I visited the coalfields of the north and south coasts of N.S.W., addressed meetings in and around Sydney, and went as far west as Cobar and Wrightsville. In every place the response was spontaneous and generous, with the exception, I should have said, of the Trades Council of Sydney. I found a spirit of very marked hostility there, with an executive dominated by a Labour renegade, the notorious Dick Sleath, one time of Broken Hill. In all my lengthy tour of Australia, this was the only hostile reception I met with.
I visited, in addition, and in the following order, the States of West Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and Queensland. Westralia, I travelled far and wide, and was cordially received everywhere. Organised Labour, political and industrial, rendered every possible assistance to me. “The Westralian Worker” placed its columns at my disposal, as did most of the papers in the mining fields.
Melbourne, I found on the industrial side, a marked contrast to Sydney. In the former, a splendid spirit of comradeship was in evidence, and union officials went gladly out of their way to render assistance. I met the Trades Hall Council’s executive, and placed my case before them, and discovered that I had to overcome the poison laid by a person named Ingram, of Auckland, who had previously addressed the Council. I very soon settled that individual—a little word of four letters did the trick as effectively as an hour’s discourse could possibly have done. I also addressed the Council, and received a splendid hearing. My keenest recollection of any individual met at that time is of Jack Curtin, then secretary of the Timber Workers’ Union, and now editor of “The Westralian Worker.” What a magnificent comrade he was!
54
