OBITUARY - JAMES COMERFORD
PIT BOY TO MINERS= LEADER
by Bob Brown
Jim Comerford who died on 3 November 2006 was recognised and honoured in many ways. The Jim Comerford Memorial Wall at the United Mineworkers Federation offices in Aberdare and the Jim Comerford Coalfield Library in the Edgeworth David Centre at Kurri Kurri demonstrate the great breadth and depth of his interests and achievements.
The Memorial Wall which contains the names of over 1500 mineworkers who have lost their lives on the Northern Field since 1847 reflects Jim=s proud association with coal mining, unionism and the broader labour movement. The Jim Comerford Library reflects his commitment to scholarship, research, writing and history.
Jim Comerford was born in Glencraig, Scotland on 9 September 1913. The family moved to Kurri Kurri in 1922 and Jim was educated at local schools. Despite his desire to continue his education, family circumstances required him to leave school and seek employment. He worked for district newspapers before commencing work at Richmond Main Colliery on 27 September 1927.
Jim rose from pit boy to become General Secretary of the Miners= Federation. He held many union positions from time to time at local, district and state levels. In 1942 he became the youngest person ever elected to the Miners= Central Council. He contributed to trade union education, the unemployed workers= movement, the peace movement, adult education, the campaign for registered social clubs for workers, and on behalf of retired mineworkers. He represented his union on overseas delegations, government enquiries and commissions. He was one of that quite remarkable generation of self educated political and industrial activists.
Jim Comerford=s historical writings include numerous articles as well as his books >Mines, Wines and People=, >Coal and Colonials= and, his proudest work, >Lockout= the definitive history of the 15 month 1929-30 lockout of coalminers on the Northern Field during which the young Norman Brown was shot and killed by police at the Rothbury mine. Jim was present on that day. He was one of only three survivors of the march on Rothbury. Another is Jack O=Shea of Cessnock.
Jim was a regular reviewer of books on unionism, politics and history for the Newcastle Herald.
Included among the many honours earned by Jim Comerford have been an Illuminated Address from the Cessnock Workers Club (1959), Australia Day Citizens Award (1983), Premier=s Senior Citizen Award (1984), RSL Certificate of Appreciation (1986) and the Order of Australia for his contribution to unionism, politics and the community (1988). He was also awarded an honorary Master of Arts by Newcastle University for his lifetime of scholarship.
Jim=s father was forced from the Scottish coalfields when he was victimised after the 1921 British coal lockout. Jim=s experience of harsh capitalism, of struggle, hunger, exploitation, and inequality, of police basher gangs and victimisation led him like so many of his generation to the idealism of socialism and he remained a proud and committed socialist all his life. He saw socialism as a system which would embody all of the finer qualities of humankind.
When Paul Keating as Prime Minister named the Jim Comerford Memorial Wall in 1996 he said Jim Comerford was the embodiment of labour=s >greatest ideals of solidarity and the pursuit of justice for working men and women=.
Jim is survived by his lifelong partner and soul mate Mabel Comerford who inspired and supported Jim in every effort he made for his fellow human beings, by his daughter and son-in-law Jean and Tony Andrew and by his two grandchildren Bruce and Helen.
Vale Jim Comerford. We may never see the likes of you again.
Bob Brown is a former Labor Mayor of Cessnock, a State and Federal MP and Federal Minister. As a fellow socialist Bob wrote the foreword to Jim Comerford=s >Lockout=.9