People who have made a difference - Western Australia's radical activists, 1929-2021 - Australian Society for ...
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ISSUE #10 SEPTEMBER 2021
JOURNAL OF THE PERTH BRANCH OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF LABOUR HISTORY
People
who
have
made a
difference
Daisy Bindi
Western Australia’s radical
activists, 1929-2021
OUR GRATEFUL THANKS TO SENATOR LOUISE PRATT FOR ENSURING THE
PRINTING OF THIS ISSUE OF THE WESTERN WORKER.
contents
ASSLH Perth Branch Committee members 3
Greetings from the President Report for 2021/22 3
Reportback 85 years since the Spanish Civil War 4
People who have made a difference
John (Rivo) and Pat Gandini May Macfarlane – a Red Matilda 5
Bobbie Oliver Tom Edwards – working class martyr 7
Sandra Bloodworth Mumaring/Daisy Bindi – forgotten rebel of the Pilbara 9
Rowan Cahill Ernest Antony – working class poet 10
John (Rivo) and Pat Gandini Bertie Lake – in charge of the tea (chai wallah) 12
Bobbie Oliver Mamie Swanton – the little tailoress 14
Charlie Fox Jack Stevens – martyr to the anti-fascist cause 16
Lenore Layman Elizabeth Clapham – feminist and local government trailblazer 19
Rivo and Pat Gandini Joan Broomhall – pioneer’s backbone 22
Peter Healy Michael Kingston Healy – working for strong unions 24
Nick Everett Monty Miller – life and times 26
Rivo Gandini Norm Rede Lacey – true believer and lifelong activist 29
Fred Wayman Fred Wayman – fighter for workers’ rights 32
Harold Peden Memorial Lecture 2020
Carolyn Smith Solidarity and union strength in the era of COVID 35
Interventions: an interesting new book
Karen Throssell The Crime of Not Knowing Your Crime: Ric Throssell Against ASIO 40
Book reviews
Carmel Shute and Alexis Vassiley Comrades! Lives of Australian Communists 45
Bobbie Oliver The Fatal Lure of Politics: The life and thought of Vere Gordon Childe 47
2
Greetings from President,
Bobbie Oliver
Report 2021
Who would have thought when the pandemic first broke upon the world in early 2020 that we would
still be battling COVID-19 lockdowns and border closures two-thirds of the way through 2021? We
have also been challenged by the ill health of some of our committee members. This has meant, among
other changes, efforts to make meetings more accessible by zoom.
Executive Committee: The 2021 committee elected at our 2020 AGM was: Bobbie Oliver (President)
ASSLH Keith Peckham (Vice President); Vashti Fox (Secretary); Stella Files (Treasurer); Lenore Layman
(Perth Branch) (journal editor); Charlie Fox, Alexis Vassiley, Pat Gandini, Ron Knox and Hope Smith. Ron Knox
COMMITTEE retired as Secretary after many years in that role, although he remains on the committee and continues
his research on the printing industry.
Activities: The annual Harold Peden lecture in November was delivered by Carolyn Smith, Secretary
of United Workers Union. In an excellent talk, she told us what life has been like for health and care
workers during the pandemic, and spoke of new strategies that the union has adopted to communicate
with members. It was encouraging to hear that membership numbers have increased in this difficult
PRESIDENT time. The text of her talk is published in this issue of Western Worker.
Bobbie Oliver
In April 2021, some of our members participated in the Marxism 2021 conference, where Alexis
VICE-PRESIDENT Vassiley and Vashti Fox presented papers. On 1 August, we held a successful seminar to commemorate
Keith Peckham the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, with about 35 people attending. Charlie
Fox, Riley Buchanan, Vashti Fox and Paul Riley gave presentations.
SECRETARY
Vashti Fox
Projects: Perth branch had two research projects in 2020/21. One was collaborating with CPA
TREASURER centenary committees both nationally and locally. Branch members contributed to the national
Stella Files publication Comrades and also spoke at a seminar in Perth on 1 November on aspects of CPA history.
Ron Knox reported a successful result for the Gnowangerup Star project, with the local council taking
CONVENOR responsibility for the refurbishment of the building and the in situ machinery. We continue to support
EDITORIAL the AMWU in the aim of re-establishing a heritage centre on the Midland Workshops site. And we
SUB-COMMITTEE continue to publish an annual edition of our journal. At the 2021 AGM, we are launching the 10th issue
Lenore Layman
of the Western Worker.
COMMITTEE
Thanks. As always, the branch is grateful for our sponsor organisations — the AMWU, where we hold
MEMBERS
Charlie Fox, meetings and store archives; the CSA and Unions WA for hosting our annual Harold Peden lecture; the
Pat Gandini, CFMEU for hosting our AGM 2020 and the Spanish Civil War seminar; Unions WA who provide our
Ron Knox, postal box and assistance with mail-outs: and Senator Louise Pratt’s office for printing Western Worker.
Hope Smith,
Alexis Vassiley
I thank all committee members for their contributions to the Society. In particular I acknowledge
Lenore Layman’s work as journal editor over the past decade, and the contribution of our retiring Vice
ISSN 2200-761X President, Keith Peckham.
3
85 years since the Spanish Civil War
An afternoon of celebration,
discussion and debate
1 August 2021 We held the seminar on Sunday International Brigades as volunteers
afternoon, 1 August, in the May to fight and of the funds raised for
Holman Room at Perth Trades Hall. the Republican cause. Many of the
About 35 people attended, despite the volunteers had little, if any, military
wet, cold weather. training, facing highly-trained Nazi
forces that were using the war as a
Commemorating the 85th anniversary The programme was divided into practice run before the more serious
of the beginning of the Spanish Civil three sections. In the first section, business of World War II. A second
War was the brainchild of Branch Charlie Fox gave us an overview of the discussion period followed.
Secretary, Vashti Fox. causes and events, followed by Riley
Buchanan’s paper on the bombing The afternoon concluded with a
The Spanish Civil War began on 17 July of Guernica and Picasso’s painting of selection of Spanish Civil War songs
1936, with a revolt by Fascist military this event. Then a discussion period by the Lunettes, which the audience
officers against the Leftist Popular Front followed in which members of the enjoyed along with a glass of wine.
government in Spain and was fought audience could make comments and
between Republicans supporting the ask questions of the speakers. Thanks to Vashti Fox and Alexis
government and the rebel forces led by Vassiley for organising the seminar,
General Franco. Franco’s forces were After a break for afternoon tea, we the presenters for their informative
ultimately victorious in 1939, having heard Vashti Fox’s paper on Australian papers, the CFMEU for their generous
received substantial military assistance connections to the Spanish Civil support in providing an excellent
from Nazi Germany and Fascist War and Paul Riley’s paper which venue for the seminar, and to everyone
Italy, whereas Stalin’s support of the focussed on Western Australia. Both who assisted with providing food and
Republicans was ambivalent. spoke of Australians who joined the drinks, and technological support.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Riley Buchanan speaking on Guernica:
the event and painting; Paul Riley speaking on Western Australia and
the Spanish Civil War; Vashti Fox and Riley Buchanan; posters; Hazel Butorac
speaking in the discussion; John Cowdell and Vivienne Dayman 4
People
who
have
May Macfarlane – made a
a Red Matilda difference
John (Rivo) and May's grandfather, Lawrence Sinclair, conditions and the lack of women's
discovered that his horse hadn't actually understanding of contraception. After
Pat Gandini thrown a shoe but had kicked a gold completing midwifery training in
nugget – ‘Norseman’ was the name of 1934-35, May went to Lidcombe State
that horse. Lawrence Sinclair received Hospital. Work at Crown Street had
the Norseman Reward for his find. meant nine months, seven days a week
of training and no pay, but Lidcombe
May Pennefather, born Ethel May May left school early, working a variety was a shocking place.
MacFarlane, in North Perth on 21 of jobs, including chambermaid,
January 1909, was the second of five kitchen hand and waitress, before Later May worked as a matron in a
children; it was a close family. May's starting training as a nurse at Royal bush hospital in Western Australia
early family history is intertwined with Perth Hospital, aged 21. She had always where she had to fight to ensure that
that of European settlement in Western wanted to be a nurse and, as a teenager, Aboriginal patients received the same
Australia. Her mother's family arrived her father presented her with a Red Cross standard of care as other Australians.
in Fremantle from England in April Cloth Badge that went with her when Her vocation as a nurse became
1842 – sixteen years after European she went to Spain in 1936 to work as a dominant in her life, reflected so much
settlement in Albany and thirteen after nurse for the Republican government in of her humane attitudes of care and
the Colony of Western Australia was the years of the Spanish Civil War. She consideration for other people.
officially established. They became kept the badge all her life.
free settlers in the Toodyay region, Not surprisingly, in the 1930s May
establishing one of the first farms, which Whilst still training as a midwife at became interested in progressive politics
they called ‘Salt Cottage’, salt being Crown Street Women's Hospital in and developments occurring in both
important in Romany culture; they Sydney, May was frequently called upon Europe and Australia. One such event
were of Gypsy ancestry. While riding in to deliver babies in the slums of inner that influenced her politics was the visit
the Dundas district south of Kalgoorlie Sydney. She was shocked at the appalling to Australia of Egon Kisch in 1934.
5
Kisch, a prominent Czech anti-fascist, out in the yard and medics operated all because of Australia's friendly
was a delegate to the All-Australian day and most nights for several weeks. relations with Nazi Germany, even
Congress Against War and Fascism. Norman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon, in early 1939.
The Australian government, at the organised blood transfusion services to
behest of the Nazi-German Embassy, all front hospitals from Madrid. On 24 April 1945 May married Neil
unsuccessfully attempted to stop Kisch Pennefather, an ex-serviceman who
from conducting a speaking tour of As fighting quietened, a service was had fought against fascism in the
Australia. held at a cemetery where several long World War II. They adopted a baby
trenches had been dug. In May's girl and a year later had a daughter.
In 1931 Spain became a Republic and estimation they were filled with about
the next few years were tumultuous 300 people who had died and were The Soviet Union presented May
with several changes of government. buried there in the first few weeks of with a ‘Medal for Peace’. In 1984 she
The 1936 election of a Popular Front fighting. During April and May as the received an International Brigade
Republican Government resulted in front was quiet, daily outpatient clinics Commemoration Medal. A year later
reactionaries and army rebels, led by were held to take medical and surgical the documentary ‘Red Matildas’ won
General Franco, with military help care of the villagers; and a ward for the Erwin Radio Award for best
from Germany and Italy, attacking the women and children was established. Australian Film. The film, by Sharon
government. Connolly and Trevor Graham,
In Spain May fell in love with an featured the Spanish experiences of
In October 1936 May and three nurses International Brigade doctor from May and the two other nurses. On
arrived in Spain with the help of the Austria. The Brigade comprised the 50th anniversary of the Spanish
Australian Spanish Relief Committee. volunteers from a host of countries, Civil War May received a medal
Many international organisations sent fighting or working for the Republic. from Barcelona.
help to the Spanish people – workers, Unfortunately both May and the
pacifists, humanitarians, anti-fascists doctor had to return to their respective
Reading
– many travelling illegally after being countries just before the outbreak of
imprisoned in their own countries World War II. The Spanish Civil War L. Edmonds, (ed., A. Inglis),
for political reasons. In the early days was a training ground for the armed Letters From Spain, George Allen
of the war the Soviet Union supplied forces of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and Unwin, Sydney, 1985.
motorised equipment which was later that went on to create slaughter and
hampered by the Non-Intervention mayhem around the world. A. Inglis, Australians in the Spanish
Agreement that many countries, Civil War, Allen and Unwin,
including Britain, had imposed on the May returned to Australia early in Sydney, 1987. NSW University
Spanish people, causing great hardship. 1939 after the defeat of the Republican Press, Kensington, 1988.
The Australian government followed government by the rebels. With Una
the British and made it as difficult as Wilson, one of the other nurses, they
possible for those Aussies volunteers conducted extensive speaking tours,
to reach Spain. So it was left to the including public meetings, radio
sixty odd Aussie volunteers in Spain to broadcasts and civic receptions. These
redeem Australia's honour. At least 16 events were not only an opportunity
of them were killed. to warn of the impending danger from
fascism, but were also used to raise
May worked at a hospital at Colmenar money for the thousands of Spanish
on the Jarama Front. Early in February refugees who had been driven into
1937 the fighting started and casualties camps in southern France. However,
were heavy. Wounded filled the wards; the word 'fascist' was not allowed in
they sat on stairs, many on stretchers a particular ABC broadcast in Perth,
6
Tom Edwards –
working class martyr
Bobbie Oliver Fletcher). When he married Sarah Jane imposed upon waterside workers by the
Phillips (born 1882) at Bendigo in 1901, federal government, when it established
Tom gave his occupation as ‘striker’ ‘loyalist’ unions after the General Strike.
— a worker who sets off explosions in These conditions included three pick-up
the mines. It was a dangerous job that times a day instead of the previous two;
Anyone who visits King’s Square in consisted of drilling a hole in stope walls, a requirement to work alongside so-
Fremantle will notice a small memorial, packing in explosives with a wooden bar called ‘National Volunteers’ (members
standing to the right at the front of St and setting the fuse alight. The warning of the scab National Waterside Workers
John’s Church and opposite the statue cry of ‘Fire in the Hole’ alerted other Union) who were given preference, and
of John Curtin outside the Fremantle miners to run to a safe distance before to work under foremen who were not
Town Hall. The inscription reads: the explosion. union members.
This Memorial Fountain was The Edwards family came to Western In April 1919, when the Dimboola
erected to the memory of Australia in 1910, initially settling arrived from Melbourne, with victims
Comrade Tom Edwards, working in Boulder, where in November of the deadly flu pandemic on board,
class martyr, who sacrificed his they buried their 19-month-old son, the Lumpers refused to unload the ship
life on the Fremantle Wharf on Charles Ernest. The circumstances of until the statutory seven-day quarantine
Sunday, May 4, 1919. ‘Greater the Edwards family’s move from the period was completed. But the Chamber
love hath no man…’ goldfields to Fremantle are unknown. of Commerce put pressure on the
By December 1917, Tom and Sarah Jane government to unload the ship before
Who was Tom Edwards and what is the had three daughters and were living at the seven days were up.
story behind the memorial? 14 Howard Street, Fremantle. Tom was
working as a lumper (or wharfie) on the A riot – which came to be known as
Thomas Charles (Tom) Edwards was Fremantle Wharf. With fellow members ‘Bloody Sunday’ – erupted on Victoria
born in Lockwood, Victoria in 1878, to of the Fremantle Lumpers Union, he was Quay on Sunday 4 May 1919 between
Henry Edwards and Mary Edwards (née forced to sign the infamous conditions Lumpers’ Union members and police.
7
On that morning, the Premier, Hal The WA labour movement has often
Colebatch, travelled down the river remembered Tom Edwards’ legendary
with the boatload of scab labourers, to act of heroism and his name has been
erect barricades around the Dimboola invoked during times of resistance and
and prevent the lumpers disrupting the struggle, including the 1998 War on
unloading. Lumpers rushed to the wharf the Wharves.
to be met by mounted and foot police.
References
A crowd of over 1,000 people gathered
at the wharf. The police were unable to Bobbie Oliver, War and Peace in
prevent the lumpers surging back onto Western Australia. The social and
the wharf and throwing missiles. The political impact of the Great War,
police were ordered to fix bayonets. One 1914–1926, UWA Press, 1995.
of the lumpers, a man named Brown,
was injured by a police bayonet while http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-
attempting to stop the scabs erecting cemeteries/fremantle-cemetery/
the barricades. Police also attacked and heritage-walk-trail/5-thomas-
injured Lumpers’ President, William edwards-sarah-jane-kent (accessed
Renton. Tom Edwards went to assist 16 April 2019).
Renton, was also hit on the head and
knocked to the ground. He suffered a
fractured skull and died from his injuries
three days later.
Hundreds of mourners lined the route of
Tom Edwards’ funeral from Fremantle
Trades Hall to the cemetery. Federal
and State Labor Members of Parliament
marched in a procession estimated to
number 5,000 people. At 3pm on Friday
9 May, when the funeral cortege reached
the graveside, industry throughout the
State stopped for three minutes’ silence
and flags flew at half-mast.
Sarah Jane and her three daughters,
Emily, Hazel and Thelma, moved to
a shop and residence purchased by the
Tom Edwards Trust, a fund raised by the
ALP and the union movement in WA
and elsewhere. Some funds came from
the sale of The Fremantle Wharf Crisis
of 1919, published and printed by the
Westralian Worker, under the editorship
of John Curtin. Sarah Jane remarried in
1936 but, when she died in 1964, she
was buried alongside her first husband.
8
Mumaring/Daisy Bindi –
forgotten woman rebel of
the Pilbara
she learned household skills and appears walked off the stations south of
Sandra Bloodworth
to have received no formal education. Nullagine and made their way to Port
But she did become an accomplished Hedland. At Nullagine, Daisy talked
horsewoman. Living and working on a her way through a police confrontation
number of pastoral stations, apart from where she claimed that she had never
There is a hidden women’s history of the the day-to-day humiliations meted out heard of McLeod, and, with as many as
historic Pilbara strike of 1946. The most by her bosses, she both saw and suffered 96 others, made her way via Marble Bar
common narrative is of male Aboriginal indignities inflicted by the police, who to Canning Camp on the Shaw River.
leaders organising their mob to survive regularly raided Aboriginal camps.
in camps by hunting and shallow Daisy remained an activist after the
mining. You sometimes get a glimpse of She became a fluent and lively speaker. strike in the Pindan Pty Ltd cooperative
women collecting pearl shell for money. And in 1945 Daisy organised a meeting settlement, Port Hedland, set up by the
But it’s clear that women played a key to convey the call sent out for a strike. strikers. Three years before her death
role as strikers and as family members She was so prominent organising in 1962, while in Perth to have an
in setting up and maintaining camps for the strike that police threatened artificial leg fitted after an accident, she
where people could survive together. to remove her from the district. She attended meetings of CPA women and
Communist Party writer Katherine demanded and received wages from her their supporters. Mumaring’s role in the
Prichard wrote an account of one of white employer at Roy Hill station and incredible Pilbara strike is a reminder
these women. saved up to hire a truck with which to that wherever there is a struggle for
collect local workers when the strike freedom, there you will find rebel
She is Mumaring of the Nyangumarda began on May Day 1946. women.
people, known as Daisy Bindi, born
about 1904 on a cattle station near In spite of intimidation by both police Western Worker thanks Red Flag and
Jigalong Aboriginal Reserve in and the government to prevent the Sandra Bloodworth for permitting this
northwest Western Australia. As a child, strike, 500 men, women and children re-publication.
9
Ernest Antony –
working class poet
Rowan Cahill and anti-war Industrial Workers of cane, drove mule and camel trains,
the World (IWW), especially its rich worked on waterfronts, cut timber,
culture of poetry and songs. Having navvied on railroads, lumped wheat,
established itself in WA in 1914, the gardened, and raised greyhounds. His
In 1916 Ernest Antony (1894-1960) left IWW poured organising resources into longest employment seems to have
home in Western Australia, beginning the State. The Fremantle IWW Local been in the timber bridge and wharf
a lifetime of nomadic work. During (No.5) was established in 1915 and, in construction industry, work that
these decades he wrote himself in, and light of Antony’s future poetry, it is sustained him during World War II.
out, of Australian literary history. He reasonable to assume he was influenced. From 1944 until retirement due to
was born in 1894 on a dairy farm in Political surveillance of anti-war ill-health in 1952, he was President
Yea in rural Victoria, the family later activists and organisations intensified of the Bridge and Wharf Carpenters’
relocating to Western Australia where in WA as World War 1 proceeded. Union (NSW). He died on the
his father found work in road building Fit young men like Ernest who did pension in Gunnedah (NSW) in 1960.
and farming. The Australian roots of the not volunteer for military service were
family went back to the gold rush era of prime targets for the robustly nasty It was a nomadic working life that
the 1850s, and a Portuguese immigrant community culture of suspicion and did not generate a significant paper
Joseph Antoni, and his Irish wife Julia antagonism that developed, particularly trail, apart from the poems Antony
(née Farrell). Sometime in the 1890s the during the time of the conscription contributed to the extensive labour
family anglicised their name to Antony. referendums beginning in 1916. movement press of the time. He
was one of numerous working-class
Aged 13, Ernest left school. A family Whatever his reason(s), Ernest headed poets in these publications who
memory has him winning a school prize north. By 1917 he was in Wyndham produced a rich and vibrant body
for poetry a year or so earlier. Work and Darwin along with younger of verse. In the 1930s the paper trail
on the land followed and he began to brothers Bob and Harry. Ernest helped places him in Glebe, NSW, part of
assemble the skills that would see him build meatworks in both places. nascent Trotskyist politics, and in
through life. Years later, his younger Brother Bob stayed in Darwin and 1935 part of a breakaway group that
brother Harry recalled that, for Ernest, helped organise the North Australian saw entrism into the Labor Party as
‘a pair of blades, shears, shovel, axe, and Workers Union, formed in 1928, the way forward. As brother Harry
a team of horses were his tools of trade’. where he held Ticket No. 1. Ernest wrote about Ernest’s nomadism in
continued his itinerant working an undated letter after Ernest’s death:
Prior to 1916, he worked in Fremantle life, making his way across northern ‘Men who did not see eye to eye
lumping wheat. What happened to him Australia to the eastern states, gaining a with the good, kind, worthy master
here politically is informed guesswork, reputation for militancy in the process. were frequently on the move in order
but his later literary work indicates to eat, and he was of that rebellious
he was significantly influenced by the During his working life he variously order. The swag and parts unknown
literature of the militant working class prospected for tin and gold, cut sugar was [sic] often his only address’.
10By 1930 Antony had enough poems maritime workers and their families, this assumed it was the product of a lefty
either published or ready for publication geopolitical space became known as The folk tradition.
to warrant a book. With the assistance Hungry Mile.
of leading communist intellectual In a significant booklet history of
and propagandist Esmonde Higgins While Antony’s poem about this site maritime unionism published by the
(1897-1960), he went ahead, and the conveys some of the hardships associated Waterside Workers Federation in
Communist Party printery in Sydney with the area, he has in his sights the Sydney in 1957, Antony’s poem was
produced a collection of 33 of his poems. rapacious and exploitative system that reprinted, minus attribution. One of
Titled The Hungry Mile and Other Poems, produced it, and the inequalities of Ernest’s brothers had had enough, and
the collection is strongly anti-war, ‘masters’ and ‘slaves’. For him, the site wrote to the union providing details
anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti- is symbolic of capitalism, and he looks about the poem and its author. The
organised religion. The poems indicate forward to a future time of revolution union’s journal, the Maritime Worker,
that Antony was a well-read person, when workers/slaves will rise and later published biographical details of
evidencing influences as diverse as the overthrow the system: the poet and restored him to his poem.
IWW literary canon, Jonathan Swift,
Henry Lawson, Marx, C J Dennis, Banjo But every stroke of that grim lash that But elsewhere, and as late as 2001, the
Paterson, Bernard O’Dowd. While there sears the soul of men ‘Anonymous’ attribution was attached
is a technical roughness about the poems, to published versions of the poem. In
this is negated by Antony’s social justice With interest due from years gone by, 2008 the Maritime Union of Australia
passion, his uses of satire and bitter irony, shall be paid back again had another go at correcting the
his cheeky rebelliousness, and his hard- record, publishing a new edition of
won reflections on working life. To those who drive these wretched Antony’s 1930 book with a scholarly
slaves to build the golden pile. Introduction and explanatory notes by
The book’s title and the lead poem Rowan Cahill. Hopefully the matter is
‘The Hungry Mile’ refers to the mile And blood shall blot the memory out now at rest and Ernest Antony is back
of waterfront between Circular Quay – of Sydney’s hungry mile. again with his poem, and a place in
and Darling Harbour, Sydney. Now Australian working-class history.
home to upmarket accommodations, The day will come, aye, come it must,
expensive eateries, tourist attractions when these same slaves shall rise, References
and high-roller gambling, in the 19th
and for much of 20th centuries it was And through the revolution’s smoke, The republished edition of Antony’s
a waterfront industrial site of wharves, ascending to the skies, poems with an Introduction and
warehouses, working class homes, Notes by Rowan Cahill is Ernest
pubs, affordable eateries, and transient The master’s face shall show the fear Antony, The Hungry Mile and Other
accommodations. It was an industrial he hides behind his smile, Poems, Maritime Union of Australia,
area along which maritime workers, Sydney, 2008.
land-based and seagoing, tramped the Of these his slaves, who on that day
length and breadth in search of work shall storm the hungry mile. For an account of Antony’s life and
in all weathers, their employment work, see Rowan Cahill, ‘“Of the
controlled by the despised ‘bull system’ The poem is a neat and dramatic piece Things I Know I Sing”: The ‘Lost’
until that system ended during World of political writing. Easy to memorise, Working Class Poet Ernest Antony
War II. This demeaning method of it became a popular performance piece, (1894-1960)’ in Bobbie Oliver (ed.),
labour hire produced victimisation by and was orally transmitted far and wide Labour History in the New Century,
employers, favouritism, and corruption, beyond its print-base. Over the years it Black Swan Press, Perth, 2009, pp.
and pitted worker against worker, became iconic, separated from its author, 41-49. A small collection of Antony’s
which in turn encouraged bullying and gained instead the attribution to literary papers is in the State Library
and violence. For generations of ‘Anonymous’. Some people romantically of NSW at MLMSS 1749.
11Bertie Lake – in charge
of the tea (chai wallah)
John (Rivo) and Pat Gandini the Communist Party offices in Perth refused the small sum that would have
was eagerly awaited by those members finalised the issue. In Bertie's eyes to
hard at work. have accepted this would put the seal of
approval on the robbery which the banks
During the First World War he saw perpetuated on him and so many others.
active service in the Persian Gulf and this
sparked his interest in the Arab peoples In the following years he became
Bertie Frederick Lake was born in and their affairs, especially the question involved in the struggle of the
England on 25 March 1890 and died of oil. He remained a keen student unemployed workers in Perth. Although
in Perth on 17 June 1976 at the age of these matters all his life. Bertie's the worst of the worldwide depression
of 86. As a boy he attended a socialist experiences removed any illusions about was over, serious unemployment
Sunday School in Watford, Hertfordshire the glory of war and he had many stories continued in WA until 1939 and was
and remembered buying The Clarion to tell of the lice and dirt, heat and horror finally solved only by the outbreak
newspaper from a boy selling them of it all, and how some young British of World War II. Struggles for food
outside the railway yards. The Clarion, soldiers were executed for desertion. and the bare necessities of life were
founded in 1891, focused on British fought with bitterness and anger in the
political affairs and, whilst it espoused For over fifty years Bertie was one of numerous sustenance camps that existed
socialist and humanitarian issues, it the ordinary people of the Australian throughout the State and often erupted
supported World War I. As a young labour movement who helped write its on the streets of Perth. Late in the 1930s,
man Bertie joined the British army. It history. He arrived in Australia in 1922 Bertie finally became the Secretary of
happened as a joke when he and some and took up farming. He, and many the Council Against Unemployment.
mates, as a dare, went to the recruiting others, got into financial difficulties with This organisation did a great deal to lift
office on the spur of the moment but the banks in the Depression and, despite the morale of the unemployed and their
came back as fully signed-up recruits. his tenacious, near superhuman efforts, families, both through providing social
living on a diet of boiled wheat, he was amenities and in the struggles to improve
Bertie served first in India, an experience finally forced off his farm in 1936. His their conditions. A statewide congress
which helped him and many Englishmen stubborn streak showed how strongly he of this organisation was held at Easter
see the real purpose of imperialism. He felt about the inequities of the times and 1938, attended by over 70 delegates
often reminisced about his time there, he would not accept any settlement on from workplaces, ration depots, local
and his call of ‘cha wallah’ at teatimes in his property. Over 30 years later, he still committees and several trade unions.
12Bertie Lake's work in the unemployed Esplanade – humping the platform
movement is now part of the recorded down there and then selling Tribune to
history of the labour movement in the crowd.
Western Australia in the book The First
Furrow, written by Joan Williams, one of Bertie's arm must have turned the handle
his long-time comrades. Bertie was also of duplicating machines thousands of
active in the Movement against War and times, sometimes late into the night,
Fascism in the 1930s and it was in this after everyone had gone home, just to
period that he joined the Communist get the job ready – printed, sorted and
Party. He remained an active member stacked in bundles. He also had the task
until his death. of painting the lettering on the banners
– he was the best at it – so there were
Bertie did full-time work for the Party hours bent over calico patiently marking
for long periods for no payment, existing out and filling in the letters. He had
on his pension and, when he did receive trouble with his back and suffered with
a small wage, most of it found its way arthritis in his hands, but somehow the
back into Party funds as donations. His banners were always ready on time.
personal needs were very simple – an old
record player on which he listened to Bertie was seriously ill a number of
his favourite music, usually Gilbert and times in his later years but never a
Sullivan or something similar. He would complaint from him. Late in his life, in
sing the songs from these operas, half December 1975, in one of Australia's
to himself, as he worked away at some most important Federal elections, Bertie,
task around the office, often with his aged 85, was out on the polling booths
own words about some contemporary distributing 'How to Vote' cards, along
issue. Bertie was a keen photographer, with others young enough to be his
and an amateur sketcher and painter. His great grandchildren. He married once
photographs and slides were distributed and, although he had no children,
among comrades who had taken part he had an affection for them, with
in some event or other. Bertie rode a unlimited patience. Many times he'd
bicycle around the streets of Perth into look after and entertain children of all
his old age and, when that was no longer ages who had come into the office with
possible, he enjoyed walking everywhere busy parents who were involved in some
he could. meeting or other activity.
He could turn his hand to most Ordinary people – believers like Bernie
tasks, though not at making or – make history; and the great reforming,
writing speeches. He was one of the radical and revolutionary movements
Party's most active workers, selling throughout time bear witness to this
Tribune, distributing leaflets and other truth.
publications, organising meetings, and
collecting signatures on petitions. One
thing you could be sure of, no matter
who else didn't turn up to a planned
event, Bertie would be there. For so
many years he was the mainstay of
the Party’s Sunday rallies on the Perth
13Mamie Swanton –
‘the little tailoress’
Bobbie Oliver among the first women workers in lobbying, the State parliament finally
Western Australia to be unionised, appointed a select committee in 1905 to
with a goldfields union formed in 1899. enquire into the practice of sweating in
Swanton remained president of the Perth WA industries. The committee visited
union until the Tailoresses amalgamated 34 factories and seven shops in Perth and
Mary Hynes ‘Mamie’ Swanton was with the Tailors’ Union in 1905. In Fremantle and interviewed 29 witnesses,
born in Melbourne on 22 June 1861, 1907 Swanton was elected first woman before concluding that ‘sweating … does
to Irish immigrant parents James and president of the Tailors’ and Tailoresses’ not exist to the alarming extent that was
Sarah Marie Swanton. Although raised Union. She was a delegate to the coastal commonly believed’. The committee’s
in the Roman Catholic faith, she later Trades and Labour Council. Swanton report stated that allegations of ‘sweating’
abandoned Christian belief and became a was also a suffragette and a foundation often arose from a ‘misconception’
committed atheist. Swanton trained as a member of the Karrakatta Club. that women were forced to undertake
tailoress. She was small in stature, and the piecework in their homes in order to
only known portrait of her, from 1927 From an early age, Swanton devoted support themselves or their families.
when she was in her sixties, depicts a her life to bettering the conditions of The report claimed that most women
woman with a round face, short bobbed exploited female and child workers worked in order to supplement ‘the
hair and pince-nez. in her own and other trades, and already sufficient incomes of their
became known affectionately as ‘the breadwinners’ and ‘to supply themselves
Swanton moved to Perth c1889, where little tailoress’. She soon found that with luxury or refinement’. Apart from
she formed and became foundation exploitation of workers (known as being a comfortable fiction often applied
president of the Perth Tailoresses ‘sweating’) was as widespread in WA as to female employees as a justification
Union in 1900. The tailoresses were elsewhere. As a result of her persistent for paying them half the male rate, this
14assertion indicates a belief that exploiting with friends in Perth, confessing to
a worker who ‘didn’t need to work’ was ‘being lonely for my kindred spirits in
not exploitation at all. the West where my heart is’. She died
on 25 November 1940 and was buried
Swanton must have been bitterly in the Catholic section of Rookwood
disappointed by the committee’s Cemetery, despite her stated aversion to
findings, but she battled on. In 1907 religion.
she achieved a partial victory when the
Arbitration Court granted an award with References
a standard wage and improved working
conditions, including allowing some Emma Grahame, 'Swanton, Mary Hynes
workers to sit on stools rather than stand. (1861–1940)', Australian Dictionary
Swanton also campaigned for equal pay of Biography, National Centre of
for women; better working conditions Biography, Australian National
for nurses; State legislation to protect University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/
abandoned children; and for widow’s biography/swanton-mary-hynes-8726/
pensions and a State maternity hospital. text15277, published first in hardcopy
The State government did not commit 1990, accessed online 15 April 2021.
to establishing King Edward Memorial
Hospital until 1910 – and then only after Bobbie Oliver, Unity is Strength. A
pressure from several women’s groups. history of the ALP and the Trades and
Labor Council in Western Australia, 1899-
Although supported by Jean Beadle 1999 (API Network, 2003).
and other activists, Swanton’s efforts
to achieve equal pay for women were
often undermined by the labour press.
The Westralian Worker claimed that
women should be paid less because of
their ‘inferior physical strength’. Women
should be at home raising families, rather
than in factories doing ‘men’s work’.
Her activism may also have contributed
to periods of unemployment. In 1913,
unable to find work in her trade in Perth,
she moved to the eastern goldfields to
housekeep for her brother in Kalgoorlie,
but she was back in Perth by 1920.
Swanton remained in Perth until 1933,
taking part in activities of the Australian
Natives Association and writing
frequently to the newspapers on a range
of causes. After stirring up a controversy
when she advocated cremation, she left
the west, visiting Britain and the USA
before settling in Sydney for the rest
of her life. She maintained connections
15Jack Stevens – martyr
to the anti-fascist cause
Charlie Fox Arriving in Cessnock, the northern extreme right and the ascension to power
coalfield town, and described by the local of Jack Lang, were not so apparent.
newspapers as a ‘stranger in town’, Jack A conservative government ran WA,
was soon identified as a communist. He while the Labor Party was moderate and
had moved from Glebe Point in Sydney constitutionalist. Unemployed men were
to Kurri then to Cessnock in the pattern sent to the country to get them out of
of itinerant Communist organisers. the city, although there was an active
John Ernest (Jack) Stevens was born Arrested in March 1930 for using organisation in Perth which pulled large
in England in 1895. Just 19 when ‘profane language’ – he had allegedly numbers of men into demonstrations and
World War I began he enlisted in the called Jesus Christ ‘that old joker’ at a meetings.
British Army and fought in the war. It’s Communist Party meeting in Cessnock
possible that the war turned Jack into – he told the court he was pointing KSP described the Jack that arrived:
both a Communist and an opponent to the way capitalism used religion to ’Shabby and hungry, he struggled
of war, or these may have come about defend itself and the way political parties against tremendous difficulty in the
after he migrated to Australia, probably used Jesus to justify their wars. He also work he had undertaken’. He found
in the 1920s. In any event, single and criticised the war the churches were accommodation in a boarding house
35 years old, he became a member of waging against the Soviet Union. He in North Perth where he slept on a
the Sydney branch of the Communist was fined £1 with seven days’ default. verandah. As the Party’s sole organiser,
Party of Australia (CPA) and in 1930 he supported himself by keeping a share
the Party sent him to the northern Jack’s work impressed the leaders of of membership dues and the profits from
coalfields to organise among the coal the Party back in Sydney, so in late the sale of pamphlets.
miners, especially the ‘class conscious’ 1930 they sent him to Perth to bring
returned soldiers amongst them, during order and discipline to what seems to Jack was a dedicated communist. He
the lockout and strike of that year. These have been a somewhat chaotic Perth told a magistrate during one court case
were tense and violent times. Police, branch. So, in January 1931, Jack arrived that he ‘was not in a profession or trade.
who camped out at mine sites to protect with an introduction to the guiding I’m not prostituting myself. I’m not
scab labour, had shot and killed one light of WA communism, the novelist, selling my body or brain’ and that the
miner and wounded dozens. As weeks Katharine Susannah Prichard (KSP). In work he was doing in Perth was what
of hunger and desperation passed, the Perth Jack would have found that, while he had always wanted to do; it was his
strikers’ commitment waned and, losing unemployment was high, Sydney’s social life’s ambition. Bill Mountjoy, who
heart, they finally accepted defeat. It was tensions, caused by the rise of the radical was sent from Sydney late in 1931 to
into this atmosphere that Jack appeared. unemployed, communism and the take over from him as Party secretary,
16described him as ‘quiet and efficient’. Some early WA communists didn’t charged with vagrancy and a second
KSP later described him as ‘simple and appreciate Jack coming across from more serious charge of being a person
straightforward, honest and earnest Sydney and taking over. When asked of evil fame. The list of his alleged
… with an unswerving devotion to by the prosecuting policeman in a court crimes was long: he was an organiser
the working class’. KSP was very fond case following the Treasury Building of the Communist Party; had been in
of Jack, even describing him to one riot in March 1931 (the riot between the company of thieves and convicted
magistrate as Christ-like. Jack was also unemployed workers and police on persons; had addressed crowds on the
well educated in Marxist-Leninism, as a the corner of St Georges Terrace and Esplanade, advocated violence; was
couple of magistrates learned when he Barrack St) whether he was a leader organising a strike and revolution, and
tried to explain Communist doctrine of the Communist Party, the young was involved in the Treasury riot.
to them. firebrand, 21-year-old Syd Foxley,
replied ‘there are no leaders in the Jack would happily have confessed to all
So, Jack began organising. He spoke at communist movement’. When asked of these, after putting his own spin on
small meetings and study classes (one ‘Oh, what about Mr Stevens?’ he replied, them of course. But he angrily denied
entitled ‘Australia’s Part in the World ‘he is an organiser, that is not necessarily the final charge, that he was in possession
Revolution’) and gave revolutionary a leader’. Much later, in an interview in of a ‘formula for starting fires’. This
speeches on Perth’s Esplanade. the 1970s Syd was scathing about Jack. charge smells of a frame-up, as police
Mountjoy later described how the Why? Local parochialism, the feeling believed that arson was a tactic of the
party was composed of ‘enthusiastic that local activists didn’t need eastern revolutionary Industrial Workers of the
single unemployed, having but little staters telling them what to do, could be World during World War I, but it was
knowledge of real communist work the answer. They may have felt that they never a communist strategy. On the
and lacking … discipline’. Jack had already done the hard yards in setting evil fame charge, Jack was found guilty
must have spent a great deal of time up the Party and wanted the credit. But and bound over to keep the peace for
with them, organising, taking part winners write history in the CPA as six months, in default six weeks. (Syd
in their activities and guiding them everywhere else and the first leaders of Foxley, who was charged with the
into Marxism–Leninism. Mountjoy the unemployed, re-named opportunists same offence, said they both took the
also praised the spadework Jack did and adventurers, even ‘terrorist types’, six weeks). He was then charged with
preparing for the Party’s provisional were ejected from the Party. Foxley was vagrancy and with having no visible
District Council. Yet there were expelled in mid 1932. means of support and, despite showing
arguments, as Mountjoy affirmed that he had a regular income, the
later, when he referred to ‘sharp Jack also had to deal with the heavy magistrate gave him 14 days. Prison was
disagreements (which) were expressed’. hand of the Police Department, for very hard in those days. KSP visited him
the cops were intent on crushing the and thought he was distressed that he
Jack himself summarised the situation Party. He was at the centre of action in wasn’t allowed to shave.
in an article in the branch newspaper, the Treasury Riot. Threatened by the
Workers Voice, in September 1932. He cops (We’ll fix you, you ----’, one cop After being released Jack adopted a
accused some past and present members said to him ) and arrested on a charge low profile because he was now a
of laziness, adventurism and rank and of disorderly behavior, he was one of police target, but he was still active.
file-ism and urged their expulsion. But 11 men who went before the police He worked on Red Star, the branch
he pointed out that the Party had since magistrate. With another activist he newspaper, which was set up in April
stabilised with a growing membership, got 21 days for disorderly conduct, to 1932. Mountjoy described the job:
and a new District committee. be served in the foreboding Fremantle ‘I prepared the material, Katherine
Fraternal bodies, the Militant Minority Prison. The cops had more in store for Throssell [KSP], the sub-editing, a
Movement and Friends of the Soviet Jack. In July, after the trial, they raided friendly typist cut the stencils and
Union, had been set up, study classes his residence, ransacked it, took off with Jack was the machinist’. Jack was also
instituted and small victories won. He newspapers and other documents and described in the paper as the publisher,
was optimistic about the future. arrested him again. This time he was but this was a legal requirement for
17newspapers then, so it’s likely to have Jack may have fought first at Jarama
been a title to abide by the law. But and/or Lopera, but in June or July
he did more. He spoke at meetings, he was sent to the Brunete front just
including one on the Esplanade, setting west of Madrid where, on 6 July 1937,
up the Movement Against War in 1932. republican troops attacked the fascist
He wrote occasionally for the paper too. forces that had seized the town six
In March 1933, for instance, he attacked months earlier. The twin aims were to
the leadership of the Waterside Workers break the fascist siege of Madrid and
Federation for ‘sabotaging’ the rank and to draw other fascist forces away from
file’s attempt to establish a single pick-up. the north of the country. It was, say
some historians, the largest military
Late in 1933, Jack left Perth and returned engagement of the war. But the battle
to Sydney. While there he received was short. Aided by German and Italian
a small inheritance. He left Australia air power, by 26 July the fascists retook
sometime afterwards and returned to Brunete and the battle was lost. And Jack
England, where he joined the St Pancras was killed. He was shot in the stomach
branch of the British Communist while taking part in attacking the
Party. He was popular there. He was village of Villanueva de la Canada, near
described as ‘one of the leading and best Brunete. Jack’s comrades buried him just
liked young communists of St Pancras, outside the village, a martyr to the anti-
always in the fore of anti-fascist activity’. fascist cause.
But it wasn’t to be a time for domestic
activism, because Spain was about to
slide into civil war. In mid 1936 an army
rebellion in Morocco has turned into
a full-scale war between the forces of
the democratically elected Republican
government and its leftist supporters
against an unholy alliance of army,
church and aristocracy.
The Communist Party had now
abandoned its opposition to war and Jack
wanted to fight the Fascists, doubtless
thinking that here was a climactic battle
between Communism and Fascism,
civilization and barbarism, good and
evil, so he volunteered to join the
republican forces’ International Brigade.
The few available records show that Jack
made his way to Spain in December
1936, then to Catalonia where the
institutions of republican government
and military were located. He would
then have joined the British forces in the
15th Battalion, before journeying to the
front lines.
18Elizabeth Clapham –
feminist and local government
trailblazer
Lenore Layman as councillors. Elizabeth Clapham took was contentious wartime legislation
the first opportunity available to her and because similar prior British legislation
carved a path for other women to follow. had disproportionately targeted women
for compulsory medical examination,
Originally from England, Elizabeth clinically demonstrating the notorious
arrived in Western Australia with ‘double standard’ against which feminists
her husband John in 1912. They like Elizabeth Clapham railed. Rather,
Early 20th century women like Elizabeth had no children. She was a feminist ‘a single code of morality’ for men and
Clapham thrust their way into public who quickly became active in the women was needed. From a 21st century
life, insisting on speaking and acting women’s movement in Perth, by 1916 perspective some of these crusades might
on their own account, as independent a committee member of the Women’s seem prudish or moralistic; for instance,
citizens. They struggled to tear down Service Guild and strong supporter of also in 1916, she joined a committee to
the many barriers to public equality with its leader Bessie Rischbieth. The Guilds’ found a ‘National Women’s Movement
men — in politics and the public service, goal was profound social reform to for the Six O’Clock Closing of Liquor
in professions and workplaces, and in enable women to control their own Bars’. On the other hand, some protests
cultural and community life. Elizabeth lives — their property, their children and in which she was involved provided
Clapham was a trailblazer, the first their own person. Legal inequalities and early warnings of ongoing social crises.
woman elected to a municipal office in exclusions that disadvantaged women In May 1916 she was part of a large
Western Australia and only the second abounded in early-20th century society. deputation to government led by the
in Australia. Her success in winning First wave feminists were determined Women’s Service Guilds seeking to
a seat on the Cottesloe Municipal to make women equal citizens before end lenient sentences for child sex
Council in November 1920 predated the law and therefore in both public and offenders by moving these offences from
the 1921 election of Edith Cowan as private spheres. Elizabeth Clapham was a misdemeanours to crimes, increasing
the first woman member of the WA fighter for gender equality. the length of minimum sentences, and
parliament and the 1943 election of utilising indeterminate sentences. The
Senator Dorothy Tangney and Enid Her first public position, taken on in central role of ‘motherhood’ in society
Lyons as the first women members of 1916, was as secretary of the Citizens’ was another of the Guilds’ core beliefs
the Commonwealth parliament. Female Vigilance Committee, a community she shared, and she worked to improve
ratepayers had been given the vote in organisation set up to monitor the the welfare of children through the
WA municipal councils in 1896 but not enforcement of the amended WA Health Children’s Protection Society and the
until 1919 were women entitled to stand Act that targeted venereal disease. This Child Welfare Bureau.
19Elizabeth was a Labor Party stalwart, husband could represent them at public work towards ‘a better world order’ by
primarily as a member of the Labor meetings. She replied that it certainly studying and campaigning to ‘expose all
Women’s Organisation where she would be possible ‘if every lady had a those forces that make for war, whether
worked to fund and support a Woman husband and, more remarkable still, political, industrial, international, and
Organiser in order to encourage trade had a husband who could remember to put all her energies into social and
union formation in areas of women’s what his wife told him!’ She seemed to industrial questions’. The Rome congress
work. Not surprisingly therefore she enjoy her public engagements and this and her subsequent Geneva visits had
stepped forward in January 1920 to confidence contributed to her successes. broadened her outlook, making it more
become honorary secretary of the international although the subject of
new, small Metropolitan Laundry With the support of the North Cottesloe her core concern — the impaired lives
Employees Union as it struggled to Progress Association and the Women’s of women and children — remained
survive in competition with large Service Guilds she was elected North constant.
laundries run by religious bodies using Ward Councillor at the November
unpaid female labour. Her husband, 1920 election, winning 144 votes to her She spoke her mind in the public sphere
tailor John W Clapham, took over opponent’s 105. Her term on Council and was quite prepared to argue even
this secretaryship in September of the (1920-23) proved successful. She was a with fellow Laborites and feminists.
same year and combined it with his committed and busy Councillor, ‘always On her return from Europe in 1923
work as secretary of the South West well informed and speaking to the she took issue with the opinion of the
Clothing Trades Union. He was active point’. She supported financial assistance Westralian Worker, Labor’s official weekly,
on the Metropolitan District Council to the Children's Hospital, protested that the ILO was ineffective. Surely,
of the ALP until his death in 1926 and the Commissioner of Public Health’s she argued, it was better ‘to educate the
Elizabeth also remained active in Labor decision to appoint a joint health workers… rather than to abuse what may
Women’s affairs. She put her name inspector for Cottesloe and Claremont, become an efficient piece of machinery’.
forward for ALP endorsement for the and attended conscientiously to all the Furthermore, she pointed out to an
seat of Perth in the 1922 federal elections local issues of footpaths, sanitation and audience of Labor women, better working
but was unsuccessful in securing it. public health that arose. Not surprisingly conditions have in the past generally been
she supported the Council’s electrical conceded to those ‘able to make their
Elizabeth and her husband lived in trades employees in their struggle for a claim most forcibly heard’. However
Cottesloe, and she entered municipal 44-hour week. Despite a successful term universal peace had to be based on social
politics through the North Cottesloe and praise from fellow Councillors, she justice for all; therefore the ILO’s focus
Progress Association representing a decided not to re-nominate for another on improving the working conditions of
relatively new and somewhat neglected term. women and children promised to realise
ward. In January 1920 she began ‘many of the aspirations of the women’s
a successful petition protesting the While a Councillor, Elizabeth had movement’ and deserved to be supported
unsatisfactory manner in which Council continued her active membership of by women of all countries and classes.
rate valuations were determined, which the Women’s Service Guilds and had Alongside these industrial reforms, she
resulted in a special Council meeting to become a vice-president of the State strongly advocated for motherhood (or
discuss the issue. The lively meeting also organisation. In 1923 she was a delegate child) endowment as an international
protested that, as rates rose, the Council to the International Alliance for Equal principle and at a level that constituted ‘a
typist’s salary was being reduced. Citizenship and Woman Suffrage living wage’.
The meeting was widely reported Congress in Rome and afterwards visited
and Elizabeth Clapham became more the League of Nations headquarters Much of her time after her return to Perth
widely known. She campaigned well. and International Labour Office in 1923 was devoted to establishing and
One interjector demanded to know (ILO) in Geneva. These experiences chairing the Women’s Service Guilds’
why women needed to contest public transformed her priorities and she League of Nations Study Circle where
office. Surely, he suggested, a wife could returned to Perth determined to allocate a monthly program of talks informed
tell her husband her views so that her her time differently — she decided to women on the work of the League. The
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