Never Favoured and Now Forgotten: A Tribute to 'A Good Labor Man'

Abstract

'Fred Ward', although the most unprepossessing of names, denotes one of the more colourful figures in Australian labour history.1 Frederick Fumer Ward, a pioneer of the labour movement in South Australia, died in 1954, after having faithfully served the Labor Party in that state for over sixty years. His grave is unmarked. There are no memorials to honour him. Indeed, there isn't a great deal to show he ever existed. Such, perhaps, has been the fate of most people who have devoted their lives to what they considered a worthy organisation. But Fred Ward was not just another member of the Australian Labor Party in South Australia or any other state. Indeed the eulogies given him in January 1955 by experienced journalists and prominent figures in the branch make one wonder how he could so easily have slipped into obscurity. 'For many years I have recorded Labor and industrial politics in South Australia', wrote one industrial roundsman, 'and Fred Ward is easily the most vivid personality to occupy the stage in my day'.2 He was the 'last of an era', read the headline in Adelaide's major Sunday paper.3 Ward's personality is one reason why a sketch of this Labor stalwart's life might be interesting. Ironically, it is probably only a minor one. Fred Ward had other claims to fame. He served a record term as secretary of the South Australian branch of the Labor Party?a feat not equalled before or since in any state. Moreover, he was, on the one hand, a socialist, a union official, and a Labor Party functionary; and on the other, a manager, a successful businessman, and a financial investor. In addition, and contrary to the norm, he became more not less radical as he grew older, although always within the political spectrum embraced by the Labor Party. Even more, in 1947 he became the oldest person of any party or either sex to take a seat in the Senate ? another record no one has since broken. Finally, perhaps most intriguing and certainly most controversial, there is some evidence to suggest that in the mid 1940s he was one of the first major victims of 'The Movement' in South Australia, indeed in Australia as a whole.