People/renton.html
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W.M. Renton
William Renton was president of the Lumpers Union in 1919. He led unionist lumpers on 4 May in resisting the state government's use of scab labour to unload the SS Dimboola. They were met by a large force of policemen. In the affray Renton was injured by a blow to the head, while Tom Edwards was hit on the head by a file butt (according to his own account) and died three days later.
Freo Library photo (right, #2709): 'W M Renton was a committee man in the Fremantle Lumpers Union, 1902 to 1927 and a member of the WA State Industrial Disputes Committee in 1919'.
Thanks for this 1919 photo (#2770A) by Nixon of the WA State Industrial Disputes Committee to the City Library, with this caption:
Library:
Back row: from left: C Haynes (General Secretary WA Amalgamated Society of Railway Employees), A Watts (Secretary Australian Workers Union), W F Forster (President Tally Clerks Union), Fred Baglin (Secretary Fremantle Trades Hall). Front row: Alex McCallum (Secretary Industrial Disputes Committee and General Secretary Australian Labour Federation, WA Branch), A H Panton (President Australian Labour Federation, WA Branch), W M Renton (President Fremantle Lumpers Union).
Nixon obviously took the photo after May 1919 as Renton still has the dressing on his head which was injured by a police baton on Bloody Sunday.
References and Links
Hutchison, David 2012, '"Bloody Sunday" revisited', in Paul Arthur Longley & Geoffrey Bolton, Voices from the West End: Stories, People and Events that Shaped Fremantle, WA Museum: 210-249.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 7 October, 2017 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/renton.html (it was last updated on 15 March, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.