As we commemorate the ANZAC battles of a century ago, it is not generally appreciated today that Australia was bitterly divided over its commitment to the war effort. The Labor Prime Minister, Hughes, had promised Britain another 80,000 men but was unable to get the necessary legislation through the Labor-controlled senate; two thirds of the party opposed the plan. Hughes split from the ALP, reasoning that the senate would be morally obliged to pass the legislation if the public supported a referendum on the issue.
After a public debate marked by its bitterness, division and violence, Hughes lost two referendums. In a letter to journalist Keith Murdoch, Hughes blamed the defeat of the first referendum on Sinn Fein, the IWW, and the sentimental vote of women. There was little that he could do about the Irish Catholics and Australian women, but he could, as we shall see, certainly move against the Industrial Workers of the World.
In 1878, my great-grandfather Tom McMillan arrived at Moreton Bay as a ten-year old, the son of a Scottish coal miner. He worked in the mines of New England, Kiama and Tasmania, before the Federation Drought and 1890s depression forced him to join his parents and sisters in Southern Cross. Various family members worked at Day Dawn, Frasers, Mt Jackson, Never Never, Corinthian and Marvel Loch.
Agnes McMillan and daughters (Toms Sisters) and their families (Fishers and Alcocks) pre 1912 at Southern Cross
By 1909 Tom was president of the local Western Federated Gold Miners Union. It was a year of industrial unrest partly caused by the pay differentials between skilled machine operators and labourers as machines were introduced. The strike failed. General disillusionment with the industrial system may have been the catalyst for Tom becoming radicalised and joining the IWW, or “Wobblies”.
Founded in Chicago, the IWW was a revolutionary industrial organisation not averse to using violence to achieve its aims, which included that ultimately all workers should come together in One Big Union which would take over control of production, distribution and exchange from the employers. They cut across traditional union and craft lines to organise workers.
IWW Poster
As an example of their tactics, at Corinthian they invaded the worker’s hotel, “made things warm for the snobs and lickspittles”, and “after a hot discussion on industrial unionism…took direct action and promptly heaved the manager from his position behind the bar. They duly installed themselves behind the pump and commenced to pump the juice that cheers before a thirsty and admiring crowd. This action has been resented by the local craft union and they held a meeting last night to deal with us. We have not heard what they intend to do”.
In 1914, Tom and his eldest son William (Bill) became involved in the Port Pirie Free Speech Fight in South Australia. IWW notable Charlie Reeve had been arrested and imprisoned for 10 days for addressing a street meeting and refusing to move on. The IWW flooded the town with activists and 30 more were arrested, including Tom. With more unionists arriving from interstate, the IWW held open air meetings of 3000 people, alarming authorities who beat a retreat. Similar events occurred elsewhere, such as Newcastle.
Returning to WA, they organised IWW branches in Fremantle and Boulder. A rigorous program of meetings, lectures, educational and reading classes was introduced. A typical schedule for the Boulder Local, which also covered Kalgoorlie was: a class meeting on Wednesday evening in the hall; a propaganda meeting outside Boulder Post Office on Friday evening and in Kalgoorlie on Saturday evening; a business meeting at 10.30am on Sunday in the hall; a lecture at Keane’s Goldfields Hotel Athletic Club at 2.30pm on Sunday; and a propaganda meeting on Sunday evening in Boulder. These indoor meetings were in addition to the many open-air meetings. In a time before movies, television and radio so such diversions may have been popular.
Tom and Bill returned to NSW and the bitterness of the anti-conscription campaign and the massive industrial turmoil of 1917. With the loss of the 1916 referendum, the Federal Government moved against the IWW and declared them an unlawful association. There were numerous arrests (including 11 arrested in WA for seditious conspiracy). Two were hanged at Bathurst for murdering a policeman, some deported, and another 11 received prison sentences of up to 15 years.
In Broken Hill, 34 wobblies were arrested, including Tom and Bill. They each received 6 months with hard labour at Broken Hill and Bathurst prisons respectively for “continueing to be a member of an unlawful association”.
The NSW State Records Office has released prisoner records from that era. This photo of Tom is the only one that we have. He was described as being a miner of no religion, could read and write, 5’4″, weighing 138lbs, brown hair, blue eyes with a crippled right hand.
Thomas McMillan
Tom never returned to WA. Here, the IWW had failed. There had been an overwhelming vote for conscription in WA and on the goldfields. Of all the Australian states, Western Australia sent more men per head of population to fight in WW1 and those who remained at home gave majority support for conscription. One recruitment poster emphasised the importance of the Kalgoorlie ‘contribution’. On a map of Australia, the poster displayed the names of only six places – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide (all capital cities) and Kalgoorlie.
Tom moved to Ingham, Qld, and worked on the wharf. In 1927, while sitting astride one of the steamers at Lucinda Point, he was struck by a length of wood. He died of heart failure a few days later. The Waterside Workers Union traced and informed my great-grandmother.
Tom lay in an unmarked grave in the Ingham Cemetery for 87 years until I located him using Trove. The story told to my relatives was that he’d deserted the family and “gone east”. It seems that family shame kept the secret. As ANZAC Day grew in prominence and the world headed for another war, it must have been difficult to acknowledge and support a family member who had fought against conscription and been convicted of sedition.
In 2014 my daughter and I stood at his bare grave, the first family members to do so. I arranged for a plaque inscribed with words from Henry Lawson:
I’ve had my day and sung my song. And fought the bitter fight.
Bill returned to WA and worked as a winch and engine driver at Wiluna; at that time it was the largest goldmine in the world. Later he worked at Big Bell and Cue as a grader driver for the Main Roads Department before retiring to Boulder. He and his de facto, Flo, are buried in Kalgoorlie Cemetery.
Addendum
I would not have found my great grandfather without the National Library of Australia’s wonderful Trove service. May I thank Moya for providing me the opportunity to tell a slightly different goldfields story. – David McMillan
More info at: https://sites.google.com/site/motoguzzimackersfamilytree/
Moya Sharp
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