, New South Wales, to Sydney-born Hilda Nellie Elizabeth Ross (1912-2003), a knitter. They had two daughters. Death: 1 August 1984 in Neringah hospital, at Wahroongah; Sydney, NSW; usual residence Woorarra Avenue, Eleanor Heights, Sydney. Religion: christened Presbyterian. 

• Emigrated to Australia aged 17 under the Dreadnought Scheme to work on a western NSW farm. Arrived in Sydney with his brother aboard the Euripides on 21 November 1924.
• Continued work on farms, roads, timber mill and on the construction of the Wyangala Dam in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Also experienced lengthy periods of unemployment during this time.
• Gained work at an elite Sydney hotel, ‘Hotel Australia’. Became an official in the Hotel, Club, Restaurant, Caterers, Tea Rooms & Boarding House Employees’ Union of NSW. Held office in the HCRU and its successor the Federated Liquor & Allied Industries Employees’ Union of Australia, NSW branch, from 1941 to about 1971. Played leading role in campaigning for the Sydney Food School to train catering workers and lift their professional standing.
• Joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1930 and continued as an active member until his death. Helped to produce the Daily Tribune during 1975 and continued selling the paper on the streets each week for years afterwards.
• Treasurer of the Movement against Fascism and War formed in 1934. Prominent in campaign against nuclear war.
• Active member of the NSW Pensioners Association. Lived in Narrabeen area.
• Cause of death: carcinoma head of pancreas (7 months).

Sources
Tribune, 15 August 1984, p 12; Audrey Johnson, Bread and Roses; a personal history of three militant women and their friends 1902-1988 (Sydney, 1990), pp 75-88.