Beyond Wildest Dreams : simplebooklet.com

Sutherland Shire Gweagal Elder and historian Dr Shayne Williams recounted the rst encounter between Europeans and Aboriginal people at Kurnell in an article for the British Library. Click or scan the QR code to read the article.Little is formally known of what occurred to local Gweagal Clan people as Europeans began moving into Sutherland Shire, but Dr Williams says there is no record of forcible removal of Aboriginal people.He considers they fared better than Indigenous people in many other places.Because of their strong connections with Aboriginal people living in the Illawarra, which also had greater sh stocks and more generous supplies of government goods - known as blanket distributions - many may have retreated there.e biggest landholder in what became Sutherland Shire, omas Holt, was also regarded well by the Gweagal people. In the 1860s, Holt acquired more than 5000 hectares around Kurnell, including Cook’s landing site. Some Aboriginal people worked for him at his enterprises, including oyster leases at Sylvania.Dr Williams said Gweagal people would also have appreciated the protection oered by Holt’s status as a successful parliamentarian. He was a member of the rst NSW Legislative Assembly and the Colony’s rst Treasurer.e Aboriginal Flag ies at the Tradies. Designer Harold omas, a Luritja man from Central Australia, explains that its meaning is represented by its colours: Black - e Aboriginal peoples; Yellow - e Sun, the giver of life and protector; and Red - e red earth, red ochre, and a spiritual relationship to the land.e ag was rst own at Victoria Square in Adelaide on National Aborigines Day, 12 July 1971.e Tradies pays respects to all Elders and their families, past and present.It is committed to Reconciliation and Closing the Gap.ere is a Dharawal function room at Tradies Gymea, while the Club promotes National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.e Dharawal people have an overarching spirit ancestor, the Whale. But they have other spirit ancestors: the Starsh, the Koala and the Crane.e spirit of the Gweagal people is the Sea Serpent. It created Botany Bay (Kamay) and the Cooks, Georges and Hacking Rivers.It did this by pounding holes in the ground. As it did so, scales fell from the Sea Serpent - and they became the Gweagal people.Some of the most outstanding Aboriginal rock engravings in the Sydney Basin may be visited at Jibbon Beach, Bundeena.e Aboriginal people created them to use in lessons and ceremonies for boundary marking and showing the area’s food resources.e Jibbon engravings, an easy walk from Bundeena, include whales, a kangaroo, a stingray, a jellysh, and a spirit gure.e Aboriginal Flag ying at the TradiesMORE INFO 5ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

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TELLING THE TRADIES STORY…e rst extensive history of the Tradies, Wildest Dreams, was published in 1996.Its writer was former Club President John Benson, a Foundation Member of the Tradies, who joined it in 1961. He was a Director for ten years, President for over seven years and a Life Member. He was eminently qualied to tell that story of the rst decades of the Tradies.Benson was a crucial player in a moment when the Tradies’ very existence was at stake.at was in 1967, when the Club’s beer supplier, Miller’s, was sold to a competitor brewer, Tooheys, which cut o supplies to the Tradies. How the taps were turned back on, the Tradies saved, and Benson’s role, are recounted in the chapter, e Ship that Saved the Tradies, on page33.is 60th anniversary edition,Beyond Wildest Dreams, has been considerably expanded and updated by Sutherland Shire writer, editor, and Tradies’ member John Mulcair.He began his journalism career as a cadet with the Riverina Advocate at Grith, NSW. He then worked in Sydney radio, television and newspapers at the Macquarie network, ABC and e Australian.Mulcair held senior corporate communications management positions in aerospace, telecommunications and consultancy organisations before joining the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Commission, ANSTO, at Lucas Heights.He also spent several years reporting local news for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, particularly local Councils.is 60th-anniversary account also includes the rst history of Tradies, written for its 21st anniversary by Tradies Life Member and political activist Alan Cross. A Senior Vice President of the NSW Teachers’ Federation, he was a member of the Communist Party and was heavily involved in peace organisations.His concise recounting notably captures the social and often intensely adversarial industrial-political labour relations in the early days of the Tradies.Cross’ history can be found on page 106.John Benson Alan Cross6 TELLING THE TRADIES STORY...

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FOREWORDI begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Tradies Clubs are sited at Gymea, Caringbah and Helensburgh, the Gweagal people of the Dharawal nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present.e Sutherland District Trade Union Club, the Tradies of today with its three venues, some 60,000 members, 200 sta and substantial nancial and property assets, bears little resemblance to the Club that was founded in the early 1960s. Even from its very earliest days, it was described as a ‘wildest dream.’ ere was a strong desire to have a club, but there were struggles to establish it and with nances and early trading. But by 1980, with the opening of modern, expanded buildings, the Club marked a turning point. e success of the ‘wildest dream’ seemed assured. Tradies’ founding fathers could not have imagined the Club that we have today, which is simply, ‘Beyond Wildest Dreams.’The Sutherland District Trade Union Club was established as a legal entity in December 1960 yet acknowledges its 60th anniversary in 2023. So, why the dierence? It was formally established and registered as a company on 20 October 1960, but it was not until 26 August 1963 that it had secured nances, premises - Pine Lodge, a modest house - and a liquor licence. To quote:‘e liquor licence was granted and on that afternoon of Monday, 26 August 1963, the rst glass of Miller’s beer was poured and served. e heavy responsibility of taking that rst taste fell to Bill Baker (Foundation Director and second Club President 1965 - 1971), a man whose appreciation of a good beer was unquestioned. He rolled his eyes back in mock ecstasy and gave a nod of approval.’ (Wildest Dreams, John Benson 1996).’e Tradies journey had begun!e dreams, trials and tribulations leading up to then are well covered in this book and generate a good story.e Tradies’ founding was a product of its founders and their personalities - and of their strength and determination. It was also a product of the times and place in which they lived. e Club continues to develop and change and reect its times. is book summarises well the people and the times that inuenced the Tradies’ formation and development. What started out as an ambition for its members to have a place for a quiet chat and a drink with their families and friends, a place for Trade Union and community groups to meet, has grown into a highly successful Club that focuses on, to quote the Tradies’ Values Statement, ‘supporting our members, community and environment.’ How the Club initially achieved those objectives and continues to work towards fullling them is well documented. e Club’s journey from ‘the Kremlin’ to ‘the White House’ and to simply just ‘the Tradies’ is detailed. It’s a good read and sums up the Club’s development, industrial and politicalinvolvements, achievements, and extensive support of its community. The current generation of Club and community members continues to benet from the hard work and determination of our Foundation Directors, the diligence ofcurrent and previous Boards of Directors, and the Club’s management and sta as Tradies continues to be, ‘the Premier Club’.As this book goes to production in both hard copy and digital versions, the Tradies’ members, directors, management team and sta have justiable reason to be very proud of its considerable achievements over six decades. DennisMcHughTradies President 2011 – present Dennis McHugh, the Tradies Chairman 2012-present 7FOREWORD

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Writing the 60th-anniversary history of the Tradies has been a greatly satisfying experience.It could not have been done without the previous chroniclers of the Tradies’ times: Alan Cross, who wrote its 21st birthday history, and John Benson, who published Wildest Dreams in 1996. I must especially thank Helen McDonald, Local History Specialist at Sutherland Shire Libraries, for sharing its resources and her deep knowledge of Sutherland Shire and the important events that have, and are, shaping it. Helen and her colleagues also patiently introduced me to the Libraries’ invaluable, pre-Google microche-lm records of the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader that date back to when it was rst published in June 1960.ank you also to the Leader’s unrivalled photographer and pictures editor, John Veage, for images of events and of the Shire’s history that are part of the Club’s story.Producing this Tradies history over so many months has often meant going repeatedly to people to get information, clarications, expansions and opinions. In other words, being a pest.I am especially grateful for their patience to the Tradies President, Dennis McHugh; Group General Manager, Jason McMaster; Communications Manager, Clare Capponi; Marketing Manager, Derek Foster; Community Relations Manager, Kathryn Tanner - and many, many more Tradies people in all three Club venues. Your always professional support was essential.My thanks must also go to the very many community organisations and sub-clubs that the Tradies supports. eir time and assistance shows in this book just some of the contribution the Tradies delivers to its communities.Finally, my particular thanks to my wife, Deborah, for her forbearance and support during the months taken to bring Beyond Wildest Dreams to reality.Please enjoy the read: the Tradies is an exceptional place.John MulcairSeptember 2023ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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BEGINNINGPine Lodge, to become the Tradies’ home from 1963, pictured around 1943, when it was owned by Frank Mariens. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire LibrariesWhen the Tradies, the Sutherland District Trade Union Club, was registered as a company on 20 October 1960, it had no place to call home, just nine members, and no liquor licence.An organisation could not be registered as a licensed club unless it had 200 members. e Tradies reached that landmark just before Christmas in 1961.It wasn’t until 1962 that the club’s founders were nearing the purchase of a home. It was a house, Pine Lodge, and two adjoining blocks of land on the corner of Manchester Road and Kingsway in Sydney’s suburban Gymea.Buying the properties and renovating Pine Lodge was brave. It cost £23,250, or the equivalent of $754,070 at the time of writing. It was all funded by debt. e Tradies’ founders had £50 cash.After several demanding battles following its founding, the Tradies had more than the necessary number of members to become a licensed Club and win a liquor licence.A conditional liquor licence was granted on 23 November 1962, with the rst beer poured at the Tradies on a permanent liquor licence on the afternoon of Monday, 26 August 1963. at rst day of trading is marked as the club’s birthday.Today, it welcomes over 60,000 members to hospitality industry awards-winning modern Tradies clubs at the original Gymea site and Caringbah and Helensburgh. Each is an integral part of its community.e Tradies reects the robust, self-help-oriented and community-connected character of its region.at local character evolved from the historic relative isolation of the Sutherland Shire. Deep political and industrial divisions within the Australian Labor Party and the trade union movement at all levels also formed the Club.As Sutherland Shire was settled and grew, access to it was made dicult by inadequate Sydney transport. From the earliest days of expansion elsewhere in Sydney, getting to what became the Shire was tough.Initial access to remote Cronulla-Sutherland was hazardous, involving a short voyage on the open sea.A hand-operated punt between Tom Uglys Point on the north side of the Georges River and Horse Rock Point at Sylvania on the south began operating in 1864. Two cable ferries were crossing the river by 1929.e Georges River railway bridge linking Oatley and Como opened in 1885, introducing the rst train services between Sydney and Sutherland. A small ferry also operated between Como and Lugarno.10 BEGINNING

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In 1911, a steam tram service that cost £37,500 to build began operating from Sutherland station - where it linked with main rail line services - to Shelly Park at Cronulla.e Great Depression and competing bus services later badly aected its protability. e single-track tramway, with four stations and a goods siding, carried its last passengers in August 1931.From 1912, a passenger ferry service briey linked La Perouse and Kurnell, but it was unprotable. Attempts to reach Cronulla’s already popular beach, tourist and holiday area by sea-going ferry excursions failed. Ordinary people could not aord it.In 1916, a punt began carrying vehicles across the Georges River between Taren Point and Sans Souci. It operated for 46 years until just before the Captain Cook Bridge opened in 1965.It took until 1929 for a road bridge across the Georges River to open - after Sutherland Shire Council took a £305,000 loan from the State government to build Tom Uglys bridge. A bridge toll collected by inspectors from vehicles as they crossed the bridge nally saw the loan paid o in 1952.e rst rail link between Sutherland and Cronulla was opened on 16 December 1939.A steam tram operated between Sutherland and Cronulla. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire LibrariesGetting the ferry to the Shire. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire LibrariesTom Uglys Bridge, linking Tom Uglys Point on the north of the Georges River and Horse Head Point on the south, opened in 1929. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries 11BEGINNING

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Captain Cook Bridge, crossing the Georges River between Taren Point and Sans Souci, opened in 1965. Bridgeworks in the east of Sutherland Shire were completed in 1987 when a duplication of Tom Uglys Bridge opened.e Tradies is also a product of broader changes to Australian society driven by World War 2 and its aftermath.When the idea of a Tradies club originated in the 1950s, Sutherland Shire’s population was less than 50,000.e Shire and how its people lived and worked in the mid-20th century - when the Tradies was founded - and 2023 is much dierent.e early isolation of Sutherland Shire had always prompted progressively minded citizens to work together to improve their lifestyles.In the early 20th century, they established Schools of Arts at Cronulla, Miranda and Sutherland, then later at Como and Gymea Bay. Even the then-tiny community of Sylvania built its own Boomerang Hall.All were centres for social gatherings, meeting places for debates, theatre and other cultural pursuits.ey also provided a lending library, a luxury at that time. A book loan was a penny, the price of a meat pie. Universal education was still not usual, but most people could read and write. e Shire’s Schools of Arts delivered what might now be called adult education.Around 1900, the Sutherland district’s little more than 1000 population formed a protest movement when the NSW Government proposed incorporating all land south of Botany Bay into the Bulli Shire.Conservatives argued that there was no need for local autonomy for the district south of Botany Bay. e locals knew better.Modern democratic representation was a relatively unknown concept in those days. Governments were It was a long time coming, but the last major road trac bridge linking St George and Sutherland Shire, the Captain Cook Bridge, opened in 1965Miranda School of Arts in Kiora Road, 1920s. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries12 BEGINNING

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It was build your own for young Sutherland Shire families post-World War 2. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Librariesremote and closely controlled by a privileged few.But the Sutherland district demanded a Shire Council and the right to control its aairs. In the newly established Miranda School of Arts, local identities, villagers and farmers rallied to press their civic demands.In 1906, these campaigns were successful when the NSW Government gazetted the Shire of Sutherland.ere was relative prosperity in the district until the Great Depression of the 1930s which saw unemployment aect one in three local workers.Unions of the unemployed emerged, organised and led by a group that included Jack Fuller and Jack Slattery, later leaders in establishing the Tradies.Sweeping changes to Australian society came after World War 2.After ghting Australia’s enemies from 1939 to 1945, communities, workers, and their unions looked forward to a new social order. is meant eliminating chronic slum housing in inner Sydney, full employment, improved social and working conditions and no more wars.e McKell NSW State Labor government pressed local Councils to adopt proper planning: controlled residential, manufacturing and commercial zonings would avoid conict with residents. Against this background, the Tradies’ story became part of the rapid growth of post-World War 2 Sutherland Shire.In the 1950s, most of the Shire’s residents were the families of newly-settled young couples. Many had deferred marriage until the end of the war. In addition, many new Shire settlers were ex-servicemen entitled to favourable War Service housing loans.ey chose the Shire for their homes because of lower land prices and the attractive environment.ere was also substantial employment opportunity in new, thriving industries south of Botany Bay. Additionally, the comparative boom conditions of full post-war employment encouraged settling, having families and building homes for them.Unfortunately, money was not the only requirement for building that rst home.Building materials and tradespeople were in acutely short supply. So, many new households were started in a hastily constructed ‘garage’ on a bare block of land. New houses were often owner-built as materials and resources became available.is do-it-yourself approach would have later convinced many that they could establish their own club.People struggled to face new circumstances in major economic upheavals worldwide, with changes from wartime to peacetime economies. Australians wanted an end to the restrictions and sacrices they had endured during the war.Although food rationing had ended in Australia by 1947, this did not mean the immediate supply of comprehensive consumer goods and services. Sydney also badly lacked public transport, while continuing wartime petrol rationing rankled the broader population.Families often had to live in small self-builds while they constructed their houses. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries 13BEGINNING

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e Federal Labor Government could not quell this tide of impatience. In December 1949, Australians voted for a change of government. e Menzies-led era of a Liberal-Country Party (now National Party) Coalition began.Over decades, his enemies often criticised Robert Gordon Menzies, but he had an undeniable talent for retaining oce.He remained Prime Minister until his retirement in 1964. But the Coalition with successor Prime Ministers Harold Holt, John McEwen (briey after Holt’s disappearance and presumed drowning), John Gorton and William McMahon continued in power until the Australian Labor Party, led by Gough Whitlam, won government in 1972.Labor was hopelessly divided during its long years in Opposition, even as the nation enjoyed economic boom times with comparatively high living standards.Menzies shrewdly exploited perceived threats of world communism and the supposed invasion of Australia by the ‘Yellow Hordes’ of Asia. His Red-baiting tactic promoted deep political divisions in the electorate.Reecting Cold War attitudes elsewhere, Australian politics became a hotbed of anti-communism. Menzies declared his intention to ban the Communist Party of Australia. With ALP support, a Bill to outlaw it passed both Houses of Parliament in October 1950.However, the ALP’s Leader between 1951 and 1960, Dr. Herbert Vere Evatt, a former Federal Labor Attorney General, the rst President of the United Nations Security Council and a renowned civil rights campaigner, challenged this in the High Court of Australia.It found the government’s Act invalid by a 6-1 majority.Undeterred, Menzies tried again. A referendum in 1951 asked the Australian people to outlaw the Communist Party. It very narrowly failed (2,317,927 ‘Yes’ votes to 2,370,009 ‘No’).e combined eects on the Australian Labor Party of the High Court action and the referendum led to the most signicant Australian political party division of the 20th century. Members with deeply held opposing opinions prompted “e Split” in the Australian Labor Party.It also contributed signicantly to establishing the Sutherland District Trade Union Club.Labor’s Splite Right- and Left-wing loyalties within the ALP, unions, communities and even families fractured labour, political and industrial landscapes for years. ere could even be divisions in religious loyalties. It was all driven by those who supported opposing views of the bid to outlaw the Communist Party in Australia.e Catholic Social Studies Movement, a Melbourne-based organisation, worked to strengthen Right-wing anti-Communist policies in the Australian labour movement and within the ALP. Its Industrial Group, the Groupers, replaced the Left-wing leadership of several signicant unions.ose who supported the ALP Industrial Group in Sutherland Shire were centred mainly on Cronulla and Woolooware.Robert Menzies again emphasised socialism as the central issue of the 1949 Federal poll in this election eve article in the Melbourne Herald.Menzies tried again with a referendum in 1951 to ban the Communist Party. It narrowly failed. State Library of Western Australia Archives14 BEGINNING

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Mainly members of unions that built and were operating extensive new industries at Kurnell, they had gained control of several Labor Party branches in the Shire’s east, branding other branches as Evattites and Leftist or Communist sympathisers.e Split in the ALP aected whether all members of the Party could have a club.e Right’s supporters’ initiative built the Cronulla Labor and Working Men’s Club.On the corner of Kingsway and Gerrale Street, diagonally opposite Northies Hotel, the Workers Club registered as a company in 1955 and traded until 1992. It was then sold to a developer and demolished to make way for the 11-storey Cote d’Azur development.When the Workers Club opened - and rmly under the control of the anti-Evattites - it soon showed it had no room for members with opposing views. Prominent ALP-Evatt supporters like Les Johnson, Arthur Gietzelt, Les Ingle and his son Bob applied for membership. All were rejected.An ALP State Electorate Council meeting discussed alleged discrimination. Cronulla club delegates pledged to investigate. But those rejected never had membership oered to them.e ALP’s Caringbah branch had recommended to its Sutherland Electorate Council in August 1954 that it, “investigate the possibility of establishing a workers’ club in the Sutherland area.”But with the ALP’s aairs dominated by the deep Party division, there was no support over the next two years. A club was well down the priority list: the Party divide even extended to how industrial claims were pursued for members.e Right-wing unions were more inclined to pursue their industrial claims through legislation and the Courts, making substantial gains for their members. Unions elsewhere on the spectrum relied more on direct action.e building of the oil renery at Kurnell delivered great change to Sutherland Shire, but tensions between unions emerged, too. AmpolCronulla Labor and Working Men’s Club, on the corner of Gerrale Street and Kingsway, ran into nancial diculties and closed in 1992. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries 15BEGINNING

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e years of political and industrial turbulence and signicant community change that stretched from after World War 2 into the 1960s saw local organisations begin playing roles that became part of the story of the Tradies.ere was a common theme of wanting somewhere to meet. And it was not just trade unionists - particularly the district’s teachers, metal tradesmen, building workers and municipal employees.e feminist movement was not yet mainstream, but local branches of the Union of Australian Women gave some political voice to working women and mothers of the Shire. eir concerns were generally around education. ey, too, wanted a meeting place and social centre.e Australian Labor Party’s local branches all too often held their meetings in cold, bleak garages and small halls. e refusal of the Cronulla Labor and Working Men’s Club to allow Evatt-aligned Labor Party supporters to become members was driving them and their friends to seek an alternative.It all made the Evattites ready to join others wanting a club. It was inevitable they would nd them among trade union members.e proposal for a club in the Sutherland area - which became the Tradies - included metal workers of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and the Building Workers Industrial Union. In addition, members of the NSW Teachers Federation, the Municipal Employees Union (now United Services Union), the Plumbers and other unions supported them.Earlier support by the AEU included, in 1956, the “building of a hall” and deciding to “...strike a levy of one shilling per quarter for the purpose of boosting funds for the Trade Union Club and Social activities. Of the one shilling, three pence be put in an incidental fund and nine pence for a building fund ...”.Momentum seemingly became lost, although club Foundation Member Eddie Pakes recalled a meeting in September 1959 that urged gathering support from as many other unions as possible, together with other sports and social groups that needed indoor facilities.e AEU bowed out, directed to do so by its head oce. Strangely, this was based not in Australia but in Britain. e union directed its Sutherland branch in no uncertain terms that it was beyond its rights to collect or administer funds for a venture such as a club.Other unions also inuenced the Tradies coming into being.CHANGE UPON CHANGEBig storage tanks under construction at Kurnell. Ampol.16 CHANGE UPON CHANGE

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e Trade Unionse traditional role of trade unions - to defend workers’ rights and improve their wages and conditions - was very much to the fore in the growth of the Sutherland Shire.Post-World War 2, while there was new industry aplenty, with the oil and chemical industries alone transforming Kurnell, many other unionists who came to live in the district worked closer to the city.Ex-service personnel and the men and women who worked in industry to support them during the conict believed they had earned the right to a better life. All pushed for improved working conditions.Skilled workers exempted from military service had worked long hours and deferred claims for improvements in working conditions as part of the war eort.During this period of acute labour shortage, women, previously almost unknown in industry, were brought into the workplace for the rst time.e WorkplaceImprovements in working conditions won by the unions post-war laid the foundations for what is usual in today’s workplaces.In 1945, two weeks of paid annual leave was introduced in NSW and for Federal metal trades awards. In 1947, the working week was cut from 44 hours to 40, enabling a ve-day working week for most. In 1950, in a signicant advance, the pay rate for females became 75% of the male rate.By 1951, NSW had legislated paid sick leave of one week for each year of service and long service leave of three months after 20 years of service. In 1955, outrage at ination (1.54%) brought the reintroduction of quarterly cost-of-living adjustments to the basic wage. In 1958, the NSW Government introduced three weeks of annual leave for its employees.Much was won after bruising ghts with committed resistance from employers and the governments supporting them.Unions such as the Amalgamated Engineering Union, the Waterside Workers Federation and the Miners Federation helped lead the way. However, they did have prominent members of the Communist Party of Australia among their leaders.With the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union at its height, the Menzies Liberal-Country Party Coalition government branded any contentious elements of the trade unions as Reds or Communists. Many were abused regularly.A past Tradies Director and boilermaker, Tom Young, observed: “No argument aected the boss. All logic was e involvement of Australia’s women in wartime jobs began altering attitudes in peacetime to their contributions beyond traditional family expectations. Australian War Memorial collection 17CHANGE UPON CHANGE

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wasted while the worker still laboured and the boss made prots. It was only when work stopped that he saw any merit in our arguments.”e NSW Teachers FederationAs the Shire’s population boomed and families multiplied, the demand for education grew. With new schools in new suburbs, teachers came to live and develop their profession’s aspirations.e Sutherland branch of the Teachers Federation was to become a strong inuence at the Tradies. Teachers Graham Hill, Club President for 33 years, and fellow Director Bob Sharkey, who retired in 2022 after 55 years on its Board, were particularly active. Other teachers formed sub-clubs and encouraged educational and cultural pursuits in the new club.In its 50th year, in 1968, the NSW Teachers Federation launched its rst state-wide strike, protesting appalling working conditions for teachers. e young Tradies Club members were amongst them.e Union of Australian Womene Communist Party of Australia established the Union of Australian Women (UAW) in 1950 as a women’s advocacy organisation. Its members were mainly non-wage-earning wives. Many women had left work to raise families.Its groups in Sutherland Shire - at Caringbah, Miranda, Sutherland and Jannali/Como - agitated for adequate health facilities, including a better hospital through a Hospital Citizens’ Committee. ey also wanted better schooling and transport for their children.UAW member Pat Elphinston said it was at the forefront of a successful campaign to have Sutherland Shire Council establish and run vacation play centres for children.In 1958, local UAW members participated in the campaign for increased child endowment and the maternity allowance. Elphinston, then the union’s national secretary, led a sizeable national deputation to Canberra.e UAW’s Jannali/Como group was among the parents who led the rst school strike in NSW. Parents of pupils at Oyster Bay Primary School withdrew their children from classes.Most UAW meetings were held in members’ homes. But they, too, wanted a better place for meetings and social functions.Diverse union-allied personalities and organisations were coming together to establish a club.Another Shire resident, the Municipal Employees Union State Secretary Geo Dearing, encouraged its members to support a club.e Communist Partye opponents of the Tradies Club often associated the trade union movement with communism.e Tradies’ initial mainly red brick building, nicknamed e Kremlin, was supposedly a centre of Red intrigues. (e Cronulla Workies, by contrast, was nicknamed e Vatican. When the heat went out of Reds under Beds and pro-and anti-communism, the Tradies was dubbed the White House.)While the Club’s initiators ran the gauntlet of being branded as Reds and Commos, the Communist Party of Australia, the CPA, regarded it as a distraction.e CPA was in its heyday, but while its trade union members supported the club idea, the Party’s formal, forceful view was that members helping any club business were diverting eort from organising mass action.District CPA members recalled the Party’s role:Harry Batterham was a returned serviceman, government bus driver, union and CPA convenor at his depot. He was also a member of the Grey’s Point Progress Association and its President for many years.Harry said many CPA members were active in the Tradies’ social events and sub-club activities and supported those directing the club, “but the Party did not seek to have a say.”Another local CPA member, Peter Lane, later State Secretary in the Plumbers Union, remembered criticising fellow CPA members for giving too much time to Tradies club work and not enough to jobs such as selling the Party newspaper, Tribune.It seemed there was a genuine demand for an ALP/union/workers/community-oriented club.A New ApproachBut a new approach was needed with the Cronulla Labor and Working Men’s Club claiming to oer membership to any Australian Labor Party supporters but refusing those not allied with its dominant union groups.Legal advice said another Australian Labor Party club in the Shire was impractical.A pioneer group began meeting regularly to promote a trade union club. Its central gures were Arthur Gietzelt, Les Johnson (both barred from membership by the Cronulla club), Jack Fuller, Alec Wren, Les Moore and Jim Steenson.Gietzelt, then in the early stages of his political career, was prominent in the ALP Steering Committee, the organisation supporting Dr Evatt. He was elected to Sutherland Shire Council in 1957, serving for 15 years - nine as Shire President. Gietzelt resigned to become a Senator for NSW, a position he held for almost 18 18 CHANGE UPON CHANGE

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years, including serving as Minister for Veterans Aairs in the Hawke Government.Johnson was involved in a proposal for a Sutherland Shire community hotel and plans of the Amalgamated Engineering Union for a trade union club. He was a Sutherland Shire Councillor from 1954-56 before being elected as Member for the Federal seat of Hughes, which he held until 1966. Johnson served as Minister for Housing and Minister for Aboriginal Aairs before becoming Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand.Jack Fuller was an experienced waterfront organiser in the Bridge and Wharf Carpenters Union. A successful builder, he was also the president of the Miranda branch of the ALP. He did much of the groundwork for the Tradies, negotiating with potential site owners, breweries, banks and refurbishment tenderers. Fuller also researched several other clubs to learn about a new club’s operational needs. Tragically, he did not live to see the culmination of his work, as he died suddenly in July 1967.Les Moore was a painter employed by the NSW Public Works Department. He enthusiastically collected the names of potential club members, mainly around Sutherland’s Boyles Hotel.Alec Wren, an organiser for the Building Workers Industrial Union, contributed invaluable knowledge of the building industry for checking prospective club sites.Jim Steenson, Secretary of the Sutherland branch of the Australian Electrical Union, prepared a draft Club constitution.John O’Neill, a solicitor with considerable liquor licensing applications experience, advised the edgling Club as it drew up Rules and Objectives. ese emphasised trade union content and the education of members. e nal document also referred to providing amenities for, “Trade Unions and other working-class organisations and other such organisations as may be approved by the Committee.”e document that formed the Sutherland District Trade Union Club Limited was drawn up and registered on 20 October 1960.e signatories of the original Articles of Association and initial Tradies Board members were: President Don Ferguson, trade union secretary, Directors: Arthur omas Gietzelt, clerk; Gordon Henry Nielson, technical instructor; Leslie Harold Moore, painter and decorator; James Steenson, tter; Alexander McColl Wren, union organiser; William Alfred Baker, industrial advocate; Frank Arthur Volk, tter and turner; and Matthew Edward Heagney, industrial ocer. Jack Fuller was overseas, but he joined the Board on his return.With growing support for a club, members hired the Astron Ballroom at Gymea for indoor sports and entertainment evenings.e Astron was considered a potential club site. Its central location on Gymea Bay Road was attractive, but being amongst valuable retail properties would aect its price. Additionally, there were parking issues and limitations on any Club expansion. It was impractical. e new Board looked for alternatives.But by the end of 1960, it was clear that a Trade Union club was a goer.Gymea Bay Road, Gymea, early 1960s. e Astron Ballroom, considered a possible home for the Tradies, is on the right. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries 19CHANGE UPON CHANGE

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e Tradies Board met for the rst time at the Scouts Hall, Sutherland, on 11 December 1960. Arthur Gietzelt was appointed Secretary.In January 1961, it set initial membership at £1 and ve shillings, including a joining fee. Annual renewal would cost £1. According to Reserve Bank of Australia data, the basic weekly wage for a male was £18 (about $36.30) and for a female, £13 (about $26.10).ose attending the Sutherland District Trade Union Club’s rst annual general meeting on 16 April 1961 were Don Ferguson, Frank Volk, Jim Steenson, Jack Fuller, Max Moore, Alec Wren, Bill Baker, Ted Heagney, Ted Tuite, Arthur Gietzelt, Les Johnson, Tom Dalton, Ron Rich, Harry Batterham, John Graham, Bill Calthorpe, Rupert Provan, Bill Robb and Messrs Mulcahy, Sparrius and Redmond.e election result was President Don Ferguson and Vice President Jack Fuller. Directors: Arthur Gietzelt (Secretary), Leslie Moore, Frank Volk, Alec Wren, Jim Steenson, Bill Baker and Ted Heagney. e meeting resolved to drive for 200 members, the number needed for a liquor licence application.At an extraordinary general meeting of the Club on 23 July 1961, progress reports made it clear there was a pressing need to build membership and raise funds. e meeting decided to issue £5 and £10 debentures. With a small number of members and the dicult nancial circumstances of most, raising funds to buy a club property was no small challenge.Most potential investors and members were working people trying to build a home and raise a family. Rarely was money left at the end of the week for pleasure - never mind a risky investment in a new club.Nevertheless, funds began to grow, as did member numbers.In December 1960, the Club’s Secretary and Sutherland Shire Councillor Arthur Gietzelt was elected Shire President. Because of potential conicts of interest, respected Shire Clerk David Kirkby soon advised him to resign as the Tradies’ Secretary.Gietzelt did so to avoid any issues when the Council considered Club matters. Les Moore replaced him.e search for a club site accelerated with the Astron Ballroom sidelined.Discussions with the Main Southern Builders’ Exchange (later the Miranda Builders’ and Businessmen’s Club) resulted in an agreement to buy it for £9500.en came a sudden economic recession caused by the Menzies Government ending import restrictions - which, in turn, prompted a balance of payments crisis. In November 1960, the government sharply increased sales taxes and imposed credit restrictions to balance the economy.Amongst the nationally disruptive eects was that the Builders’ Exchange could not get funds to nd an alternative site, so in early 1961, it withdrew its Miranda property from sale.In July 1962, Jack Fuller told the Tradies Board of discussions with Len Jones, owner of Pine Lodge, a property of a home and two adjoining blocks of land on the corner of Kingsway and Manchester Road, Gymea.It quickly decided it was “eminently suitable and available at a reasonable gure”. So the Tradies decided to oer £10,500 for the house and £5,000 for the two adjoining blocks of land.ese costs, plus estimates for renovating to required licensed club standards, brought the expected bill to £23,250.A diculty: the site was not zoned by Sutherland Shire PROGRESSe ocial portrait of Arthur Gietzelt, who served nine terms as Sutherland Shire President. He was a Founding Member and a Life Member of the Tradies. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries 20 PROGRESS

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Council for use as a club. But at least there was an adjoining bowling club.Importantly, the Council’s town planners were not negative about the proposal. ere must be o-street parking and compliance with Department of Main Roads and Police requirements. If met, the Council could approve.Signicantly, Miller’s Brewery also favoured the new site. It was aggressively looking for an outlet in Sutherland Shire, where all hotels exclusively oered only Tooheys or Tooth’s breweries products under an arrangement known as tied houses. is restrictive hotel trading practice continued in NSW until the 1970s.e Club’s solicitor, John O’Neill, began preparing an application to Sutherland Shire Council for development consent. e Club Board decided to limit membership to 250. In July 1961, it was 243.Getting a new club funded was tough. The Commonwealth Bank was not interested. e big breweries supported their local tied outlets and would not help a potential competitor.e independent brewer Miller’s had encouraged the Tradies from its beginning. A proposed deal between the Club and the brewer included a tied house commitment for several years.However, Miller’s had a practice of making handshake agreements: there was no formal contract - and this would later have serious repercussions for the Tradies.With Miller’s help, the Club arranged a rst mortgage of £10,000 with Commercial and General Insurance. Miller’s made an unsecured loan of £3300, later increased to £10,000.With still more money needed, the story goes that because the seller of Pine Lodge, Len Jones, supported the Club, he might fund some of the remaining £5000 project cost. Additionally, he had already accepted a second mortgage on the two blocks of land adjoining the house.A manoeuvre emerged that became part of the Tradies Club legend. e idea was to employ Jones as a cleaner of the Club’s premises, then just two rooms of Pine Lodge. His job would make him eligible to join a union. en he could join the Club.As a member of the Club, he could then take out debentures equal to the £5000 owed to him. Magic!Jones agreed. He drew only interest on his investment until the Club could aord capital repayments.Len Jones played another pivotal role in the Club’s history at a time when his funding and membership were crucial.During a Court action as the Club sought a liquor licence, opponents challenged his right to be a Tradies member. It seemed to be at odds with his former career as a publican.At an urgent discussion at a nearby coee shop, he recalled taking part in a strike at Yallourn, Victoria, in 1911. He remembered that his union gave him a letter of appreciation for his role.A quick taxi ride home and a hurried search found the Leonie Dockrill’s Pine Lodge illustrated the cover of Wildest Dreams, published in 1996 21PROGRESS

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old document. Tendered to the Court, it saved the day.OppositionIn the 1950s and early 1960s Gymea was a quiet suburb. Kingsway was a comparatively peaceful two-lane alternative route towards the Princes Highway. e number of vehicles on the road was insignicant, while night-time trac was negligible. Manchester Road was an unsealed gravel side street.Some nearby residents considered that a licensed club would disturb their families and the peaceful environment. Political opponents did not welcome the prospect of a trade union club. e big breweries opposed any challenge to their local beer monopolies.Sutherland Shire Council approved the Club’s development application on 10 October 1961.On 25 November, solicitor John O’Neill lodged the Club’s application for a liquor licence.A long list of objections was raised in the hearings before Magistrate J. L. Fitzmaurice.e St George & Sutherland Shire Leader reported that a petition was signed by 200 people from 135 homes where 271 children lived.eir concerns included:• e Court had no jurisdiction to grant the application• e rules of the Club are habitually broken• e premises were unsuitable because of their likelihood to cause a trac hazard and noise and annoyance in a residential area• e accommodation is insucient and inappropriate• e club is not required to meet a genuine and substantial need, and• Club registration will result in undue competition and economic waste.None of the objections were accepted, and on 23 November 1962, Magistrate Fitzmaurice decided in the Club’s favour. is conditional approval included a statutory period for any more objections.As NSW Licensing Court hearings had slowly ground on, early in 1962 Len Jones vacated the two front rooms of Pine Lodge, making them available to the Club. It had a registered oce from 26 February.It was essential to provide evidence to the Licensing Court that the Tradies was functioning as a club. So the call went out to members: call in, sign the attendance book, and participate in social and other activities.Promotions included a lm night and an industrial discussion group with the Federal Secretary of the Building Workers Industrial Union, Frank Purse, as its guest. In addition, the Tradies Golf Club held its rst event at Illawarra Golf Course on 13 May.1950s Gymea Bay Road, looking north. Leader22 PROGRESS

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First building programe Licensing Court received no further objections during its statutory appeal period, so the way was clear to refurbish Pine Lodge to its requirements.Quotes for the work ranged from £8605 - £12,256.e Board’s members included at least two building experts and several who had built their own homes. ey considered the quotes excessive and decided to directly employ tradesmen and contractors.After the third, 1963, annual general meeting, the new Tradies Board found signicant demands on their time just managing the funding and progress of the renovations.To streamline management, it set up two sub-committees: Finance, examining loan opportunities available, club trading gures, catering industry pricing and overseeing general income and expenditure; and Building, managing day-to-day reconstruction issues.In later years, the Board’s policy of sub-committees dealing with many of its essential operations underpinned the success of the Club. Members have strongly supported this greater inclusiveness.By May 1963, Miller’s Brewery had transferred £3000 to the Club account. Negotiations were also continuing with it for additional funding.GETTING STARTEDGetting in…When the Tradies rst opened, every member had a front door key. Who owned the key pictured here is lost in time, but is it known that the numbered keys were often not issued in the same order that members joined. at prompted many a warm discussion. As their numbers grew, the Club adopted the system of issuing annual renewal badges to members. ese three badges, received with thanks by the Tradies from the family of Foundation Member Ted Lawes, belonged to his son John. e oldest, centre, was issued in 1970. Like membership identiers issued today, all carry the Tradies’ proud emblem, the Southern Cross. e membership cards are for the Tradies’ general and Life Members and for use at its associated holiday units. 23GETTING STARTED

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Member access to the Club emerged as a management issue. Because the small number of employees could not manage entry control, the Tradies issued a door key to members as they collected their membership badges.e distributions of keys were done on Wednesday, 26 June, Saturday, 29 June and Wednesday, 3 July 1963. However, because there were some variations in issuing them, several members did not receive their badges in the correct order. Years later, longstanding members could still dispute who had the earliest issue or the lowest numbers.e possibility of accepting Associate Members, or non-trade union members, was raised. When the needs of all trade union members were met, it would be considered.In the run-up to licensed functioning, the Club made several signicant decisions.Temporary trading hours were set: Monday - ursday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Friday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 1 a.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. - midnight.e subject of poker machines was contentious.Members accepted that their Club could not function protably without them. But they demanded careful management.ere was particular criticism of the two shillings (20 cents) machines, then the maximum available. Several members believed the stakes were too high for a workers’ club.e Board nally decided to purchase eight poker machines: ve one-shilling machines with three reels, one one-shilling machine with four reels, one sixpenny machine with three reels and one sixpenny machine with four reels. e Club implemented poker machine monies and security policies.With trading quickly approaching, a massive list of tasks remained.A Secretary-Manager had to be appointed. Director Les Moore, based on his hard work organising membership and his enthusiasm, was selected for a term of three years. Beginning 1 July 1963, his weekly salary was £25 ($50).Reg Esam, President of the Gas Industry Salaried Ocers Association, lled the Board vacancy caused by Les Moore’s move.An additional £3000 from Miller’s Brewery again helped the Club nancially.Notably, the Club decided on beer glass sizes and prices. ey would be 5 uid ounces (a lady’s waist) for 9 pence, Hard at work at a sta Christmas party: Secretary Manager Bill Baker, who had that rst draught of Miller’s beer, Director Bill Cremin, then President John Benson and Director Bob Sharkey24 GETTING STARTED

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or 8 cents; seven (a seven), 1/-, or 10 cents; 10 (a middy) 1/3 or 13 cents; 15 (schooner) 1/9 or 18 cents; and 20 (pint) 2/2 or 24 cents.Sta jobs were advertised for a head steward, a barman, a cleaner/gardener, a part-time oce assistant and a canteen assistant.Miller’s Brewery made its nal funds transfer, bringing its total loan to the Club to £10,000.Darts, table tennis, a photographic and theatre discussion group, shing and catering sub-clubs were formed. Recognising their contributions to the Club’s progress, they could apply for nance for prizes. At the same time, indoor bowls, table tennis and darts equipment were purchased.e Board was advised that renovations meeting the Licensing Court’s conditions would be completed on 24 August 1963, allowing the Tradies’ liquor licence to be issued.at dramatically brought home to members that their Club was nally about to operate.Everything was ready for the Sutherland District Trade Union Club to begin operating as a business. As soon as it learned it had its liquor licence, refrigeration would be turned on, a beer delivery made, and the word sent out to gather for the momentous occasion.e Licensing Court issued its approval on Monday, 26 August 1963. So it was a big event that afternoon when, in a historic taste test, the rst glass of Miller’s beer was poured and served at the Tradies.e heavy responsibility of taking that rst taste fell to Bill Baker, “a man whose appreciation of a good beer was unquestioned. He rolled his eyes back in mock ecstasy and gave a nod of approval.”On 13 November, the Finance Committee tabled some notable trading gures.e rst repayment to Miller’s Brewery was made: £375 of principal and £150 of interest. e rst licence fee, £400 for poker machines, was paid to the State government. e Club also repaid Len Jones the rst £100 o the capital of his loan. Some previous payments had been for interest.e newly licensed Tradies deferred its much-anticipated Christmas Party for members’ children. e time to organise it was too short. But it promised a monster event for 1964.Before year’s end, aliating with the Association of Registered Workers Clubs was being considered.So, 1963 was closing on a highly positive note. Trading was meeting expectations, with some prots.Another £625 was paid o the loan by the Club to Len Jones, the former owner of Pine Lodge. e administration had settled down. Social activities were popular and expanding as members developed new friendships and interests. Local trade union branches and groups were using the Club’s facilities for meetings and social events.e new Club’s accountants, the Sydney rm of D.W. Allen & Co., oered this opinion in its 1963 audit statement: “e Prot and Loss Account reveals a net decit of £727 for the 12 months ended 31 December 1963.“As the Club has only been operating for approximately 4½ months, we consider the position to be most satisfactory…”At long last, the Tradies, the Sutherland District Trade Union Club, was on its way. 25GETTING STARTED

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e Board had to begin managing the Club as a more complex business. Secretary Manager Les Moore began ne-tuning requirements for members to use the Club as their regular social venue.e Tradies had held its rst Saturday night function on 30 August 1963 - just four days after it received its liquor licence.e new Club’s critics may have been ready to strike - or maybe members had a particularly boisterous time. But the rst excessive noise complaint from neighbours came to the next Board meeting. A noisy club in a previously quiet suburb became a common management issue.ere was also some organised resistance to the Club as a centre for trade unionists.ere were also commercial interests at work. e Pine Lodge site had been considered ideal for a service station. A potential operator lived nearby - not within hearing distance, but nearby.One early-days Saturday night, a Tradies duty ocer was asked by police ocers to cross the road and asked what he thought of noise from the Club. He said he did not consider it a problem - and the police agreed. An ocer said the station received a complaint every Friday and Saturday night from the same individual, who lived out of earshot.But some who did live close by were justiably upset by their quiet being disturbed.A student complained of noise interrupting his studies. Regarded as genuine, and, in a club involving many teachers, there was sympathy. e Club oered to soundproof the student’s room and to provide free private tutoring. e young man was pleased with the response but declined the help.In the years that followed, it was obvious that noise from the Club would be a continuing problem for nearby residents. Unfortunately, extensive soundproong added in 1968 did not eliminate unwelcome noise from departing patrons. Even extensions designed to cut noise did not eliminate it.In the 1970s the Tradies began buying adjoining properties for more parking space. Acquiring four sites to the west also cut noise complaints from that direction. A lack of resources did not allow similar purchases of closer northern homes.Even from its earliest days it looked like the Tradies had come to stay.Saturday night dances became popular for the small membership. e Club purchased a piano, and while professional musicians and entertainers performed, the show often went on after they nished. Member George Murray, a vaudeville dancer and entertainer from childhood, was Master of Ceremonies for evening entertainment, while pianist Billy Swift kept the dancing going after the paid entertainers.ere was a family atmosphere as everybody got to know each other. ere were many happy events, and by 1964 the committee and most members accepted there could be no antisocial behaviour. ey had their licensed club but knew there were also responsibilities.Even in matters of dress, soiled boots and work clothing were generally acceptable until 7 p.m. But the Club’s view was that the higher the standards of dress and conduct, the greater the appeal would be to members and their families.As the Tradies became more popular, so the queue for membership lengthened. By early 1964, when NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURSHeadlines like these were sometimes generated over the early years by a few misbehaving members and Club expansion plans worrying neighbours26 NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURS

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membership exceeded 500, a new ceiling of 600 was set. Greater strains on facilities matched increased requests from outside organisations to use the Club.e Tradies was developing a policy that was to prove highly positive. Too often, the public view of trade unions, and their club, was far from favourable. But with an acute shortage of Shire public meeting venues, even opponents found the Tradies convenient for their events. By encouraging this, the Club built bridges with critics. Nevertheless, demand far outstripped resources. ere were constant demands for club improvements but meeting them was cumbersome. For example, removing a single lounge room wall needed Licensing Court and Sutherland Shire Council approvals. is small need was the rst sign that the original concept of a cosy, small club just for trade unionists was feeling the strain of popular demand.At the fourth annual general meeting in April 1964, there were nine unsuccessful candidates for Board jobs. is strong demand to help manage the Club saw the number of Directors increased by three at a Special General Meeting in July.e rst months of licensed operations showed demand for evening and weekend catering in the evenings and on weekends. Initially, mainly members’ wives provided voluntary catering, but this was not a permanent solution. Commercial catering was introduced on Saturday nights.Signicantly, the 1965 annual general meeting was told the Tradies had repaid all monies owed to Len Jones to buy the Pine Lodge properties.e meeting saw Don Ferguson, President since the Club’s inception, not seek re-election. Bill Baker replaced him. A campaign to admit 18-year-olds as Club members, at that time prevented by legislation, was endorsed.Many women were closely involved in establishing the Tradies and strengthening support for it in the community. At a meeting with the Club’s Board in 1964, they decided to come together more formally as an Auxiliary. ose at the Board meeting included Melvie Ferguson, Margaret Willis, Joan Sparkes, Betty Marriott and Mrs Feng, Broadhead, Norris, Stanton, Dew, Webster and Davies. Board member Bill Robb was its liaison ocer.e Auxiliary’s Mothers’ Day Dance was highly successful. So too, was the rst Christmas Party, in 1964, for the children of Tradies members, which they When Don Ferguson, the Tradies’ rst President, stepped down in 1965, he handed over to Bill Baker. en he, when the young Club was nding itself short on management, stepped down to become Secretary-Manager 27NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURS

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managed. e promised, delayed monster party, held on the Club’s grounds, was a great success.As sub-clubs developed and catering and social arrangements were taken over by the Tradies’ Social Committee and management, individual members of the Auxiliary became involved in other activities such as women’s bowls, golf, darts and euchre. e Ladies Auxiliary ended its work in 1964. It had made a valued contribution to the smooth development of the new club’s social side.Supporting the peaceFrom its earliest days, the Tradies supported the peace movement. As the Vietnam War continued, one of its rst donations to an external organisation, in September 1964, was £25/10/- to the Sutherland Shire Provisional Peace Committee.rough the 1960s and early 1970s, popular resistance grew to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Organisations such Women for Peace and Save Our Sons, which campaigned to end conscription, met at the Tradies to organise getting their campaigns to Shire residents.At the 1985 Palm Sunday demonstration for nuclear disarmament in central Sydney, an estimated 5000 Shire residents marched behind a Sutherland Shire for Nuclear Disarmament, SSND, banner, including a contingent from the Tradies.An Australian contingent attended an International Year of Peace Congress in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, in 1986. is delegation of more than 50 representatives of Australian organisations was led by the former Tradies President, John Benson, and included a Club delegate, Maurie Taylor.e Club always strongly supported the peace movement. Tradies members Ken Smith and Dick Smart at a Sydney peace marchFoundation Member Ted Lawes making his opinions clear28 NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURS

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At the height of the Cold War there were local concerns about whether the nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights could be a target in a conict. e SSND, which campaigned around this and for the peace movement, took up an oer from the Tradies to make the Club its home. e Tradies also fostered the cause of peace with annual Southern Cross Peace Prizes to Sutherland Shire school students. eir peace-themed artwork or essays could win a School Certicate student an award of $500 a year for two years, while to assist university studies for a student who had completed Year 12, $1000 a year for up to six academic years. Parents or guardians’ socio-economic backgrounds as well as the students’ academic achievements were taken into account when making the awards.Helping keep a good nameSerious responsibilities came with a liquor licence. Security and rules to manage member behaviour were essential. But, unfortunately, Club members and their guests could not always be expected to do the right thing. So, House Rules were introduced.Rostered duty people managed everything from poker machines payouts to mediating various situations. However, it was generally accepted that the Club was not a pub where a bouncer and a black ban could help manage antisocial behaviour.Poor conduct in the Club was not common. Duty Directors were able to manage such situations diplomatically.e noise of leaving Club patrons continued to be a problem, with complaints from neighbours common.Lighting was installed in the car park, followed by Sutherland Shire anti-nuclear campaigners met at the Tradies to discuss concerns that ANSTO’s research reactor at Lucas Heights, HIFAR, could be a target in a conict. ANSTO 29NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURS

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patrols - initially by responsible members and then by employees. Disciplinary actions, ranging from expulsions to reprimands and suspensions, were implemented. Despite this, complaints continued.e Tradies was also experiencing its rst summers. Ventilation was inadequate. Days and nights were swelteringly hot. e need to open windows meant more intruding on neighbours’ privacy and increasing noise.Air-conditioning became a priority, but the cost after a necessary remodelling of the Club was prohibitive. More income was needed, but this required a signicant expansion of facilities.All this was happening against a big change for all of Australia and Australians when simpler decimal currency, using dollars and cents, was introduced in Australia on 14 February 1966.e pound was abolished, and the former 10 shillings became the equivalent of one dollar. Notes issued on the big day were $1, $2, $10 and $20. Coins were one, two, ve, 10, 20 and 50 cents.e two-year public information campaign that prepared Australians for the signicant change was a tremendous success. Many parts of it, like this television commercial, became part of Australian folklore. Click or scan the QR code to watch.When Australia switched to decimal currency, the average house price in Sydney was $4500. A litre of milk cost 19 cents, a half kilo of butter 55 cents (margarine wasn’t much used), a dozen eggs 60 cents, and a kilo of lamb chops 95 cents.Associate MembersEarly in 1967, admitting Associate or non-trade unionist members again became an issue for the Tradies.Supporters emphasised:• e growing list of trade union applicant members who should be accommodated but were too few to allow the club to aord necessary investments• e need to soundproof the building - impractical without air-conditioning• Mounting resentment from neighbours and,• Many Tradies supporters could not join trade unions because of their occupations.Opponents preferred:• Keeping the club small• Not committing it to any substantial investment until it cleared outstanding debts and,• Retaining an exclusively trade union membership.A compromise was reached in April 1967 when a special meeting voted to admit Associate Members. But they could not exceed 40% of the total membership.e Licensing Court approved the change. In August 1967, the Tradies accepted its rst eight Associate Members. From that time, they have become a fundamental part of the Club. eir support has played a signicant role in it gaining community acceptance.e Tradies needed to expand. ere were more community requests for the Club’s meeting space - while the number of people attending the gatherings also grew.Demand could not be met. But, importantly, trade unionists were increasingly nding that they could not get space to meet in their own Club.e Board responded by preparing plans for a major development westward, towards Gymea Bay Road. is would include a large auditorium, a dining room, poker machines space, meeting rooms and sta facilities. It would meet the growing requirements of the membership and, importantly, air condition the Club - which would also help cut noise and benet neighbours. e extended facilities would pay for the air conditioning.MORE INFO30 NIGHTLIFE, NOISE & NEIGHBOURS

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OPPOSITIONBy 1965, the Tradies was a business and social success. Importantly, trade unions and Labor Party branches met there regularly to organise industrially and politically.Local conservative political forces may not have seen the 1961 application to establish the Club as a threat to their inuence and authority. However, ve years later, they certainly were aware of it. It would not have escaped their notice that most of the six Labor Party Sutherland Shire Councillors were Club members.It soon became apparent to the Club that Liberal Party councillors were delaying plans and insisting on costly soundproong - including air conditioning - without building extensions. ey would have been aware that this approach was not aordable. Moreover, it would jeopardise the Tradies’ existence. Initially, independent Councillor Jean Manuel supported the Liberal councillors’ demands.e rst Tradies’ rebuilding development application was initially considered by Council in April 1965 but deferred “to seek the view of local residents”. ere were eight objections, including the Club was “noisy”; “detrimental to the upbringing of young children”; and, “undesirable in a residential district”. One resident supported it.On 5 May, the Tradies’ newly-elected President, Bill Baker, met Shire President Arthur Gietzelt, Liberal Councillor John Hayes and the Deputy Shire Clerk. Baker pointed out that some complaints were made by people too far removed from the Club to be aected. e meeting decided the Club must submit amended plans for extensive soundproong. It must also meet with objector representatives.e meeting with the objectors, chaired by Cr Hayes, was on 19 July. Objections emphasised adequate noise control, o-street parking, landscaping and hiding poker machines from public view.Cr Hayes proposed relocating the Club, a motion he put to a subsequent Council meeting. e Tradies’ rst bid to expand certainly caused some aggravation, including calls for it to be moved 31OPPOSITION

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e Club was “asked” to discuss an alternative site with the Council’s Town Planner. Because much of its membership and support came from the Miranda-Gymea-Kirrawee area, there were limited opportunities for relocation. Proximity to a railway station was imperative.After searching, the Club told the Town Planner it could not nd a good alternative site. Finally, after more Council procrastination, the Club withdrew its application in October.An amended proposal designed to meet objectors’ concerns was lodged in March 1966, but the Council again deferred a decision.On 18 April, Council considered a Cr Hayes-sponsored motion to refuse the Club’s application. is time, Liberal Councillor Bates was absent, and the independent, Cr Jean Manuel, changed her objection position to support. Shire President Arthur Gietzelt used his casting vote and Cr Hayes’ motion failed.Cr Manuel, so crucial in Sutherland Shire Council approving the Tradies’ first major expansion, became its rst woman Councillor in 1965. She became its first woman Deputy Shire President from 1968-71 and the rst woman Shire President from 1978-1979.Aware that Cr Bates’ return would make the dierence, Cr Hayes lodged a rescission motion. But at a special meeting of Council held three days later, Cr Bates was again absent and, again on the casting vote of the Shire President, the Club’s development application was approved.It was a moment that was crucial to the growth, and even the existence, of the Sutherland District Trade Union Club.Why did Cr Manuel change her mind, and why was Cr Bates absent during crucial votes? Labor Councillors pointed out that not all the non-Labor Councillors opposed trade unions or the Club. ey also said there had been considerable “reasoned argument” to achieve the knife-edge result.In mid-1966, the Club considered the Council’s conditional approval of its planned extensions. e conditions included no trac entering or leaving from Kingsway and meeting police requirements. With minor changes, the Licensing Court approved the plans.e lowest of four quotes, $128,821 from L W Giles, was accepted. It led to a long association that included many major Club construction jobs. e Club’s architect estimated that mechanical ventilation would cost about $12,000 and considerably more for air conditioning.Negotiations for work funding went on. An initial favourable reception from the ES&A (English, Scottish, and Australian) Bank evaporated. After a Board deputation to Miller’s, it reassured suppliers on nance, allowing construction to lock-up. Optimism was high.Councillor Jean Manuel, Sutherland Shire Council’s rst female Councillor and rst Shire President, was pivotal in the Tradies getting approval in 1966 for its rst expansion. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries32 OPPOSITION

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On 21 April 1967, a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange sent a shockwave through the Tradies. It caused immediate major problems and threatened its existence.e statement announced that Tooheys had purchased its rival brewer and the Club’s close ally, Miller’s. Miller’s Brewery had supported the Tradies - most critically in nancing - to break down the local tied-house pub monopolies of the two big brewers, Tooheys and Tooths.When the media questioned Miller’s about its undertakings to several clubs, its spokesman said: “We will naturally go ahead with arrangements with any club we have committed ourselves to or partially committed ourselves to.” Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.With Miller’s sale, the Club’s financial backing disappeared. e builder of the Club’s extensions reacted dramatically to the news; it abandoned work within hours. e new auditorium looked like an enormous, deserted concrete cavern.e Board urgently began searching for alternative nancing. e ES&A and Commonwealth banks would not help. (e ES&A Bank operated in Australia from 1852 until 1970).Millers was a diverse company. In addition to its brewery, which connected it to the Tradies, it owned pubs, coal mines in the Hunter Valley and was a coal trader. Importantly for the young club, it operated ships - called 60-milers - to transport coal from the Newcastle region to Sydney.As the search for money continued, a new Tradies Board member, John Benson, an ocial of the Seamen’s Union of Australia, met with Joe Muir, a Shire resident and Seamen’s Union delegate of theBranxton, one of Miller’s 60-miler ships. Muir learned of Miller’s treatment of the Club. In turn, theBranxton’screw drew Miller’s attention to outstanding grievances aboard the ship with a series of stoppages.Owner Rod W. Miller was soon asking the union to explain. He discovered several of theBranxton’screw lived in Sutherland Shire and were unhappy that his company had deserted the Tradies.When he asked, “Wasn’t that the club in which Benson was a director?” the response was it was, “only coincidental”. Miller suggested that the Club call on one of the company’s senior ocers to “work something out”.Following Miller’s suggestion, Tradies’ representatives met nanciers Travers and Associates at Manly. A man named Crawley, who seemingly had some authority from Miller’s, joined them at Circular Quay.Travers’ manager refused to admit Crawley to the discussions. Later, the Club learned that had he done so, he may have claimed a substantial fee. He did take THE SHIP THAT SAVED THE TRADIESe Branxton, left, is pictured at Blackwattle Bay, Sydney, in May 1968 with two other Miller “60 miler” colliers, Ayreld and Teralba. Vic Solomons City of Sydney Archives 33THE SHIP THAT SAVED THE TRADIES

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legal action against it, demanding $87,000, but was unsuccessful.At the meeting with Travers and Associates, a $100,000 loan from National and General Insurance was proposed and later accepted. In addition, a second mortgage was arranged with Miller’s, with further substantial bridging funds through Custom Credit.With nancing in place, the abandoned building could resume. But it was three months after the builders had packed up and gone before they could return.Later in the year, the Canberra Times reported R.W. Miller's' annual general meeting. It noted that afterwards, the company oered those attending an "elegantly prepared buet lunch at Miller's Oceanic Hotel (at Coogee).“Lobster, turkey and all the trimmings were available, but draught beer was o due to the present brewery strike.”After the dramatic seeking of nance, new issues confronted the Tradies directors.e air conditioning required for the new premises was prohibitively expensive, but a modern club could not expect to satisfy its members or attract new ones without it. So, new building areas would be air-conditioned on a ‘lease now - buy later’ basis. e need in the Club’s older section would be reassessed when nances permitted.Another signicant issue, on which many members suddenly wanted to oer opinions, was the interior decorating of the Tradies’ extensions.An expert, Les Furness, arrived armed with rolls of curtaining samples and a stack of carpet squares. His assistant was young rugby league star, St George Dragons’ Graeme “Changa” Langlands.e Board was never able to establish Langlands’ role. e eventual Rugby League Immortal was reportedly equally puzzled.Furness outlined his concepts for a newly decorated auditorium.Directors, whose general contribution to this eld of human endeavour had been an occasional grunt of approval when there was a proposal for a new paint colour or curtain in their home, were now plunged into a galaxy of colours, shapes and textures.Furness’ handling of anyone tempted to question or qualify his artistic values was reportedly superb.One Director took seriously his invitation to design the auditorium carpet, proposing the Club motif of the Southern Cross on a dark blue background. Other Directors responded admiringly. It looked a winner.After complimenting him for his dedication, Furness commented that some members might not like to see their Club motif trodden underfoot, appreciate cigarette butts being ground into it, or become a blotter for spilt beer. e Club got the carpet that Furness always intended.e highlight of Furness’ contribution must have been the two items of art on the walls on each side of the stage in the new auditorium.One description was: “Ghastly breglass gures on a background of a large red clamshell”. No Directors could compliment them, and there was a feeling of considerable worry about the members’ reaction on opening night.e Board should have had more faith in the decorator. e artwork was a big hit. As was the entire aesthetic presentation. Directors recalled appreciatively Les Furness’ enthusiasm for the Club and its members. And the carpet lasted a good many years, too.e opening of its new extensions in November 1968 was a turning point for the Tradies.It now had a stylish entrance, a spacious auditorium, a considerably larger bar, more comfortable areas for trade John Benson, a Tradies Founding Member and Club President, was also a signicant gure in the trade union movement. He was Sydney Branch Secretary of the Seamen’s Union of Australia from August 1967-July 199034 THE SHIP THAT SAVED THE TRADIES

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union and community meetings and a roomy dining area with a modern kitchen. And, importantly, it was air-conditioned.Financial arrangements kept the Club tied to Miller’s Brewery for its beer and other products. However, with Tooheys’ buyout of Miller’s, the popular Tooheys New -still sold at the Club today - went on tap.Despite the Tradies’ name emphasising its deep involvement with the trade union movement, it took until August 1968, when operations and external pressures were settling, for members to form a Trade Union sub-committee.Its rst event was hosting left-wing journalist and local resident Rupert Lockwood. He recounted his experiences as a reporter for the Communist newspaper Tribune, which included two years as its resident Moscow journalist. He spoke of his visits to the then-Soviet-bloc eastern European countries.With the dollar’s value diminished by ination, opposition to 20-cent poker machines all but disappeared. Several were among new units purchased.Club facilities were available to even more diverse community organisations. It became a popular venue for older Shire residents at quieter times for pastimes like card games and indoor bowls. e Tradies also began expanding its support of local charities, and sports and other community organisations.e public perception of it changed from a place for trade unions and political intrigues to a welcome part of the general community.e Club’s new building was a crisp, clean white. is fresh image and public acceptability delivered another change. Taxi drivers and many members of the public who had nicknamed the Tradies ‘e Kremlin’ now referred to it as the ‘White House’.e new auditorium as it was in 1967, dual clamshell decorations either side of the stage and alle view from the stage, looking out across a club with a distinctly Southern Cross-free carpet 35THE SHIP THAT SAVED THE TRADIES

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HIDDEN PROBLEMSAs the 1960s closed, on the surface everything seemed to be favourable for the Tradies, but it was becoming increasingly apparent to the Board that its nancial position was deteriorating.In April 1969, it learned of an $8773 trading loss for the previous six months, mainly a dining room decit. It seemed the more customers served, the greater the loss.But that was only a minor part of the problem. Other clubs subsidised their dining rooms and were experiencing similar issues. Too often, poker machine prots were regarded as an easy way to subsidise other sections of the club.e Board responded by dividing administration into three:• Bar trading would nance most of the Club’s operations, including most wages and buying all commodities• Poker machines would pay for maintenance and replacement, and• e dining room would pay for its supplies, wages, and cleaning.By November, the Tradies expected a modest prot.When the new Club bar area opened, the old was refurbished and re-opened as a sports bar. It included two billiards tables and two dartboards. It initially operated restricted hours, but its popularity grew with renewed interest in snooker.e work helped the push to air-condition the remainder of the Tradies, which was done by early 1970.Bob Hawke, as Australian Council of Trade Unions President, hit the headlines with his rst visit to the Tradies.With trading and nancial success, the Board considered opening a similar club at Menai, 10 kms away. Buying land at Menai was referred to the Union of Registered Workers’ Clubs, but ultimately, not pursued.In landmark moments for the Tradies in the mid-1970s, it implemented equal pay for its sta and its rst apprentice chef started work.Allowing 18-21-year-old members was a central issue for the clubs movement. e Tradies fully supported the Registered Clubs Association’s campaign to alter legislation, which it believed discriminated against adults under 21.To satisfy members’ families and to strengthen the campaign, the Tradies decided to admit 18-21-year-olds but also ensure the legal requirement of banning them from playing poker machines was enforced.Tragically, the Club’s Secretary-Manager, Dick Jeree, passed away on 12 November 1970 after a short illness. Held in high regard, the Club mourned his passing with a strong feeling of loss.Serious nancial problems continued, with the Board requiring monthly prot and loss gures from across the Club’s activities to identify weaknesses in performance.A signicant diculty continued in the dining room - particularly with the popular lunchtime smorgasbord.It was a favourite dining place for shift workers and others. Many lled doggie bags to stretch lunch to the next day’s breakfast. When the smorgasbord was abandoned in late 1970, dining room trade - and nances - immediately improved.But, as 1971 went on, overall trading gures still showed no marked improvement. e Board zeroed in on an unauthorised increase in sta numbers, questionable poker machine security and diminished trading despite increased patronage.e President, Bill Baker, stepped down to become the Club’s Secretary-Manager. He was a founding member of the Club, a Director for 11 years, held a Bachelor of Economics degree and knew, in detail, the Board’s concerns.His review of Club operations delivered an immediate nancial improvement.President Graham Hill, who succeeded him on the Board, observed that Baker’s directly encouraging Directors to become involved in nance, building or entertainment sub-committees, combined with visits to other clubs’ similar operations, made them more aware of their responsibilities.is improved eciency within the Board’s functions and gave a mutual appreciation of Board/management issues.ere was signicant news at the 1972 annual general meeting: after a two-year campaign, the Club would serve draught Tooheys Old Beer. It was a happy announcement, but sadly, the member who had launched the eort had passed away. e Tradies continued to grow. By 1974, it needed more meeting rooms, a separate poker machine room, and more storage space. Once again, nance was arranged to complete them.e rest of the decade passed without major crises - for the Club, anyway.36 HIDDEN PROBLEMS

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THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR…But the 1970s were undoubtedly the best and worst of times for the Tradies’ union and Australian Labor Party members. It was a time of extraordinary change in Australian society.In 1949, the Liberal-Country Party Coalition took oce from Labor, which had managed Australia during the height of World War 2 and post-war years. Beginning with Robert Menzies as Prime Minister for some 17 years, the Coalition ruled the country for 23 years.With his 1966 retirement and the performances of his successors Harold Holt, John Gorton and William McMahon, even the Rupert Murdoch-ownede Australianwas prompted to editorialise just before the 2 December 1972 Federal election:“is may be our last chance for some time to opt for a bold leap forward in this country’s development, in place of the muddling through which has characterised Australian policy in recent time.”e ALP’s leader, Edward Gough Whitlam, barrister and wartime RAAF serviceman, had modernised Labor’s structures and political oerings.e changed Party felt Australians were also ready for change: its then-revolutionary “It’s time” election campaign featured a two-minute campaign song for television. Many of Australia’s best-known music and media stars appeared. Click or scan the QR code to view.During the lead-up to the election, Labor campaign managers organised a large-scale public campaign meeting at Sutherland headlined by Gough Whitlam.After inviting the crowd to the Club for some post-meeting camaraderie, the Tradies had a huge night.On 5 December 1972, Whitlam became Australia’s 21st Prime Minister.Locally, the sitting Liberal Member for Cook, Don Dobie, lost his seat to Labor’s Ray orburn, who retained it at the 1974 Federal election.But in December 1972 began undoubtedly the most sweeping, if not sometimes frenetic, reform program in Australian government history. It was achieved at a pace and sometimes in a manner that would have profound consequences.e National Museum of Australia listed what it felt were the dening moments of the two Whitlam governments between 1972 and 1975:“In the 1,071 days the Whitlam government held oce, it enacted 508 bills (including more than 200 in its rst year).“Major areas where the government aected change included:• Community health and wellbeing (Medibank introduced; social security benets and pensions increased; social housing increased)• Education (Australian Schools Commission created; free tertiary education instituted)• Indigenous Australia(Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976passed; Aboriginal Legal Service created; National Aboriginal Consultative Committee formed)• Multiculturalism (citizenship requirements were standardised for all applicants; more support services added)MORE INFOe Tradies’ Gough Whitlam-autographed copy of Labor’s legendary 1972 election “It’s time” poster38 THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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• Women’s rights (1972 equal pay case saw women receiving same pay for same work;Maternity Leave (Australian Government Employees)Act 1973passed; adviser for women’s aairs appointed; Family Law Court of Australia created;Family Law Act 1975implemented no-fault divorce)• International relations (established diplomatic relations with China; independence for Papua New Guinea)• Vietnam. Abolished national service and withdrew last troops from Vietnam• Politics and the lawCommonwealth Electorate Act (No. 2) 1973implemented more equal spread of voters across electorates; Australian Legal Aid Oce created• Economics (cut taris by 25%;Trade Practices Act 1974outlawed price xing)• Environment and heritage (Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973stopped proposed drilling in the Great Barrier Reef; established Australian Heritage Commission)• e arts (Australian Council for the Arts formed).“Much of the legislation passed was radical for the time and represented a profound change in Australian society and culture.”But relations between the Government and the Opposition were poor. e Opposition had a majority in the Senate and was refusing to pass legislation that would, for example, establish Medibank.Passing Supply Bills, or the money needed to run the country, was also problematic.Amidst the political dramas engulng Australia, much more quietly the Tradies began its longest association with a Sutherland Shire community organisation. e Gymea Gorillas Junior Rugby League Club began holding its meetings at the Club in 1973. e relationship continues today.Labor was returned to government at a 1974 election. But with the Opposition retaining power in the Senate, severe diculties remained for it.e economy was in poor shape. Unemployment was rising, along with ination, while growth was falling. ese factors prompted what has been described as one of the biggest nancial scandals in Australian political history.Gough and Margaret Whitlam campaigned at the then-Miranda Fair during the 1974 Federal election, while Cook incumbent, the Liberal Don Dobie, courted the professional vote 39THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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Dubbed the “Loans Aair”, senior Ministers - Jim Cairns as, initially, Overseas Trade Minister and later as Treasurer, and Rex Connor, the Resources Minister - were looking for ways to boost the economy, oset an energy crisis and keep national control of signicant resources.Billions of dollars in loan monies available from newly wealthy Middle East sources looked attractive.A secret scheme was hatched to raise up to $8 billion through a London-based commodities trader named Tirath Khemlani. It bypassed normal governmental approval channels involving the Treasury and the Loan Council.e go-ahead to pursue such loans came from the government’s Executive Council and signatories: the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, and the Minister for Minerals and Energy.e public was not informed.e loan terms, when unearthed by the media, would have signicantly burdened Australians in years to come.SackedRevelations continued, but the biggest shock came on 11 November 1975, when Governor-General Sir John Kerr, acting on legal advice from the High Court Chief Justice Sir Gareld Barwick, sacked the Labor Government and installed Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.e Loans Aair was a signicant factor in the defeat of the Labor Party in a federal election at the end of that tumultuous year. e loss saw Labor again consigned to the wilderness for years, not returning to power until the election of the Bob Hawke-led government in 1983.e sacking of the government infuriated millions of Australians.e Tradies’Club Newseditor, Bob Sharkey, who served on the Club’s Board for 55 years, said the general reaction was shock. On the day of the sacking, he and other Tradies members travelled to central Sydney to be part of a spontaneous protest demonstration outside the Liberal Party's headquarters.He reected the fury of millions of Australians when he later wrote for Club members:“A bloodless coup d’état“Remembrance Day—11 November—will have a greater signicance to all Australians in the future due to the events which took place in Canberra on that day in 1975—the sacking of the democratically-elected Prime Minister.“Often Australians have looked with amusement, wonder and cynicism at the instability of government in other parts of the world such as France, the emerging nations and banana republics. However, on 11 November, Australia witnessed its rst bloodless political coup d’état!“e Queen’s representative sacked our Prime Minister and appointed a new leader who not only does not command a majority in the major house—the House of Representatives—but does not even have a majority in the Senate!...Whitlam speaking after the dissolution of parliament, 1975. National Archives of Australia A6180 13140 THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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Conspiracy“Just how much of a conspiracy was perpetrated may never come to the surface, but in my mind, there was a conspiracy!“is obviously involved Fraser, Anthony (National Country Party leader), Kerr, and the multi-national companies, particularly mining interests. Doug Anthony has been a champion of the overseas mining companies, which have been curtailed in their attempts to gain absolute power over Australia’s mineral wealth.”More about e Dismissal: www.whitlamdismissal.comand at the Australian Parliament site via the QR code.Even in such a tumultuous year, in 1975 Australians also paused to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of World War 2.Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts ew together in space. In Sydney, war veterans from 40 countries met, invited by the Returned Services League, the RSL.e Tradies welcomed three veterans from the then Soviet Union: Admiral C Yakarov; author Sergei Smirnov, celebrated for his books about Soviet heroes of World War 2; and Professor of History N Volkov.Later in the year, the Sydney Daily Mirror newspaper reported that two Russian trade union ocials had arrived “for a tour of NSW poker machine palaces” that included the Tradies.“We don’t have one-armed bandits in our clubs,” the Mirror reported their leader as saying. “Good ideas can be used everywhere.”Opponents of the proposed large-scale industrial development of Botany Bay met at the Tradies to plan protests. ey wanted “no further development of the Bay until a proper environmental assessment is carried out.”Plans for a “giant coal loader” and berths for supertankers in Botany Bay sank without a trace.The Club made “considerable” financial contributions to help members.Harry Batterham, a Tradies’ Foundation Member who joined it in 1961, was able to compete in the 1975 World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships held in Toronto, Canada. Iris Allen was able to attend a Women and Politics conference in Canberra.After the Federal election loss, NSW Labor turned its attention to winning State government in 1976 after a decade in opposition. is early fundraiser at the Tradies was to support Labor candidate Bill Robb. e poll saw the ALP win narrowly, with Neville Wran becoming Premier. e Liberals’ Tim Walker held MORE INFOResident-based protest action saw Botany Bay coal loader plans sink without trace. Leader 41THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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Miranda, but lost it to Robb at the next election in 1978,To show it oered something for everyone, the Club’s chef, Fred Warr, jumped back into history to suggest that members partake of “English gourmet’s latest - dormouse.”Usually served at banquets, he advised probably deeply puzzled members that home cooks should begin by fattening the dormice on acorns and chestnuts, then - presumably after they had met a gentle demise - stu them with minced pork and dormouse meat. Bake in the oven.Fred said he would accept bookings for four or more if any members wanted to give it a go at the Club. Sadly, there is no record of Tradies’ gourmet members’ responses.Council rates and noisy members were on the 1976 annual general meeting agenda. As every Federal Budget does, excise increases pushed up the prices of alcoholic drinks. e Club responded to the 1978 Budget hike by cutting the cost of a dozen full-sized bottles of beer to $8.99 and two dozen cans or stubbies to $9.99.Local rates and noise at Beef and Burgundy Nights were 1976 annual general meeting business itemsleft: A 1975 Tradies’ Club News covered everything from the State election campaign fundraising dinner to what was coming up for members. And that was just the cover. right: Bargain menu, only $15 to feed four people in 1976!42 THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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e NSW Labor Party Caucus held its rst-ever meeting away from Parliament House on 31 May, when it convened at the Tradies. e Caucus meeting coincided with the State Parliamentary Labor Party’s road safety seminar and accident research group. ese also met at the Tradies.e Club purchased properties at 687 and 689 on Kingsway.In 1979, the Seamen’s Union of Australia seconded one of its senior ocers, John Benson - the Club’s President - as Executive Secretary of the World Peace Council for 1980. e job was based in Finland’s capital, Helsinki, so he did not re-contest the Club presidency.e Seamen’s Union noted that Benson was part of the estimated one million people who marched on the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in New York City in 1982.Benson was succeeded as the Tradies’ President by Graham Hill, who then held the position for a remarkable 32 years.Amongst the many notables Hill hosted on behalf of the Club was ALP legend - and former Cronulla resident - Gough Whitlam.NSW Premier, Neville Wran, left, pictured with Patricia and Maurie Keane (MP for Woronora), Jill Wran, and Wilma and John Benson (Tradies President)Gough Whitlam and Tradies President Graham Hill 43THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR LABOR...

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In 1980, the Tradies elected its rst female Director, Patricia (Pat) Harris, a strong supporter of trade union and sub-club activities. Pat was among the rst to campaign against sexual discrimination in the sub-clubs. Demands from members grew once more for additional space and amenities. But nancing any signicant expense would mean a substantial increase in poker machine numbers and area for them.e Board decided on a considerable Club enhancement that would include multiple work programs: the Southern Cross Lounge, a new cool room and enlarged cellar, a new dining room, a bistro, kitchen, bar, sta amenities, parking, entrance, and converting the auditorium to a sports lounge.Underground parking was on the wish list, but construction site ooding saw it abandoned. A multi-storey car park replaced it - part of a push to cut members’ on-street parking that could inconvenience neighbours.After using a $1 million bank loan and money from its reserves and making changes to the scope of the job, the Club still needed more money to get it done. So, members were invited to invest $240,000 to nish the new facilities. Debentures would pay 13%. e works came in at $1.34 million.A sombre fundraising was held at the Tradies early in 1981 to assist the families of ve Sutherland volunteer bushre ghters who had died when trapped by a huge blaze they were helping to ght in the Royal National Park near Waterfall the previous November..e men, from Heathcote, Miranda and Engadine, aged between 19 and 26, were all members of the Rural Bushre Brigades’ Sutherland Shire Headquarters Brigade.e deaths of the young men prompted a great outpouring of public emotion. A procession of 60 re trucks preceded a memorial service at Sutherland Civic Centre attended by more than 2000 people.GROWING AND HELPINGree Life Members: Sutherland Shire Councillor Hazel Wilson, Woronora MP Maurie Keane and Tradies Director Pat Harris44 GROWING AND HELPING

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Sutherland Shire is surrounded by water and densely forested national parks that sprawl to its south and west. All are magnicent in good times, but potentially deadly in times of re and ood. As examples, vast stretches of bushland were destroyed in what became known as the Black Christmas Bushres in 2001, including 60% of the Royal National Park, the world’s second oldest. Most recently in 2022 and 2016, a ooding Woronora River forced evacuations at Woronora and Bonnet Bay.Tradies Gymea and Tradies Helensburgh are ocial evacuation centres, audited for accreditation each year by Sutherland Shire Council and NSW Police.When activated by authorities, the clubs make space, facilities and services available to help emergency agencies and evacuees. In recent years, the Tradies was usually a short stay refuge where evacuees received shelter, food and drink before moving to temporary accommodation. Most recent activations have seen 40-100 people come to the Tradies, but in large-scale emergencies several hundred people have been assisted. During the Black Christmas Fires in 2001, the Club provided meals for Rural Fire Service reghters, became a donation centre and put together food and other supplies for the community. is included making a ferry run to Bundeena. In addition to providing emergency shelter, the Tradies oers complimentary meals to working State Emergency Services workers.e Club is also a designated emergency evacuation centre for some schools and other facilities within the Sutherland Shire.ere has been devastating cost to the west of the Shire in bushres. LeaderRemembering the 1980 Waterfall RFS bushre victims. LeaderFive reghters died near Waterfall in 1980Shelter at Tradies during Black Christmas res 2001Residents from John Paul Village Nursing Home, Heathcote, relaxing at the Tradies during the 2001 bushres 45GROWING AND HELPING

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e President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Cli Dolan, ocially opened the Tradies’ new auditorium on 4 July. He praised the Club’s contribution to the cause of labour. ALP Sutherland Shire Presidents Kevin Skinner and Ray orburn were amongst the current and former Shire Presidents at a celebration in 1981 marking the 75th anniversary of the granting of local government.Jean Manuel played a highly important role in the Tradies’ rst expansion. An Independent, she supported the Club’s application against strong opposition from Liberal Councillors. is allowed the works to be approved on the casting vote of the Shire President.Mrs Manuel was Sutherland Shire Council’s rst woman Councillor, Deputy Shire President, and President. When the Club completed its expansion project, the Tradies oered even more space, high-quality furnishings and amenities. An advertising and promotion program further boosted membership.Reporting to the Tradies’ annual meeting, its auditor said it was dicult for him to understand its continuing uneconomic subsidised catering. He also noted a decline in bar sales but suggested that industrial disputes aecting supplies may have been involved.In news that cheered long-suering Tradies members who used Sutherland-Cronulla train services as part of their daily commute, Miranda MP Bill Robb announced that duplication of the line would be nished in 1982.e old Red Rattlers had been pensioned o for smart new double-deckers. For the history bus, the Red Rattlers operated on the Sydney rail network from 1926 until 1992.In December 1982, the Club provided food, refreshments and entertainment to 40 people who marched from Wollongong to Parliament House in a Right to Work protest.Almost 10,000 people attended the peaceful demonstration in Macquarie Street.e march was part of union pushback against mass sackings and rising unemployment in the Illawarra. In October 1982, coal miners and steel workers had come together to plan collective action. ousands at a Wollongong Showground meeting endorsed the march.e Tradies played its part. In a marcher’s account published by historian Nick Southall:“Finally, at Gymea, the march received a rousing welcome from a crowd of people waiting to cheer our arrival.ACTU president Cli Dolan with Club directors Rod Waters and Maurie Taylor left and Bob Sharkey right. Opening of Club extensions 1978.ALP Sutherland Shire Presidents Kevin Skinner (left) and Ray orburn (third from left), in 1981. Local History Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries46 GROWING AND HELPING

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“A campsite had already been established at a sports oval (Miranda Park) just down the road from the Sutherland District Trade Union Club and among those greeting us were practitioners from the Workers Health Centre, who tended to the sores on our feet and gave us foot massages...“After regaining enough strength to walk up to the Club, we found our muscles had tightened up, and it took us ages to shue the short distance to get there. We were all in pain and laughing away at how silly we looked.“At the Workers’ Club we were given a dinner and a reception where speakers from the local trade union movement congratulated us, and plans were laid out for the Sydney section of the march.“We returned to our campsite worn out, blistered and sore, but with a renewed sense of pride and determination.”In October 1983, the Club began one of its most enduring community sponsorships with its support of Elouera Surf Life Saving Club. Tradies’ President Graham Hill and Club Director and Elouera Club Captain Graham Tangye initiated it with a handshake.Tradies now signicantly supports all the Bate Bay surf lifesaving clubs: its relationship with North Cronulla SLSC began with the Club’s amalgamation with Caringbah RSL Club in 2003, with Wanda SLSC in 2006 and it has supported Cronulla SLSC’s Nippers program for more than a decade.e Tradies also helps the surf life saving clubs to buy items such as equipment.In November 1983, the Tradies opened its road entrance to Kingsway. It also purchased another 68 car parking spaces from Gymea Bowling Club for $177,000.e broad-scale arrival of the breathalyser to combat drink-driving was delivering something of “an essence of doom and gloom”, Club members learned. ey were advised it might be handy to plan for getting home after a big night out: “All that was needed was a sensible approach to your night out, the availability to assist if you have exceeded ‘the limit.’”As a backup, the Tradies was oering ‘reasonably priced’ low- and non-alcoholic drinks, and if a patron needed to get a taxi home, its recently completed secure car park - featuring locked wire caging, electronic beam surveillance and continuous oodlighting - would keep a car safe.As ever, the Tradies oered plenty of entertainment for members. For example, in February 1983, 48 members saw Barry Humphries (and Dame Edna) live in Song of Australia. A three-course dinner at the Club, with transport to and from the show in the city, cost $25.Movies were on twice a week. On ursday night, it could be the Cronulla-inspired “Puberty Blues” to Sunday night’s unique “Zorro Swings Again”, with (count ‘em) twin Zorros battling injustice.A crowd of a reported 40,000 at Wollongong Showground endorsed the 90kms Long March to Sydney in 1982. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy SEARCH Foundation 47GROWING AND HELPING

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e Tradies celebrated its 21st birthday in 1984. e Club was formally founded on 20 October 1960, when a company, the Sutherland District Trade Union Club, was registered.e maths mightn’t seem to add up, so…After it was registered in October 1960, much more work, including repelling relentless opposition from brewery and their related pub interests and some community groups, lay ahead before the Club won its liquor licence on 23 August 1963.Issuing that all-important licence allowed it to begin operating as a business - so 23 August each year is considered the Tradies’ birthday.And to further help, the Club had its 60th annual general meeting - linked to the year it was formally founded - in 2020.As the Tradies’ 21st approached in 1984, a building program extending it with better women’s facilities, a restaurant and a lounge was being completed for $2.5 million.e birthday celebrations were held on Saturday, 25 August.ere was a children’s concert, cut-price beer - for 21 hours at 1963 rates with middies 13 cents and schooners 18 cents - and a gala dinner.e menu of country-style soup, roast beef with garden-fresh vegetables, and dessert of “a slice of our giant 21st birthday cake” cost $10.Looking back over those rst 21 years, Tradies President Graham Hill noted that the initial 200 members had grown to around 2000, sta had increased from four to 74, and revenue and prots had grown considerably.He noted two major highlights of the Tradies’ rst 21 years:An address by Jack Lang, former Premier of N.S.W., in 1970, when he was 92. In 1932, Lang became the rst State Premier to be sacked by a Governor, Sir Phillip Game, over his proposed handling of the Great Depression - which conicted with that of the Federal Labor Government and all other States. is split James Scullin’s national government, which lost oce, and the Labor Party, ande support the Club gave to Australian competitors in the Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980. ere was great pressure on Australia not to participate because of a United States boycott prompted by Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Many did compete, with Australians marching under the Olympic, not Australian, ag.e address by Lang, one of the most controversial gures in Australia’s history, revived bitter memories among older members of the Great Depression of the 1930s.As Graham Hill noted: “Lang’s address made many older members vow that a Depression must never happen again.“But it did. And unemployment, although recently falling somewhat, is again a major community problem which we too often ignore.“e support given the Olympic athletes in the face of Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s ban on participation expressed the rising tide of opposition then developing against his harsh and unfeeling policies.“Fraser’s Olympic ban was followed three years later by his downfall.“e Club is doing a great service to the trade union movement and the whole community in focussing from time to time on major issues which make us think through our attitudes and rene or re-dene our beliefs.”TURNING 21Legendary NSW Labor Premier Jack Lang, pictured in his parliamentary oce, addressed Tradies members in 1970, when he was 92A possible merger between the Tradies and the Gymea Bowling Club was discussed in June 1982, but did not eventuate48 TURNING 21

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In its 21st year, the Tradies published a quality brief history by member Alan Cross. It perceptively presented the political and industrial times of the Tradies’ early years. Cross’ history can be found on page 106.e Tradies strongly supported the 1986 United Nations’ International Year of Peace.In a message to its members, the Tradies noted all trade unions expressed in their constitutions the principles of the UN Charter:• Human rights• e dignity and worth of the human person• Equal rights for men and women• Social progress• Better standards of living• e rule of international law, and• e rejection of force in settling disputes.The Tradies launched its Southern Cross Peace Scholarships to commemorate the International Year of Peace. Two awards would be made each year to eligible children of Club members. A $500 per year scholarship would be awarded to a secondary school student pursuing Years 11 and 12, while $1000 a year could be received for a maximum of six years by a tertiary student.e Southern Cross Peace Scholarships were awarded until 2017.e Tradies replaced them with increased funding for local schools’ projects such as their presentation nights and schools’ learning links programs. In another education support initiative, in2018, a Tradies-Elouera Surf Life Saving Club scholarship was established to help a young member with tertiary studies.In 1986, electronic banking services became available to members visiting the Club.Before 1974, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam ocially launched Bankcard, credit cards were basically for the wealthy.By the mid-1980s, 5 million Australians and New Zealanders held Bankcards, which all major banks issued.When the State Bank installed a Bankcard electronic teller machine in the Tradies’ foyer in 1986, members could use it for “payment of accounts and cash withdrawals. e unit accepts all Bankcards... so use this service when you are short of cash or paying your restaurant accounts.”e year was also the rst time the Tradies recorded a pre-tax prot of more than $1 million.Tradies Director Pat Harris had visited many sick members at their homes or hospitals. e 1987 annual general meeting formally appointed her as the Club’s Welfare Ocer.Over many years, letters in the Club’s newsletters showed the great gratitude of members for her support.Especially welcome was the Club’s policy of providing free television sets to hospitalised members, saving them rental costs.e Tradies announced it would cut household cooking chores by introducing takeaway dinners, with a barbecue chicken accompanied by coleslaw, potato salad and “all the trimmings for a baked dinner.”Elouera Surf Life Saving Club, which the Tradies had sponsored since 1983, won the 1987 World Life Saving e UN observes an International Day of Peace each yearBankcard logo 49TURNING 21

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Championships held at Durban, South Africa. Durban’s club and Surfers Paradise were the runners-up.More than 2000 competitors in 120 teams worldwide contested the titles over eight days.e trophy presentation was a moment of joy and jubilation for the victors, especially for Elouera Club Patron Graham Hill, the Tradies’ President, who joined the team on the presentation podium.As part of the celebrations, there was a big welcome for the new world titleholders at the Tradies on their return, including a parade of champions and a celebration dinner. Club sports fans already had access to live racing television, but the Tradies decided to test members’ responses to live and replayed rugby, Australian football, harness racing and greyhounds. TAB betting services were introduced.In the widely commemorated Australian Bicentennial Year in 1988, the Club decided to mark it practically. It donated $14,000 to refurbish a four-bed ward at Sutherland Hospital with new beds, drapes and oor and wall coverings.Sub-clubs were provided $5000 to help them participate in Australia Day events.Tradies’ Camera Club held its rst meeting in March.Britain’s Royal Family got a bit of a plug in the oerings of the Southern Cross Wine and Dine Club’s dinner in May.Members could enjoy the main course of veal cordon bleu with a Drayton’s 1987 Chardonnay Semillon or for a red, “the Queen Elizabeth-approved Bin 5555 (stocked on the Royal Yacht Britannia).”In June, the ever-exible Wine and Dine Club oered, “A very enjoyable Russian night without the mid-range missiles and hammer and sickle.” Possibly in the interests of peace, the soup was Ukrainian borscht.Late in the year, the Club was approached by the Salvation Army, asking for help with fundraising for a mobile kitchen. e Tradies donated $3000 to buy and equip a trailer.Elouera SLSC wins World Life Saving Championships in 1987. Graham Hill proudly hoists the trophy50 TURNING 21

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e Sallies would use it at many emergencies in the Shire each year.e mobile kitchen was in use sooner than expected, with bushres in the Shire tragically claiming the life of a reghter. e Tradies donated $2000 to a trust fund for his wife and two children.e Club introduced linked poker machines in 1988, but players of its 5-, 10- and 20-cent machines literally hit the jackpot to be rst amongst the big payouts.e 20-cent jackpot rst went o valued at $20,483, then the 10-cent at $57,738.52. But couple Brad Whiteman and his ancé Anne, who were soon marrying, picked up a cool $100,000.Bill Baker, a Foundation Member of the Tradies and a Foundation Board member died on 4 June 1989. He had been elected Club President in 1965.As it faced management problems in its early days, Baker stepped down from the Board to assist. It had become apparent the very young Club needed a secretary-manager.Baker took up the job in September 1971 and held it as the Tradies went through its rst growth phases until December 1976.An obituary noted:“In his earlier days, Bill was a union advocate and went to Court to battle for workers’ rights on numerous occasions, gaining great respect. One of his biggest assets was his honesty - not only in presenting a case but also in his private life and in his association with the Tradies.” Bill Baker also had the grand distinction in 1963 when he became the rst Tradies member to taste the rst beer pulled on the day the Club received its liquor licence and ocially opened for business.Lunch specials were oered at the Tradies for workers and businessmen: “From 11.30 a.m. weekdays home cooked meat pie, boiled peas, mashed potato, plus coee or a schooner of beer or soft drink for $2.30. Extra pie 85 cents.”e Club donated $1000 to the Blackmores First Lady Appeal. Australian sailor Kay Cottee was the rst woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world. She accomplished this feat in 189 days in 1987-88 in her 11.3 metres yacht Blackmores First Lady.Her feat raised over $1 million for the Reverend Ted Nos’ Life Education program.One of Australia’s most damaging strikes erupted in August 1989 when Australia’s airline pilots demanded a 30% pay rise. ey would work to an “oce hours” 9 a.m.-5 p.m. rule until they got it.e pilots had no support from the Federal Labor government, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Industrial Relations Commission, or their employers. Prime Minister Bob Hawke declared a state of emergency, allowing the Royal Australian Air Force and foreign airlines to operate some domestic services during the strike.e dispute dragged on for months until an estimated 80% of the pilots quit, their award was cancelled, and their union deregistered.Australian Council of Trade Unions President Simon Crean was guest speaker at a 1990 election fundraiser dinner for Hughes MP Robert Tickner 51TURNING 21

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Estimates of the pilots’ strike cost to Australia were upwards of $1 billion and a contributor to an approaching national recession.At 10.27 a.m. on 28 December 1989, the city of Newcastle was devastated by a 5.6 Richter scale magnitude earthquake. At the time, it was one of the most severe natural disasters in Australia’s history.e earthquake claimed 13 lives, nine at the Newcastle Workers Club, which later had to be demolished. A further 160 Newcastle people were hospitalised, and more than 300,000 people were aected - with 1000 made homeless.Of 50,000 buildings in Newcastle damaged, some 40,000 were homes. Later, 300 buildings were demolished.e Tradies decided to help. e support of members at a fundraising night later saw $20,000 presented to Newcastle Workers Club president Peter Barrack.e 1989 “win” over the pilots was to become a campaign weapon for Labor in the March 1990 Federal election.During the campaign, Australian Council of Trade Unions president Simon Crean drew a big crowd to the Tradies to support Hughes ALP candidate Robert Tickner.Tickner said of the event: “It was a great night when Simon Crean came to the Club, and the staunch union members, including many legends of the Sutherland Shire, came out in force.He recalled earlier this year: “I was always very grateful for the support I received from the Club as the Federal Member for Hughes. I recognised that the Tradies was a club with deep connections with the Sutherland Shire community stretching back many years, born from humble beginnings and built on the work of many committed people over the decades.“As someone who did not grow up in the Sutherland Shire, I was blown away by the warmth of the welcome I received as newly elected MP.“Interestingly for me, when I nally met my birth father - having been adopted at birth - I found out that he had grown up on a poultry farm in Gymea Bay Road not far from the club. Small world indeed! “Closer to election day, Prime Minister Bob Hawke received a rousing reception from Tradies members at a fundraiser at the Club.Prime Minister Bob Hawke campaigning in the Shire during the 1999 federal election. Leader52 TURNING 21

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After 10 years in government, despite tightening economic times with unemployment rising and gross domestic product falling, Labor won a record fourth successive term.Tickner increased his two-party preferred vote in Hughes by 1.5%. Hawke appointed him Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aairs, the portfolio he also held in the succeeding government led by Paul Keating.Home buying Tradies members and others in the community with rst home loans were nally beginning to see some relief from years of interest rates nancial pain.Globally, many countries were in recession, and Federal Treasurer Paul Keating famously, or infamously, described Australia’s medicine was “e recession we had to have.”Rates began dropping slowly for a variable home loan interest rate of 17%, with the cash rate easing from 17.50%.In the 1990s, the average Australian home loan - reecting property values of the times - was $71,000. e more challenging average in 2023 is $600,000. And this year, paying back principal and interest over 30 years is quoted by the Commonwealth Bank at $3076 a month on a variable interest loan quoted in August 2023 at 6.24%.In 1990, the Tradies had to issue stern warnings about its Family Sunday Shows. It said some parents were abusing them by leaving “their children unattended to indulge in behaviour not acceptable to this Club.“We emphasise again - it’s not a child minding service”, and if there was no improvement, “the family day could be discontinued.”e Sutherland-St George Group of the New Left Party met for the rst time at the Tradies. e Party was formed after the disbanding of the Communist Party of Australia.e meeting moved to oppose proposals for high-rise development in Cronulla, the sales of Woolooware Golf Course and Caringbah swimming pool, the privatisation Bob Hawke on the campaign trail with Hughes MP Robert Tickner. LeaderTEN YEARS OF LABOR 53TEN YEARS OF LABOR

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of Sutherland Hospital and for an access road from Engadine to Woronora and a bridge across the river.Its prime mover in the district, Alan Cross, was a signicant contributor to the community as an educator, teachers’ union ocial, and the Tradies as a Board member. His history of the Tradies, written to mark its 21st anniversary, starts on page 106.A tribute to him after his death by long-time Tradies Director Bob Sharkey appeared in Education, the journal of the NSW Teachers’ Federation.Readable via the QR code.In what was a mere entree of what was to come, Bob Sharkey in 1990 received Tradies Life membership after 26 years as a member of the Club and 23 years on its Board (He retired from the Board in 2022 after 55 years of service and 58 years as a member.)e Club announced ambitious, staged expansion plans to begin in 1991 to the west of its existing buildings. e works would include:• A two-storey car park• A conference centre for up to 600• A new restaurant, kitchen and piano bar• A 45-room motel, and• A pool and support facilities.It also examined further development of its holiday properties at North Haven and Sussex Inlet to reduce reliance on poker machines.Tradies merchandise, all sporting the Club’s logo, went on sale. A t-shirt (in red, blue or lemon) cost $20, a long-sleeved V-neck sweater in dark blue $40 and a red woollen vest $30.In 1991, the great Australian Dr Fred Hollows wrote to the Tradies thanking it for a $2000 donation to help his work in a blindness prevention program in the African country of Eritrea. Today, the Fred Hollows Foundation works in more than 25 countries. It has restored the sight of more than two and a half million people in Australia and worldwide.As part of Operation Sober Driver - a program to make members aware of random breath testing - a demonstration test unit and two police ocers from the Sutherland patrol set up in the Tradies’ foyer.Some members gave it a test drive as they left for the night and, well, “expressed surprise” at their results.With a State Election on 25 May, fundraisers and Club donations saw nancial support given to the campaigns of ALP candidates for the three local seats: Tony Brownlow in Cronulla, Hazel Wilson in Miranda and Genevieve Rankin in Sutherland.e Liberal-National Party government kept power in a hung parliament of 49 Labor, 49 Coalition and four independent seats. Liberals retained the Shire seats.e Club decided to publicly test the feasibility of a $15 million Southern Beaches Motor Inn and Conference Centre, part of its previously announced expansion strategy. It would ask businesses, trade unions, service and sporting organisations about their potential use of the Centre. Although it was thought a good idea, there were no rm commitments, and the proposal did not proceed.A new Club menu oered a dozen Jervis Bay oysters MORE INFODr Fred Hollows, centre, pictured with Club Director Ken Smith and President Graham Hill during a fundraising night at Tradies for the Fred Hollows Foundation54 TEN YEARS OF LABOR

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for $10.50, all sh mains - including barramundi and schnapper - for $12.50, and lobsters at $25. All meat dishes, including a prime New York-cut sirloin, cost $12.50.In 1992, the Australian Labor Party honoured two Tradies members for their contributions to the party.At a function at the Club, Bill Robb, who was Member for Miranda from 1978 to 1984, was made a Life Member of the ALP.Hazel Wilson was honoured for her long service to the Party and local government. Hazel was a Sutherland Shire Councillor from 17 September 1977 to 14 September 1991 and was Deputy Mayor in 1989-1990.Tributes to both were paid by past Federal Parliament Deputy Speaker and former Member for Hughes, Les Johnson.Hazel wrote to the Club later, recalling issues important to those in the Club, especially the Trades Union Committee.She wrote: “I reect with pride and pleasure on the Club’s cooperation with the late Ray orburn, the former member for Cook, during the golden Whitlam Era when local doctors and specialists came in large numbers to the Club to hear (Health Minister) Bill Hayden spell out the Government’s intention to bring in the Medibank Health Insurance legislation despite their objections. We must all join to protect those who cannot aord private insurance.“It was also a signicant occasion when the legal profession, clergy and social workers were gathered together at the Club to be briefed about the introduction of the late (Attorney-General) Lionel Murphy’s human rights legislation, including family law reforms, anti-discrimination laws and consumer protection initiatives.“We have shared great insights into matters related to the environment, industrial relations, Aboriginal aairs and education. We have been assisted by members like the late Alan Cross to take our message for Peace to the Federal Parliament on Palm Sundays and during the Vietnam and Gulf Wars.“is is indeed the essence of a community which cares for itself, and your part in that process is invaluable.”You couldn’t say 1992 Mother’s Day celebrations at the Club weren’t inclusive for Mums.Special category winners were: Oldest mother, Mrs De Leo, 94; Youngest mother, Mrs Sharon Justin, 23; Mother with the most children, Mrs Joan Halloran, with 8; and Most Advanced Stage of Pregnancy, Mrs Dianne Hodierne, who was a week overdue.e Club demolished four houses it owned to its west on Kingsway for a 110-car security-fenced, lit car park. Security sta also patrolled it on ursday, Friday and Saturday nights.e Tradies kept up with the latest in telecommunications, installing a phone that accepted a phone card for members. ey were available from reception with $20, $10, $5, and $2 credits. A Cronulla Sharks Super League option available for $5 in 1997 showed Nathan Long in action.e Club’s union members were incensed by the release of the Liberal Party’s Fightback policy, headlined by the Sydney Morning Herald as: “Fightback is a declaration of war on unions”.e Liberal Party Leader of the time, Dr. John Hewson’s “reforms” included introducing a 15% Goods and Services Tax, changes to Medicare that included abolishing bulk billing for non-concession holders, introducing a nine-month limit on unemployment benets, changes to industrial relations that included abolishing industrial awards, a $13 billion personal income tax cut for middle- and upper-income earners and $10 billion in government spending cuts.e Coalition also wanted to replace awards with individual workplace pay and performance agreements, abolish national wage cases, disband Worksafe Australia (now Safe Work Australia), and abolish the Armative Action Agency.With Federal elections due in March 1993, the ALP-endorsed candidate for the seat of Cook, Noreen Solomon, held a fundraiser at the Club. Former Federal Science Minister Barry Jones was the guest speaker.Later in the campaign, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam spoke at the Club to support Minister for Aboriginal Aairs and Member for Hughes, Robert Tickner.Cr Hazel Wilson. Sutherland Shire Council 55TEN YEARS OF LABOR

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e opinion polls tipped the election to sweep Paul Keating’s Labor government from power. Wrong. It gained a larger majority and became the rst fth consecutive ALP Federal Government.Robert Tickner improved his margin in Hughes. While Noreen Solomon did not win, she increased Labor’s vote by 5.87% in the safe Liberal seat of Cook.e rst Whitlam Oration at the Tradies virtually coincided with the Federal election of 1992. Hewson resigned as Liberal Leader in May 1994 and was succeeded briey by Alexander Downer, then John Howard.A Cuba Solidarity group held an evening at the Tradies to raise funds for a shipload of food to Cuba. In 1989, the movement led by revolutionary Fidel Castro had overthrown the Batista regime.Amongst the responses was the United States imposing a trade blockade that badly aected its economy.e Tradies came out swinging at 1994 NSW Coalition government changes to how the public could access licensed clubs.e government made it mandatory that a member must sign in any non-member living within 5kms of a club and visiting it, remain near them and leave when the member left.e Club branded it “draconian legislation set to force POLLS WRONGe rst Whitlam Oration, delivered at the Tradies by the former Prime Minister in 1996, addressed the rst and second Paul Keating governments. Pictured, the First Whitlam Oration poster, signed by Gough Whitlam, March 1993Les Johnson, pictured in 2005 with former Senator Doug McClelland. Leader56 POLLS WRONG

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guests ... to return to a hotel environment they rejected years ago” or “to drink and drive to another club outside 5km from their homes.”To combat what it described as “a hostile political environment,” the Tradies oered expanded new membership categories, including student, housewife/domestic and associates.ere would also be a push for more trade union and retired trade union members.As it told prospective members: “If your guests are forced to join a club, it might as well be the best.”Sweetening the deal, all new members got a $60 value Welcome to Tradies booklet of discount incentives - even free meat rae tickets.e Tradies’ catering sta did well at the Club Food Excellence Awards held at Penrith Leagues Club, collecting the honours for their entries in sections that included buet presentation, a la carte presentation, decorative cake, bistro presentation and margarine carving.A tribute held at the Club honoured the contributions to Australia’s public life by Les Johnson, former Member for Hughes (1955-1966 and 1969-1983) and Minister for the portfolios of Housing, Works (later combined as Housing and Construction) and Aboriginal Aairs. He was also Australia’s High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1984-1985.Members joined the tribute to note his service as “Member for Hughes, as a Whitlam Government minister, and for the service he has given the Party, the Shire, and nationally, over many years.”Special guest for the night was former Senator Doug McClelland, a former Whitlam government Minister and Australian High Commissioner to London.e Club modernised its rules by removing gender bias and making them easier to understand by using plain English.New and renewing members from 1994 onwards received personalised membership cards.Smoking was banned in the Tradies restaurant from 5 January 1994. It joined several other Club areas already o-limits to smokers.In October, former Club president John Benson visited Moscow. He witnessed the then-Soviet Union’s greatest crisis since the Russian Revolution of 1917.President Boris Yeltsin used military force to dissolve the country’s highest body, the Congress of People’s Deputies and the parliament, the Supreme Soviet. Army tanks shelled the seat of Russia’s government, the White House, in Moscow. Almost 150 people died, and 437 were wounded.Club President John Benson was in Moscow when Boris Yeltsin ordered the shelling of e Soviet Union’s parliament, the House of Soviets, in October 1993, killing 143. National Security Archive, George Washington University 57POLLS WRONG

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Community organisations from across the Shire and beyond, including the Tradies, quickly mobilised to give every help. e Club remained open 24 hours a day during the emergency to provide food and shelter.Later, the State Emergency Service’s Controller wrote to the Tradies:“Your sta and members are to be commended for their eorts in ensuring that we were able to keep the frontline reghters fed and for the caring and seless work with the evacuees who came to your Club.“e community in Sutherland Shire should be proud of the caring, generous and ecient response of the Club during the entire emergency period.“Finally, I pass on our thanks for the Club’s hospitality on the night of the Bush Fire fundraiser.“We’re proud to be able to call the Tradies ‘our Club’”.At the Tradies on 27 May, Prime Minister Bob Hawke presented life membership of the Australian Labor Party to Arthur and Dawn Gietzelt. Each also became a Life Member of the Tradies.Sadly, no pictures remain of new entertainment at the Club: horizontal bungee jumping. ere was even free beer.Beer. Well, there was a problem: a noticeable drop in the Tradies’ weekly keg consumption.Some members reckoned quality was o. Breweries quickly took samples for quality analysis at their laboratories. Master brewers were invited to the Club to talk to members about their worries and do some rsthand sampling.By late year, the Club believed the standard of the product was back to members’ expectations. And, it assured them it was keeping an eagle eye on beer excellence.Being free of debt and with substantial cash reserves, the Tradies announced its ambitious Project 2000. It had nished its 1994 nancial year with a prot before income tax of $1.32 million and cash in the bank or on hand of $1.7 million.e Tradies had asked four companies to develop Project 2000 design concepts to be considered by its March annual general meeting. Each was to include:• A 291-car capacity, 3-storey underground car park• Trac lights, installed at the Club’s cost at the corner of Manchester Road and Kingsway• A members’ lounge looking north towards the city• A “world-class” poker machine and keno facility• A state-of-the-art theatre• A spacious foyer with lifts connecting it to the car park below and• Additional function rooms.ere were three Project 2000 submissions. e Board found all were very complex and would require much consideration, especially against the Tradies’ nancial position and its ability to service loans.Paynter Dixon, the construction company long associated with the Tradies and its building programs, was chosen to rene the project’s elements.Project 2000 paralleled the closing of the auditorium in January for a signicant upgrade.e Tradies also kicked o 1995 by cutting some bar prices for January. A middy of light cost 95 cents and full strength $1.10, while a schooner of light cost $1.25 and full-strength $1.40. A nip of scotch was $1.40.A fundraising night for the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Foundation held at the Tradies raised $25,000.Free Learn to Rock’n’Roll lessons were introduced twice a month, alternating with line dancing.Many homes destroyed. Leader 59TRAGEDY

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e Tradies supportedasix-day strikeby members of the Australian Workers Union and the Federation of Industrial Manufacturing & Engineering Employees atCaltex’s two Kurnell reneries.A representative of the combined sites later wrote to the Club:“On behalf of the operators employed by Caltex at the two Kurnell Reneries, I would like to convey to you our appreciation for the support you gave us during our recent six-day strike.“A major reason for the dispute ending swiftly and successfully was our organising of pickets at terminals, the reneries and wharf at Kurnell. is was all controlled from an oce within the Club, generously provided by you together with a phone and other items, which all added up to a rst-class control centre.“Your support was extremely important to all of us, and all of the 292 operators at the reneries are aware of the role you played during the dispute, which is another example of the valuable assistance your Club renders to the workers of the Shire.”In 1996, the Tradies lost one of its most distinguished memberswith the sudden death of Matthew Edward “Ted” Heagney AM,aged 75. One of the nine Foundation Members of the Tradies, joining it on 11 December 1960 and part of its inaugural Board, he played a prominent role in setting the Club to its successful future.When he retired as head of the Australian Trade Union Training Authority in 1985, Prime Minister Bob Hawke publicly thanked him for “45 years of committed, productive, seless devotion to the interests of his fellow men and women.”Hundreds paid their respects to Ted Heagney and his family at his funeral service.Heagney played a signicant role in establishing an industrial relations policy between the NSW Department of School Education and the NSW Teachers Federation. He was described as “fair, astute and kindly” by the Federation and Department representatives.Before his seven years with the Australian Trade Union Training Authority, where he was also responsible for developing quality training for thousands of men and women in the trade union movement, Heagney spent 13 years as a Commissioner of the Arbitration Commission.e Tradies provided support to unions during a 1995 strike at Caltex. Leader60 TRAGEDY

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Major cases during his time as a Commissioner included work on the Aircraft Industry Award, where, for the rst time, skills for specic craft occupations were recognised. He also saw the introducing of shift penalty rates for journalists.After retiring in 1985, he became an Arbitrator to reach settlements in the building industry.In one of his last interviews, Heagney said, “I got a lot of satisfaction out of being a union ocer because you do a lot of things for a lot of people, many of whom you never meet.“And I feel that’s a role I’ve been able to play, possibly right through my life, in each job that I’ve held - to be able to help and assist people. And I like people - I think you’ve got to like people.“What have I learnt? I’ve learnt to be tolerant. I’ve learnt that to be an employer is not an easy task. I’ve played a role that has advantaged a lot of people, it’s been satisfying, and I’ve enjoyed it.”Heagney also served the local community as a director of Sutherland Hospital and of the Sutherland Area Health Service. He also was the private arbitrator for the Caltex Oil Renery and Australian Workers Union Industrial Agreement 1985-88.Club members fondly remembered Heagney as someone who always enjoyed a beer and a chat with their mate, a genuinely great Australian.In 1996, the Tradies Board decided to defer the start of its ambitious $4 million Project 2000.e rst stage, an underground car park on the western side of the Club, had been scheduled to be built over 33 weeks between April and November. Much preliminary work was completed, but the project still awaited Sutherland Shire Council building approval and nancing.ese could aect building start times. In addition, the car park project was delayed because of potential adverse eects from the loss of 170 car parks - both on members’ convenience and Club trading over the Christmas/New Year.e March 1996 federal election ended the 5-term, 13-year Hawke-Keating Labor Government that began in 1983. It also saw the loss for the ALP of the seat of Hughes, in the southwest of the Shire, held by Robert Tickner.He had entered parliament in 1984 at a Hughes by-election, held when sitting Member Les Johnson resigned to become Australia’s High Commissioner to New Zealand. Tickner was appointed Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aairs in 1990 and held the portfolio until the change of government.Later, he wrote to the Tradies: “e Club has been not only nancially generous to an extraordinary degree but also provided wonderful political leadership and support in the Sutherland Shire on so many issues.“I am honoured to have worked with you over the past 12 years. e support of the Club helped me to be a representative in the Federal Parliament and to be in a privileged position to ght for the rights of Indigenous people at a signicant time in Australia’s history.”In 1996, the last of the Club’s 5-, 10- and 20-cent poker machines were removed. Dollar coin and note-accepting machines remained available and could still be played in smaller denominations.e Tradies began introducing measures to cut passive smoking. It posted no-smoking requests in bars, poker machine locations, reception and food service areas. It aimed to improve the quality of sta working conditions and reduce exposure to patrons.Tradies Founding and Life Member Ted Heagney was a signicant contributor to Australia’s labour relations as an Arbitration Commissioner. Commissioner Heagney (c 1972). Personal portrait. Appointed 1972. Retired 1985. [AIRC archival image]. AIRC Collection. 61TRAGEDY

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In 1996, the Club made an after-tax prot of $890,000, its rst sub-$1 million result in 10 years. e causes were dips in liquor sales and catering takings, along with increases in catering, entertainment and sports clubs and promotions costs.A notable visitor to Tradies was Jack Mundey, as guest speaker at a Telstra employees’ conference. Mundey, when Secretary of the Builders’ Labourers Federation, came to national prominence for his leadership during green bans that saw much of historic east Sydney and e Rocks saved from excessive development.In 1997, a renovation of the gaming area of the Club, renamed Chateau Royale, was completed. Despite disruptions during the works program, the year’s takings were a record, making a net contribution to the Club of $5.5 million.An increase in the State Government poker machine duty rate saw the Tradies pay $2.418 million in tax - $119,000 more than the previous year.e news wasn’t bright in catering: a loss of more than $560,000. e Board ordered a review of food services operations.Sutherland Shire Council nally approved the Club’s proposed 400-car underground car park. However, the Board decided work would only begin after closely monitoring the Club’s trading performance.Planning began for a disabled persons lift linking reception and the upper levels of the Club.A gala seafood night at the Club saw $46,000 donated to the Children’s Cancer Institute. It said it was “honoured to have the Tradies joining us in working for a very special group of children.”e 1999 NSW State election, which saw Premier Bob Carr’s government returned, resulted in two impressive results in the Shire for the ALP.Firstly, in the new seat of Menai - part of which was the former seat of Sutherland - Labor’s Alison Megarrity took a notionally Liberal seat with 54% of the vote. She served the people of the area, by whom she was greatly respected, for 11 years and 11 months.The St George & Sutherland Leader marked her passing in 2022. Read the article via the QR code.Secondly, Barry Collier unseated long-term Liberal Member for Miranda Ron Phillips, who had held the seat since 1984.Phillips was Minister for Health Services Management from June 1991 until June 1992 and Minister for Health until the defeat of the Fahey Coalition government in 1995. He was Deputy Leader of the Opposition when he lost Miranda.Collier was Miranda’s MP from 1999 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015. His win in the latter election drew a St TAXING TIMESMORE INFOabove left: Menai MP Alison Megarrity at the opening of the second stage of the Bangor Bypass in 2010. Leader above right: Jeanette and Barry Collier after the Comeback Kid election. Leader62 TAXING TIMES

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George & Sutherland Shire Leader front page story and picture headlined, “e Comeback Kid.” He had stepped down from parliament in 2011, but decided to run again when the Liberal Party’s Member for Miranda, Graham Annesley, quit politics - and the job of Minister of Sports and Recreation - to become Chief Executive Ocer of the Gold Coast Titans rugby league club.In the resulting by-election, Miranda’s electors passed judgment. With a whopping 26.2% swing against the Liberal Party’s candidate and Labor collecting 55% of the two-party vote, Collier recorded the largest swing in New South Wales history.e Tradies’ long-serving Chief Executive Ocer, Tony Cotterell, resigned on 25 November. He had joined the Club as its Secretary Manager in 1976. It was a mutually agreed separation made on condential terms.A project to improve accessibility to all areas of the Club was nearing completion by year’s end.Long-time member Connie Bennett, an early mover and strong supporter of these works, joined the Club in January 1973.Club president Graham Hill visited her in hospital to tell her she would be part of the facilities opening celebrations. Sadly, Connie passed away three days later. A plaque adjacent to the lift marks her contribution.e Tradies opened its accessibility ramps and lift just in time for Christmas.ere was a foreshadowing at the Club’s 1999 annual general meeting of demands for increasingly higher management standards for clubs. Factors were greater competition and increasingly higher levels of technology.Directors acknowledged that managers must have high-level management skills but must also be familiar with information technology, industrial relations and government legislation. ey had to be experienced and conversant with members’ needs, industry requirements and areas such as industrial relations.Sta had to be more professional and trained in communication skills.e Tradies was working to meet these demands.e Club’s Lobster Pot Motel near Port Macquarie, which it had owned since 1985, was oered for sale for $1.17 million.Tony Cotterell, right, with Tradies Director Maurie Taylor, President Graham Hill and Prime Minister Bob Hawke 63TAXING TIMES

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e world had evolved in 100 years from rapidly changing through the Industrial Revolution to one heavily reliant on computers in everything from government, business and everyday living.As the year 2000 ticked closer, there was international concern that computers’ (including the Tradies’) program coding would not operate past 59 minutes past 11 p.m. on 31 December - and the world would be paralysed by what was dubbed the Y2K Bug.But for the Club and everyone else who had prepared, nothing much happened on that supposedly fateful night, and the year and century unfolded.ere were already signs of signicant changes coming quickly for the club industry and the Tradies. Success in meeting them would decide survival.e Club’s 2000 annual general meeting was told: “Competition for the leisure dollar is particularly strong in our Shire as restaurants, theatres, pubs, art galleries and clubs all compete for the consumer’s attention.”Social deregulation and disruption were everywhere: “We read daily about bank rationalism, dairy industry deregulation, international competition for our sugar farmers and towns virtually closing down overnight.“What has all this to do with the trade union club in Gymea? Put quite simply, a new order has emerged. at new order was given a name, ‘Economic Rationalism’ by then Treasurer Paul Keating. Protectionism had to end, and the open market would prevail.“…registered clubs are caught up in this particular economic hurricane… and only the ttest will survive.”After the departure the previous November of Tony Cotterell, the Tradies General Manager role was lled on an interim basis by long-term sta member Tony O’Connor while the Board sought a permanent replacement.Early in 2000, Tim McAleer was appointed.He held the position until 2017, when the Tradies had grown to be the region’s largest licensed club, with THE START OF A NEW CENTURYe Katoke Trust, headed by Alan Watson, left, has introduced vanilla growing as a cash crop64 THE START OF A NEW CENTURY

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53,497 members and premises at Caringbah, Gymea and Helensburgh.e rst woman elected to the Tradies’ Board, Pat Harris,decided in 2000 not to re-contest her position, which she had held for 21 years.President Graham Hill noted that Pat’s place in the Tradies’ history was assured. Since her election in 1980, she had spent much of her time as the Tradies’ Welfare Ocer, visiting members in hospital and lifting their spirits.In hundreds of letters written to Tradies over the decades, members who had been in hospital wrote to thank Pat for her cheerful visits - and for the Club-provided television sets she organised for their hospital stays. Pat was also a regular visitor to other Tradies members who needed their days brightening.As members at the meeting were told: “Pat has always given her best to the position as Director, and her loyalty and support have been outstanding. Congratulations, Pat, on a magnicent and signicant contribution to the Club.”In 2001, Australian missionary priest Father Brian Gore was a notable visitor to the Tradies.He and two other priests, with six lay workers, were imprisoned in the Philippines in 1983 by the Ferdinand Marcos regime and sentenced to death on trumped-up charges of inciting rebellion, illegally possessing arms and ammunition, and murdering a local mayor.e trial dominated world headlines for over two years until their case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.e Club also began its long association, which continues, with the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid.Founded by Sutherland Shire’s Dr Alan Watson, it is an interdenominational Christian organisation that provides aid for people irrespective of their race, colour or religion. A long-term Club member, Bill Buckley, was one of the early organisers of the Trust.During a visit in 1998 to the East African nation of Tanzania, Dr Watson saw that poverty was rife and education standards had fallen. Less than half of children started primary school, and only 4% went to secondary school.For more than 25 years, the Katoke Trust has been helping to build healthier and better-educated communities. It is working with local leaders on eective malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention programs and introducing vanilla growing as a cash crop for subsistence farmers.e Trust strengthens primary and secondary schooling with annual professional workshops for teachers. It has built a boarding secondary school to educate thousands of Tanzanians as a further step to tertiary studies and productive careers.An additional school for children of the semi-nomadic Maasai tribe is to enrol its rst students in 2024.e Tradies decided to outsource its catering division, often a signicant loss-maker. It also outsourced cleaning. e eect was immediate, with full-year savings estimated at $500,000.Rounding out the good news for 2001:• Membership was up 10% over the previous year to 22,519, with trade unionists more than half the number• Total members’ funds topped $20 million• Cash reserves were up 38% to $1.487 million• e club remained debt-free, and• An internet café was opened, with new tables, chairs, and magazine racks. Soothing sh tanks completed it.The Club sold its Lobster Pot Motel at North Haven, south of Port Macquarie, which helped fund modernisation at the Tradies. It also purchased three units at a new Federation of Workers Clubs motel at Urunga, near Cos Harbour.Club membership jumped by 20% in 2002 to more than 28,000, with more than 400 applications received each month.e Tradies had to apply to the NSW Licensing Court to lift its membership ceiling from 30,000 to 50,000 - something that would denitely not have been in the wildest dreams of the Club’s founders when it received its liquor licence in 1963. e Court granted the 50,000 members request on 30 January 2003.e Tradies continued works during 2002 to keep it the Shire’s best. A $2.6 million investment delivered:• A new Club façade on Manchester Road and Kingsway• A renewed Southern Cross Room• A new foyer, and• A long-needed new administration area.Updating Club air conditioning cost $650,000, while upgrading safety measures such as re escapes and safety doors to new government requirements cost $400,000.In 2002, the Club made two big building commitments: the long-planned and often delayed multi-level underground car park and a $300,000 renovation of its 20-year-old central kitchen.e $3.5 million three-level underground car park would provide 360 spaces, with 280 added to the existing 80.e April-September construction schedule soon ran into trouble when continuous rain turned excavations into a lake - delaying the project and blowing out the budget. So a change of direction - upwards, in fact - saw 65THE START OF A NEW CENTURY

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today’s multi-level, above-ground car park built.Keen-eyed members driving into it will notice the bottom level dips slightly below the surrounding area: that’s the extent of the excavation completed for the planned, abandoned, underground car park.e President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sharan Burrow, visited the Club to bring trade union members up to date on ACTU campaigns for pay equity, reasonable work hours and paid maternity leave in the following year.e Club donated almost $310,000 to community organisations, $50,000 more than required under ClubGRANTS schemes.e bottom line of the Tradies was adversely aected in 2006 by an agreement between clubs and the NSW Government on a tax rate of more than 49% on gross gaming revenue.Previously, this tax was paid on net prot, allowing the deduction of relevant operating costs before tax was paid.e Club had similar poker machine revenues in 2005 and 2006. But the new tax based on gross income cost it almost $470,000 more in 2006.Despite this, it remained healthy nancially with $38.6 million in members’ funds, cash at the bank of $11.4 million, and debt-free.Although it regarded 2006 as “a quiet year on the building front”, the Tradies spent more than $1.6 million on upgrading air conditioning and facilities.Importantly, it was spending $2 million to meet a new State government requirement that smoking only be allowed in areas dened as “out of doors.” ose facilities must be available from 2 July 2007.at new year saw work begin on one of the Tradies’ most ambitious and expensive developments.e $10 million investment delivered much of what greets members and visitors when they enter the Gymea club.An integral part of the design was for the Tradies to become an evacuation centre able to shelter 450 people rapidly. It can operate independently of public power and water supply systems for seven days.It also was Federal election time again in 2007, with Kevin Rudd-led Labor targeting the Howard Coalition Government’s WorkChoices policies, which aimed to strip many workers of their rights at work.Before the election, Member for Sydney Tanya Plibersek spoke to retired trade union members at the Tradies about proposals for a national identity card, Centrelink, aged care and other seniors-related issues. Another speaker was Jenny Macklin, who held ministerial responsibilities across the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard governments including families, housing, community services and Indigenous aairs between 2007 and 2013. She was also Minister for Disability Reform. e audience heard of the eects of the Howard government’s industrial relations laws on pensions, health, the emerging eld of elder law, and advice regarding nancial abuse of older people, including recognising and dealing with issues involving granny ats, powers of attorney, going guarantor “for the kids” loans versus gifts and family inheritances.e election emerged as a referendum on industrial relations. e Coalition government’s WorkChoices aimed to marginalise trade unions and industrial tribunals and to individualise employment conditions.Another signicant criticism of the government was that many low-income and small business employees would be hurt.Federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd campaigned at Westeld Miranda during the 2007 Federal election campaign. Labor defeated the John Howard Coalition Government and Rudd became the 26th Prime Minister of Australia. Leader66 THE START OF A NEW CENTURY

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Jenny Macklin, Club Director Bob Rogers and Tanya Plibersek at Tradies e Tradies’ Trade Union Sub-Committee mobilised to help a Sutherland Shire Your Rights at Work Community Group with a “Your Rights at Work are Worth Voting For” theme.Labor won office with 83 of the 150 House of Representatives seats, up 23 on the 2004 poll.Notably, Prime Minister John Howard’s loss of his seat of Bennelong - to Labor’s Maxine McKew - was only the second time such an event had occurred. e rst was in 1929, when Nationalist Prime Minister Stanley Bruce lost his seat of Flinders in Victoria to prominent trade unionist Ted Holloway.On 3 December, Kevin Rudd became the 10th Australian Labor Party leader to become Prime Minister. Labor’s Deputy Leader, Julia Gillard, became Australia’s rst female Deputy Prime Minister.Tanya Plibersek became the Minister for Housing and for the Status of Women.Late in 2007, the Tradies discovered the full eects on its bottom line of a year of strict anti-smoking restrictions and another big jump in State poker machine taxes.Its net operating prot dived from $2.059 million to $1.61 million. Competition in the leisure and gaming markets also aected the result.ese impacts continued the following year. Government gaming machine taxes and licence fees topped $5 million for the rst time - or more than 25% of the Tradies’ total revenue.On the positive side, membership topped 30,000, up 15,000 from 2000.e Club booked its speaker for its 2008 May Day function - the new Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese. 67THE START OF A NEW CENTURY

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e Tradies kept building for its members and its future. It spent $2.54 million on the Southern Cross smokers’ terrace and car park works.It invested $1.3 million to buy two adjoining properties, bringing the number it owned nearby to seven. e purchases recognised that its operations should not interfere unnecessarily with neighbours - and that investing in property was wise in the long term.More than $300,000 was spent to upgrade air conditioning and to add computerised control of sound and video systems.In one of the most signicant events in the Tradies’ history, its members and those of the Caringbah RSL Memorial Club decided in 2009 that their clubs should amalgamate.An RSL Club Director of that time said it was losing $60,000 a month, and there were concerns about its ability to pay large numbers of bills. ere had been overspending on building projects and a sizeable overall debt.Its Board had decided to investigate merger opportunities.It received three expressions of interest: from the Cronulla Sharks Rugby League Club, Cronulla RSL Club and the Tradies.e former RSL Club Director said the Board knew Sharks was facing its own nancial challenges. ey felt Cronulla RSL Club considered Caringbah RSL’s site an investment and resale opportunity.at left Tradies, but there was considerable opposition from RSL Club members concerned about involvement with a trade union club and its policy of unionist-only Board membership and voting rights being available only to union members.But as the RSL Club Director said, “We couldn’t trade our way out of it.”e merger went forward after the Tradies lodged a successful amalgamation application with the NSW Oce of Liquor, Gaming and Racing to transfer the Caringbah RSL’s club licence to it.e formal amalgamation of the clubs took place on 19 March 2009.e Tradies quickly implemented a program to improve the Caringbah RSL Club’s facilities and protability.With total Tradies members’ funds up $2.239 million to $41.88 million, another two investment properties EXPANSIONe original Caringbah RSL façade, prior to amalgamation68 EXPANSION

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e merger with Caringbah RSL Club was quickly followed by a major upgrading investmentwere purchased, in Manchester Road and on Kingsway, for $1.170 million. e Club continued its nancial support of a broad range of community organisations, but a particular focus in the year was on organisations helping people in need.ese included:Amelie House Women’s Shelter, Cronulla Rotary, Sutherland Shire Information and Community Services Inc, Gymea Community Aid and Information Services Inc, Sutherland Shire Suicide Safety Network, Sutherland Family Service Inc, Sutherland Shire Learning Difficulties Support Group, Bundeena Maianbar Playtime, Jannali PS P&C Association Before and After School Care, Learning Links, Margaret House Respite Care, Miranda Salvation Army, Miranda Lifeline, Sutherland Community Welfare and Sutherland Older Women’s Health Service.As ever, the Club continued its program of updating its facilities - this time with Caringbah Tradies involved.Caringbah was refurbished at all levels and got a new coee shop. e former administration level on the top oor, with its ne views over Botany Bay, was opened for all members’ use for the rst time. It is now a popular function centre.Gymea also got a new western entry and smoking and non-smoking gaming areas.A long-time staple at Cronulla Leagues Club, the King Wan Chinese restaurant, openedat Tradies Gymea in March. In addition to the menu that Shire residents had appreciated for years, Club members could enjoy yum cha on weekends.A snapshot of the Tradies at the end of its 2009 nancial year showed:• 32,500 members• Total members’ funds topping $50 million for the rst time - $50,348,477• Ownership of 12 properties, including Tradies Caringbah, valued at $6 million• Poker machine licence fees and taxes paid of $5,878,516• Almost $10 million in cash reserves• More than $500,000 donated to community organisations, and• 170 highly trained and motivated sta.e Sutherland District Trade Union Club in 2010 celebrated in style the 50th anniversary of its registration as a business.(To simplify things, the Club marks its signicant anniversaries from when it received its licence to sell liquor and began trading as a business in August 1963. at’s why the Tradies’ 60th is marked this year, 2023). 69EXPANSION

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As part of the 2010 celebrations, the Tradies had visits from two ground-breaking Labor woman leaders.In July, only weeks after she became Australia’s rst woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard was guest of honour at a celebratory dinner attended by 400 people. Ms Gillard was Prime Minister until 2013. Later in the year, the rst woman New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally, joined celebrations at the Club that marked the 50th anniversary of its rst Board meeting. More than 6000 people took part in the 2010 Tradies Relay for Life, with the community raising almost $500,000. It continued to help fund ground-breaking cancer research projects, patient and career support and cancer prevention programs.e Tradies also proudly continued supporting the Sutherland Shire Schools Music Festival, which celebrated its 40th anniversary.As Andrew Hewitt, the Festival’s President, commented: “e festival highlights the creative and performing talents of some 4500 Sutherland Shire primary school students and their teachers and is a great example of what public education has to oer!”To ensure being able to use computers did not leave behind local older people, particularly with the Internet and digital communications, volunteer Tradies sta oered a free Internet kiosk service, Broadband for Seniors, at Tradies Gymea.It helped older members to learn about computers and gave them the condence to go online.It was hands across the border when a fundraising dinner e rst woman Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, visited the Tradies soon after she was elected in 2010. She is pictured with Club Life Members former Senator Arthur and Dawn Gietzelt. LeaderJulia Gillard, Australia's rst female Prime Minister, with Tradies sta just weeks after her election in 2010. LeaderNSW’s rst woman Premier, Kristina Keneally, visited the Tradies in 201070 EXPANSION

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was held at the Club in February to raise money for Queenslanders aected by devastating oods in late 2010 and early 2011.ree months of rain inundated 75% of the state.e terrible toll was 33 lives lost with three bodies never recovered, 5900 people evacuated from their homes, 28,000 homes lost and 28% of Queensland’s rail network badly damaged. Insurers estimated losses at $2.38 billion.One of the largest-ever gatherings at the Tradies saw $50,000 raised, including a $10,000 contribution from the Club.An independent assessment of the Club’s property valued its land at $5.6 million and its buildings at $28.8 million.Its core properties were 57 Manchester Road, Gymea and 28 Banksia Road, Caringbah, the sites of Tradies Gymea and Tradies Caringbah.Its non-core properties, which adjoined the Tradies Gymea site, were 2,4,5 and 8 Lancashire Place, Gymea; 4/49, 2/49 and 55 Manchester Road, Gymea; 677 Kingsway, Gymea; and 38 Marion Street, Gymea. Tradies Helensburgh was still a few years away.ere were more than six months of negotiations in 2010-11 about a possible amalgamation between the Shire’s iconic clubs, the Tradies and the Sharkies, the Cronulla-Sutherland Leagues Club.Sharkies, which had 18,000 members, was $12 million in debt to St George Bank - although it had turned operations around to be in the black as a cash business.e bank had placed an annual $250,000 ceiling on football club spending, including player payments, signicantly aecting its on-eld competitiveness.Amalgamation with another nancially sound club, such as the Tradies, which had just posted a $4.2 million prot and with a big Sharkies following amongst its 35,000 members, was the Sharks’ preferred way forward.The Tradies agreed to conduct a due diligence examination of the Sharks’ assets and liabilities to help decide whether it should consider the merger proposal.e front page of the 24 February 2011 St George and Sutherland Shire Leader carried news of the Sharks’ members’ approval of the large-scale development of their property. It also suggested it “would add impetus” to the clubs’ merger discussions.“If approved,” the Leader reported under a picture of e Super Club that wasn’t to be, 2011 71EXPANSION

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the Sharks’ chairman Damian Irvine and captain Paul Gallen, “such a union with Tradies would result in a club with more than 50,000 members, carrying both the Sharks and Tradies names.“e Tradies would then run the activities of their licensed club, thus cutting the Sharks’ operating costs and allowing it to focus more on football club activities.”After consideration by its Board a month later, the Tradies decided not to proceed.It decided it could not accept the Sharks’ requirements that the Tradies assume its $12 million bank debt and provide $2 million yearly in football club funding.Additionally, an independent expert’s inspection commissioned by the Tradies of the Sharks’ club building estimated that the Tradies would need to spend some $4 million on it.As a Tradies Director at the time noted: “If we’d gone ahead, it would have sunk the mother ship.”e Sharks continues its large-scale commercial and residential development on the 10 hectares surrounding its football stadium on Captain Cook Drive at Woolooware.e year was challenging economically in Australia, but despite this, the Tradies had a $4.6 million prot, up from $2.8 million the previous year and the highest in its history. e $480,000 contribution from Tradies Caringbah was notable - the result of three years of concentrated work.e Club’s retained prots at the end of its nancial year were $5.87 million.At the same time, its $15 million investment in enhanced facilities for members continued. It included an expanded car park, a new entrance, an indoor/outdoor café, a day spa and improved gaming facilities.A new coee shop was designed and built at Tradies Gymea to provide facilities for the growing number of mobile workers who worked away from their employer’s oce or home. e upgrade oered high-speed internet connections and printing, copying and faxing.Also in the works at Gymea were new homes for darts, bridge, indoor bowls and other sub-clubs, while a new function room would become available.When Club President Graham Hill announced he would be stepping down after a remarkable 47 years of service - 14 years as a Director, followed by 33 years as President - he described his decision as one of “some/much angst!“My life as both a Director and President was a pretty busy one. However, it had more good times than bad. I’m forever thankful for the support from the membership in not only re-electing me over such a long period but the friendliness, cooperation and support I received were outstanding and rewarding.“I publicly thank my wife Dianne for her support and tolerance. Let me assure you being married to a Director or President is no mean task! Many hours of sitting at home alone or looking after the kids/grandkids alone! Attending functions with your partner, sometimes in which you have no real interest!”Graham thanked his fellow Directors, Club Chief Executive Ocer Tim McAleer and all Tradies sta for their exceptional support.His successor from 2011 as Tradies’ President was Club Vice President Dennis McHugh, who remains in the position.e garden eect foyer welcoming visitors to Tradies Gymea was opened in 201272 EXPANSION

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In 2012, the Tradies once again set records for nancial, community, employment and industry performance - some in areas of emerging community expectation.It became the rst club in Australia to be recognised as an Employer of Choice for Women by the Australian Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. It was a milestone for the Tradies and the clubs industry.e Tradies was committed to helping deliver to the men and women of its sta the ability to balance work, families and education as they worked towards their personal goals.e Club recognised and pursued greater expectations of businesses contributing to better environmental management.It instigated an iPromise campaign, aiming to be the most sustainable club in Sutherland Shire. It invested in gas chillers, light emitting diode (LED) lighting and a food waste recycling system.is program saw the Tradies awarded Silver in the NSW Government Sustainability Advantage Scheme.e Club set three records in 2012: Prot reached $4.6 million, membership hit 42,500, and the club donated more than $500,000 to community groups.Additionally, four years after amalgamation with Caringbah RSL, Tradies Caringbah returned a prot of $762,000; an extra deck of the Gymea car park aimed to deliver 120 spaces; and a survey of members encouraged the Board to assess the viability of providing members Tradies-operated independent living units.Other clubs regularly visited the Tradies to observe how it operated successfully and to learn from it. ey found it followed a Corporate Social Responsibility model - a commitment to a sustainable business - of being nancially protable and committed to a sustainable community and environment.is so-called triple bottom line meant that nancially, the Tradies delivered quality products and services (to a record membership), minimised environmental impact, and positively beneted the community (more than $500,000 distributed to community groups in the year).New partnerships began with Child Flight in Sydney and Siriwo School in Kenya. Of the Tradies sta at the time, 160 donated one hour of their pay, which funded a year of lunches for Siriwo students.Former Club President Graham Hill received the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community of the Sutherland district.Speaking toEducation, the journal of the NSW Public School Teachers Federation (of which he was also a Life Member), Graham was asked about the role of the Tradies:“ ‘We set out to achieve a club that would benet the community, and we’re certainly doing that more than any other club in the Shire’, Graham says of the club’s support of groups that need assistance. ese included victims of domestic violence, retirees or people who had lost their income.”Education also reported that while Graham’s contribution to the broader community through the Tradies had been immense, he has also worked tirelessly on behalf of teachers and students for decades. His association with the Teachers Federation dated back to 1956 when he was a trainee teacher at Bathurst Teachers College. After that, he taught at Broken Hill North Public School.“Graham moved to the Shire in 1961. He was the Teachers Federation representative at Bundeena and Laguna Street schools and President of the Sutherland Teachers Association. He was an organiser for the Federation for 30 years until he retired in 1997.”e Tradies again reached beyond the borders of Sutherland Shire in 2013, launching a program to build, furnish and provide resources for a primary school at Kauk Prech in Cambodia, one of the world’s poorest nations.MORE MILESTONESA visit to Kauk Prech, Cambodia 73MORE MILESTONES

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Kauk Prech is a typical village on the border of Cambodia and ailand: rural, poor and with very little industry or prospects. Most villagers have at least one family member who illegally crossed ailand to seek work. As a result, many are exploited, and some never return.e Club’s help accepted that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and helping young people attain a better future for themselves, their villages and their country.Since the program started in 2013, the Club raised over $577,000 for Kauk Prech. e school building was nished in October 2015 and had more than 100 children enrolled for 2016, almost double the previous year.Voluntary Tradies sta donations totalling $200 a week enabled the school to employ a third teacher and supplement teachers’ salaries, so they did not need second jobs.Back at home, the Club returned a $6.2m prot for the year.ere was greater convenience for members, with the additional car park oor delivering another 120 spaces - complete with a lift to make it a little easier to get to and from the Club.e Tradies became one of the rst clubs to appoint a sustainability managerto cut its environmental impact. Invitations soon followed to address industry conferences on sustainability and waste reduction initiatives.One of the rst nine members of the Tradies and a widely School’s in at Kauk Prech, Cambodia, along with visiting Tradies helpersDoing something concrete at Kauk Prech Cambodia 201674 MORE MILESTONES

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inuential, sometimes controversial Australian political gure, Arthur Gietzelt, died on 5 January 2014. He was 94.A Senator for NSW from 1971 to 1989 and the Minister for Veterans Aairs from 1983 to 1987 in the Hawke Government, Gietzelt was also highly inuential in shaping Sutherland Shire.As the Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate recorded:“Gietzelt became interested in local government after a conict with Sutherland Shire Council in 1946 over land that he and his wife had purchased for residential purposes and that the council rezoned for industrial use. e Gietzelts organised a local progress association and succeeded in having the ruling reversed.“Elected to the Sutherland Shire Council in 1956… Gietzelt was a strong supporter of environmental and conservation causes, protecting the Royal National Park from development and halting the reclamation of Botany Bay for refuse disposal when its impact on aquaculture was made known.”Australia’s present Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was one of the speakers who paid tribute to Arthur Gietzelt at the State Memorial Service held to honour him on 6 February 2014. Read the speech via the top right QR code.For the Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate’s record of Arthur Gietzelt’s contribution to Australia, follow the bottom right QR code.A record prot of $7.7m, up 19% over 2013, supported the jobs of 200 people at Tradies. ey delivered exceptional service and facilities to its 50,000 members and their guests.MORE INFOMORE INFOA tribute to Arthur Gietzelt was held at the Tradies. From left, Tradies President Dennis McHugh, then Shadow Cabinet Minister (now Prime Minister) Anthony Albanese, Club Director Bob Sharkey, former NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt and Club Director Bob Rogers 75MORE MILESTONES

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As part of the Club’s business growth strategy, Tradies in 2015 negotiated an amalgamation with the Helensburgh Workers Club, which was in administration, as long-term investments in both its future and the Helensburgh community. Helensburgh was very much a coal mining town in 1896 when the then Helensburgh and Lilyvale Workmens Club opened.e oldest workmen’s club in the Illawarra had something very much in common with the Tradies’ early days. Beer problems.Illawarra historian Mick Roberts said the Workmens Club originated in a dispute over beer prices with the town’s two publicans.e earliest days of the Tradies, some 70 years later, had an eerie parallel to the opening of the Helensburgh club. e village’s two pubs were tied to the State’s largest brewers, Tooths and Tooheys - and both refused to supply the club with beer.Just as the Tradies shut out by Tooth and Tooheys in the 1960s found a sympathetic smaller brewer, Millers, the Helensburgh club members had their vital supplies come from Marshall Brothers Brewery on the corner of Oxford and Dowling Streets in Paddington.Roberts reports that Workmen’s Club beer arrived by rail. Six members worked in relays to carry the rst casks in a steel-wheeled barrow from the old Helensburgh railway station to the clubhouse.In 2008, the Helensburgh Workers’ Sports and Social Club began a new chapter as it moved into its new $5.5 million premises.It was acknowledged as a brave move when many clubs, “were struggling for revenue due to changes to smoking laws and increased poker machine taxes.”Sadly, those concerns were accurate. Less than a year later, the new club entered voluntary administration after recording a net loss of almost $2 million. Bar and poker machine revenue had dropped by nearly 25%.WELCOME TO HELENSBURGHabove left: e Helensburgh Workers Social Literary Club when it opened in 1896. Apparently a library was required for a license to sell alcoholic drinks. above right: Where the beer’s journey began from Helensburgh station. Helensburgh Historical SocietyWorkers at the Metropolitan Mine were the rst members of the Helensburgh Workers Club. Helensburgh Historical Society76 WELCOME TO HELENSBURGH

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e club owed money to the builder of its new premises, the Australian Tax Oce, its bank and other creditors.e Administrator appointed to manage its aairs told members that if it could not trade its way out of its diculties, it would explore amalgamating with another club “so that there still is the facility in Helensburgh.” If not, it may be forced to close.e Tradies amalgamated with the Helensburgh Workers Club in February 2015.It immediately invested $2.5 million in what became Tradies Helensburgh with new children’s facilities, a new café, and updates to indoor and outdoor dining areas and the gaming room. Over the years, the Tradies has also considered but did not proceed with ventures to re-establish Bundeena RSL Memorial Club after a re destroyed it in 2015 and with Coledale RSL Club, which had been aected by trading downturns.Happily, Bundeena partnered with Cabramatta Bowling Club to rebuild, while Coledale RSL Club volunteers have banded to open it to its community again.Tradies Caringbah also upgraded by redeveloping indoor and outdoor gaming and events facilities.Not missing out, extensive upgrades began at Tradies Gymea, with a new members’ car wash (which operated until 2017), while work began on completely renovating the club’s dining options and children’s play area.More than $500,000 from the Club assisted more than 100 local organisations.A Tradies Schools for Cambodia fundraiser held in August 2014 raised an extraordinary $100,000. e funds went to a school building at Kauk Prech, providing clean drinking water for students and educational training.Groups of Tradies volunteers travelled to Cambodia in 2015 to help deliver the project.e Tradies launched its iPromise programs to promote environmental change and sustainable development within the Club’s communities and further aeld.is award-winning grant program provides nancial assistance to help schools, community organisations, and businesses implement sustainability projects.By 2023, the Tradies has provided almost $180,000 to help fund 80 sustainability projects across NSW and one in Western Australia. ese include bushland regeneration, school vegetable gardens and chicken coops, composting programs, sustainable irrigation systems, solar panels and energy eciency initiatives. e four-yearly NSW State election was held in March 2015, with the traditional ALP launches of its campaigns for local seats held at the Tradies at Gymea.Future Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who held several Shadow Ministries in the Federal Opposition led by Bill Shorten, was there for the event.In September 2015, the Club, the Australian Labor Party and many community organisations joined her family in mourning the passing of the redoubtable Dawn Gietzelt, who was a Foundation and Life Member of the Tradies. Half of the dynamic Gietzelt duo with her husband Arthur (NSW Senator, Sutherland Shire President and Tradies Founding and Life Member), who predeceased her in 2014, Dawn left her mark at many levels in Australian politics.As a Foundation Member of the Tradies, she joined it in August 1961. At an event at the Club in May 1994, she and Arthur were invested with Life Membership of the Australian Labor Party by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.Each was also made a Life Member of the Tradies.An extensive obituary published in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that she may have learned the value of being in a union at her rst job, at a factory painting boards for tanks and planes during World War II. ere were also heated battles over work and pay conditions.Read the Herald obituary via the QR code.MORE INFOTradies Helensburgh in 2023 77WELCOME TO HELENSBURGH

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In its rst year of trading as a three-location business, the Tradies’ prot was $9.2 million. e result included $2.1 million from Tradies Caringbah and, in its rst post-amalgamation year, $230,000 from Tradies Helensburgh.Membership grew to 54,307.Tradies volunteers again donated their time to twice visit the Cambodian village of Kauk Prech. Its school was completed in mid-2015.e impact on the village and the Tradies’ team was phenomenal. Club sta commented: “e overwhelming feeling among those who visited Cambodia was that the villagers and students gave us so much more than we gave them.“eir kindness, spirit and attitude to life have been a gift to us all.”Since the school opened, enrolments more than doubled. Future fundraising would focus on building a middle school and a small industry that would help allow some parents to work locally rather than migrate to ailand for employment.e Tradies continued to recognise the importance of its sta by investing in their development. In addition to $350,000 spent on training and education, the Club also invested in their emotional well-being through new mental health and employee assistance programs.In 2016, the Tradies lamented the death of Graham Hill, who had served it and its members extraordinarily for almost 50 years as a Director and as President.At the remembrance of his life after his sudden death, his successor as the Tradies’ President, Dennis McHugh, described him as a man who gave his whole life to supporting people and community in multiple areas of public life, and particularly in Sutherland Shire. “Graham was a foundation member of the Tradies,” Dennissaid, “a Director for 47 years, President from 1979 until his retirement in 2011 and a Life Member. He was a highly valued supporter of so many community and sporting groups, along with his long term, highly skilful role as a trade union ocial. “With the Club’s other foundation members, Graham saw a need for a meeting place where unionists could discuss political and social issues and then act for the good of the community. “As a young teacher, he joined the NSW Teachers Federation. Teaching locally, he joined the Sutherland District Trade Union Club in 1961 - before it began operating officially. Graham became a Teachers Federation Area Representative and pursued this career to engender high standards for teachers and pupils within the Shire and the State. “Additionally, Graham was a keen supporter of sporting bodies, in particular the Elouera Surf Life Saving Club. “His very important contributions over a very long period helped lay the foundations for Tradies and its continued success. “Graham was a man of integrity and had respect for all and his actions gained him widespread community respect. is respect was formally recognised with him being awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to the community,” Dennis said.In paying his and the Tradies’ deepest condolences to Graham’s wife Dianne and family, Dennis said it was an honour to have known and worked closely with him. e Tradies welcomed a new Group General Manager, Jason McMaster, in 2017. He had worked his way up through the Club’s ranks, having begun as a front-line above left: Graham Hill with wife, Dianne, at the opening of the Tradies Gymea West Wing in 2012. above right: Group General Manager Jason McMaster78 WELCOME TO HELENSBURGH

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sta member in 1997.He became a Team Leader, then a Duty Manager by 2002. Jason later was a manager in Beverage and Operations at each of the Tradies’ three venues and then in Sustainability.e Club was strongly protable across Gymea, Caringbah and Helensburgh, recording a $6.99 million result. In addition, it made grants of more than $900,000 to community organisations.An important new community link began in 2018 between the Tradies and the Clontarf Foundation’s Academy at Endeavour Sports High School.e Foundation successfully targets one of the most at-risk groups in present-day Australian society – young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men.Since opening its rst Academy for 25 boys in 2000, the Foundation has helped more than 10,000 boys in 149 schools across Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.It initially uses the boys’ existing passion for sport to attract them to school - and to keep them coming. However, the Foundation’s approach is not a sporting program: it develops the values, skills and abilities to help the boys move into meaningful employment and achieve better life outcomes.e Foundation’s rst Academy in metropolitan Sydney opened in 2015 at Endeavour Sports High School, Caringbah.To further develop the relationship with the Clontarf Foundation, in 2019 a group of Tradies sta journeyed to Central Australia with young Indigenous men. ey saw the work the Foundation delivered in Alice Springs and gained a deeper knowledge of Indigenous culture. In recognition of its importance, the Aboriginal ag has since own alongside the Australian ag at Tradies Gymea. Plaques recognise Indigenous Australia at the Tradies’ Caringbah and Helensburgh clubs.Community groups received more than $1 million from the Tradies in 2019.e Board foreshadowed further investment at Tradies Caringbah to meet greater competition from more nearby venues and overcome issues with parking. It also had a distinctly green character.Working with an architect firmly committed to enhancing environmental performance, the Tradies received Sutherland Shire Council approval for worksdesigned to deliver the Club’s coveted green star rating by minimising environmental impact.Works were to begin in 2020, in parallel with a signicant expansion of Tradies Helensburgh’s rooftop solar installation.Brendan O’Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Australian Services Union, and Jo Schoeld, National Secretary of United Voice, spoke at a 2018 rally at Tradies protesting an attack on penalty rates. O’Connor is now Federal Minister for Skills and TrainingA new relationship begins in 2018 - the Tradies and the Clontarf Academy at Endeavour High SchoolTradies and Clontarf Academy group at Black Tank, Northern Territory, 2019 79WELCOME TO HELENSBURGH

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2020 began as usual, with most Tradies members enjoying laid-back family summer holidays. Also, as usual, that faded at the end of January into a return to business-as-usual for the year.During those sunny days, virtually no one had heard of the Coronavirus COVID-19. But health experts and authorities internationally had quickly become aware of it after the rst human cases of COVID-19 were identied in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.e World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic - a disease prevalent worldwide - on 11 March.Australia’s rst case, a man who had arrived in Melbourne from Wuhan on 19 January, was announced by authorities on 25 January.It was the start of a change that changed everything. In Australia, COVID-19 had infected almost 11,750,000 people up to the end of September 2023, with 22,800 deaths. Internationally, the WHO’s grim numbers to the end of September were 770.87 million conrmed cases and almost 7 million deaths.Highly transmissible and able to mutate quickly to avoid vaccines designed to kill it, the coronavirus threw out great response challenges, including lockdowns, to the government broadly, health authorities, businesses and individuals, the Tradies amongst them. e most drastic containment intervention was stay-at-home orders.All Tradies clubs were closed in 2020 for 10 weeks by a government-mandated lockdown. In 2021, Tradies was closed for another 16 weeks by another government-ordered COVID lockdown.It was a quick, unanimous decision by the Tradies Directors in these unique circumstances that its employees, whom it recognises as a crucial part of its continuing success, would come rst, no matter the cost to protability.More than 180 Tradies permanent and casual employees had all their wages and entitlements honoured by the Club. It later delivered a promised 3% pay rise.Along with the broader community, the Tradies had to adapt to the intensely challenging conditions of the COVID pandemic. ese included closures, restrictions, reduced operating capacity, COVID marshals, increased costs and a broader community downturn in consumer condence.THE COVID-19 YEARSe coronavirus 2019, COVID-19Remote meetings were just one of the COVID-driven changes at the Tradies 81THE COVID-19 YEARS

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But it also decided to remain committed to community organisations it supported: $775,000 was distributed to them in 2020 and $575,000 in 2021.Tradies became the primary sponsor in 2021 of one of southern Sydney’s biggest community events, the 11 km fun run and walk Sutherland 2 Surf, which was celebrating its 50th year.Unfortunately, COVID sidelined what would have been a landmark event.But in 2022, more than 4000 people of all ages took part to raise funds for Wanda Surf Life Saving Club.Media afterwards reported Tradies President Dennis McHugh claiming to have covered the course faster than winner Joshua Johnson - but also conding to the reporter: “I did beat the winner, but I did it in a car.”Closing 2022, the Tradies reported a year of operating against a background of complex issues: lingering COVID-19 eects, sta shortages and steep energy price rises.Tradies Helensburgh was especially hard hit by sta shortages, with its bistro forced to close for several months. Food trucks at the Club were among the alternatives for members until it could recruit a new caterer.But the Tradies’ continuing focus on sta, members and the community again delivered a strong performance.e Club’s operational result was almost $6.5 million. Again, its most considerable expense was poker machine licences and taxes, paid to the State government, at $8.324 million. Donations to community and sporting organisations totalled $834,000.e end of the Tradies’ 2021-22 nancial year also saw the ending of the most extraordinary contribution to the Club: the unbroken 55-year commitment as a Director by Bob Sharkey. He did not seek re-election.Bob was made a Life Member of the Tradies in 1977. He retired from the Board in 2022 after 55 years of service and 58 years as a Club member.Michael Forshaw, a Tradies Life Member and a former Senator for NSW for 17 years, lled the Board vacancy. Forshaw was initially appointed to the Senate after the departure of Senator Graham Richardson in 1994 and was re-elected for a further two terms.Tradies Sutherland 2 Surf 2023. Leaderleft to right: e welcoming smile was still there in COVID times. e signature COVID-safe elbow bump. Putting the freeze on COVID. Refreshing and COVID-safe82 THE COVID-19 YEARS

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Before his terms in the Senate, Forshaw’s 18-year career with the Australian Workers Union included serving as its General Secretary between 1991 and 1994.It was federal election time again on 21 May 2022.Although the sitting Coalition government faced signicant challenges in getting re-elected, there was a huge task ahead for Labor’s candidate, Simon Earle, if he were to unseat Prime Minister Scott Morrison from the Shire seat of Cook.e Liberal-National Party Coalition was in trouble well before the election.The Liberal Party’s own review after its loss of government emphasised that in the 12 months before the election, “there was a loss of political capital and an accumulation of negative issues impacting on the government, including:• e demands of managing the (COVID) pandemic and the consequent loss of political focus• Allegations of the poor treatment of, and attitude toward, women within the Government and the Party and by associated gures, and• Examples of scandal, disunity and instability within the Government.”The Liberal Party’s review noted for success, a parliamentary team “needs to demonstrate competence (in political management, as well as governing), unity and a real hunger to win…“e Australian Labor Party had that hunger prior to the 2022 election. For the last two elections, our team only exhibited real discipline just prior to the campaign. Importantly also was the sophistication, resourcing and co-ordination of our opponents which allowed them to exploit these problems.”Labor, led by Anthony Albanese, won 77 seats in the House of Representatives, giving it an absolute majority of one seat. e two-party preferred result was a 52.13% margin to Labor.In the seat of Cook, Simon Earle and his campaign team produced a 6.58% two-party-preferred swing against the sitting Prime Minister. After the loss of government, Morrison resigned from the Prime Ministership and, at the time of writing, was the backbench Member for Cook.Bob Sharkey (fth from right) with fellow Tradies Directors in 2022, his nal year on the Club BoardBob Sharkey, left, with Club President Dennis McHugh, at a retirement dinner marking his 55 years service as a Tradies DirectorFormer Senator for NSW Michael Forshaw joined the Tradies Board in 2023. He is pictured in earlier days safekeeping the rae tickets at a Labor Party fundraiser, with Prime Minister Bob Hawke and, seated, Senator John Faulkner 83THE COVID-19 YEARS

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Coin-operated “Liberty Bell” gaming machines, invented by Charles Fey, rst appeared in San Francisco in 1894. Dubbed ‘slot machines’ by the locals, their popularity spread quickly through the city’s saloons and bars.Gaming machines were introduced in Australia soon after they became popular in the United States, but it was not until 1956 that NSW became the rst Australian state to permit the use of poker machines in registered clubs legally.Before then, ‘fruit machines’ - so-called because their wheels showed pictures of fruit - were relatively popular in NSW. Poker machines, which had images of playing cards on their wheels, were also available but banned.Poker machines were so popular despite the ban that the owner of a small dental supplies and equipment-making company, Len Ainsworth, saw an opportunity. In 1953, he founded Aristocrat Leisure Limited, now global and the world’s second-largest gaming machine manufacturer.With the 1956 NSW legislation, NSW clubs - local community hubs delivering facilities coming either slowly or not at all from government - embraced the popular machines.ey helped raise revenue to subsidise club activities like restaurants, entertainment, sporting clubs and facilities. e public and club members quickly came to expect that GAMINGToday’s electronic gaming machines cost around $50,000 eachere are seperate indoor and outdoor areas (like this) for gaming machines at each Tradies Club84 GAMING

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their clubs would provide services at a subsidised rate.In 1963, the newly-founded Sutherland District Trade Union Club applied to the State government for a gaming licence. It cost 400 pounds.Armed with the required licence, the Tradies’ Board bought eight poker machines: ve one-shilling machines with three reels, one one-shilling machine with four reels, one sixpenny machine with three reels and one sixpenny machine with four reels.Over the years, the Tradies continued to purchase machines in response to member demand.The revenue they generate helps subsidise club facilities and services and to fund support for external organisations.After the amalgamations with Caringbah RSL (now Tradies Caringbah) and Helensburgh Workers (now Tradies Helensburgh), the Tradies now has some 400 electronic gaming machines, or EGMs as they are now ocially labelled.e rst eight machine licence fees to the State government might have been 400 pounds, but the cost of those government licences has signicantly increased over the years.A single poker machine licence, or entitlement by its ocial title, costs more than $50,000. In addition, a new machine, with its hardware and software, costs $30,000.As well as the electronic gaming machine entitlement fees, the Tradies also pays annual gaming taxes to the State government.From 2009 to 2022, the Club paid over $100 million in government gaming taxes and licence fees, a signicant contribution to NSW’s nances.e Tradies also participates in the ClubGRANTS scheme, which provides nancial and in-kind support to charities, sporting organisations and not-for-prot community groups. Tradies contributions through this scheme, some $10 million since 2000, are covered elsewhere in this book. above left: In 1963, the Board decided to buy eight pokies like this early Aristocrat machine. Aristocrat above right: e Queen of the Nile was a new era in its time 85GAMING

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While Tradies is aware of the benets gaming can deliver, it is highly aware of its potential negatives. It is committed to oering its gaming services responsibly.All sta involved with gaming must have a responsible conduct of gaming (RCG) certicate.RCG certicate training is a nationally accredited course. It equips the Tradies’ gaming sta with practical skills to identify and, when necessary, to intervene when patrons show signs of problematic gambling behaviour.It enables the Tradies’ sta to:• Provide responsible gambling services to customers• Promote safety (harm minimisation) in venues where there are gaming machines• Recognise gambling problems and addiction• Follow legal and organisational procedures, and• Stay up-to-date with the latest gambling laws.As part of its commitment, the Tradies also provides these services at no cost to members and patrons:• Counselling. Access to BetSafe, a comprehensive 24-hour counselling service. Its experienced counsellors provide free assistance through face-to-face and over-the-phone help. BetSafe is one of the few counselling services in NSW to oer face-to-face appointments during and outside of business hours (evenings and weekends). It also does not limit the number of free sessions it provides. It will do everything possible to help people overcome gambling-related problems• Self-exclusion. is allows a problem gambler to remove the temptation to gamble by restricting their access to gambling• Help for family members. Tradies is also one of the few venues in NSW to have formal procedures for ird Party Exclusions. Tradies can arrange to have a problem gambler excluded from gambling if a family member can provide evidence to support their claims. e counsellors at BetSafe can help family members to arrange a ird-Party Exclusion, and• Voluntary pre-commitment. Tradies oers members the option to restrict their gaming machine expenditure with a voluntary pre-commitment. A patron can set a maximum limit on losses - xed before play begins. It can be arranged simply by speaking with a Tradies sta member.By implementing these comprehensive policies and management procedures, the Tradies ensures it satises its legislative requirements and any community concerns around gambling services.e Tradies also requires its Directors and anyone wishing to stand for its Board to complete the State government’s Responsible Conduct of Gaming course and its Responsible Service of Alcohol course.en and now - Licensed Clubs value in Sutherland Shiree estimated value of licensed clubs in Sutherland Shire was rst reported in 1981 by the then Federal Member for Hughes, Les Johnson, in his regular column in the Tradies’Club News.The 2022 estimates were supplied by ClubsNSW.FY 1981 Sutherland Shire Licensed Clubs Estimated ValuesAssets $10,000,000Wages $5,830,000Gaming Tax $2,920,000Total Revenue $22,000,000Number of Clubs 26ClubsNSW’s 2022 numbers make these assumptions:• Increased reliance on gaming revenue due to continuing labour shortages and COVID-19 compliance regulations• As a result of the market environment in 2022, other club-based revenue streams were stied (restaurants, hotels, live events), and• Aggressive interest rate hikes have placed downward pressure on asset prices.ClubsNSW also cautioned that its gures were collated from a small sample size of Sutherland Shire clubs and were extrapolated using multipliers.FY2022 Sutherland Shire Licensed Clubs Estimated ValueAssets$775,518,100.00Wages $55,678,222.56Gaming Tax $16,404,692.35Total Income $17,896,572Total Revenue $198,850,795Number of ClubsNSW Member Clubs25Non-member Clubs 186 GAMING

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As 2023 began, the year’s most important event for the Australian Labor Party, union members and their supporters was the NSW election scheduled for 24 March.ey rmly believed Labor had the best chance in a long time of ending 12 years of Liberal Party-National Party Coalition government.A campaign launch for local seats was held at the Tradies.NSW Labor Leader and Member for Kogarah, Chris Minns, and Member for Rockdale, Steve Kamper, led the support for Legislative Council hopeful Sarah Kaine and local Labor candidates Paul Constance (Cronulla), Simon Earle (Miranda), Maryanne Stuart (Heathcote) and Mick Maroney (Holsworthy).It was tense at the Tradies on election night when it was becoming obvious there was a considerable swing against the Coalition government - and there were questions about who might - in some cases, defy the odds and - win for Labor.e rst Labor government in 12 years was elected in NSW, ending the longest term of Coalition government in the State’s history.e election of the Minns government made it only the second time that the ALP governed in all of the Australian mainland States. Only Tasmania had a Liberal government.Maryanne Stuart became the Member for Heathcote, with her hard work helped by an electoral redistribution. TRADIES’ 60TH YEARAt election fundraiser Tradies Gymea - from left: Member for Rockdale Steve Kamper, Heathcote ALP candidate Maryanne Stuart, NSW Labor Leader and Member for Kogarah Chris Minns, Labor candidate for Miranda Simon Earle, Legislative Council candidate Sarah Kaine, Tradies President Dennis McHugh and Tradies Group General Manager Jason McMaster.above left: Miranda candidate Simon Earle and NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns. above middle: Guests at campaign fundraiser dinner. above right: Chris Minns, now NSW Premier, addressing the dinner 87TRADIES’ 60TH YEAR

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Paul Constance in Cronulla could not whittle back now-Opposition Leader Mark Speakman’s majority enough, but he cut his margin by 9.34%.Simon Earle had a long wait in Miranda. Sitting MP Eleni Petinos had a seemingly unbeatable 14.6% margin, but that was slashed to just 2.3% when counting ended. It took postal and absentee votes to get her over the line.Mick Maroney, collecting a 5.6% swing, missed by just over 300 votes in Holsworthy, while Sarah Kaine won a seat in the Legislative Council.Chris Minns became Premier for the next four years. e Party had won 45 seats, just short of an absolute majority, but it had the support of e Greens and Independents in the Legislative Assembly to govern.New Premier Minns’ fellow visitor to Tradies for the local campaign launch, Steve Kamper, became responsible for Small Business, Lands and Property, Multiculturalism, and Sport ministries.As ever, the Anzac Day Dawn Service on 25 April was observed solemnly by a large gathering at the Cenotaph at Caringbah. Afterwards, many who gathered to remember moved to Tradies Caringbah where a light breakfast was served for them.top left: Another tense moment during the 2023 election night count. Emma Goodfellow, Simon Earle and Sutherland Shire Councillor Jen Armstrong. left: e Earle family and supporters at the Tradies on election night 2023. above: Maryanne Stuart and supporters celebrate her Heathcote win on election night at Tradies Helensburgh.above left: Remembering Anzac Day Caringbah 2023. above middle: Claude Monmesson, age 101, commemorating Anzac Day 2023 at Caringbah. above right: May Day 2023 guest speaker NSW Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis with Tradies Director Michael Forshaw, Member for Heathcote Maryanne Stuart and Tradies President Dennis McHugh88 TRADIES’ 60TH YEAR

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Notable amongst the former Diggers honouring past comrades was Claude Monmesson, 101.e rst Minns NSW Labor government Minister to visit Tradies was Sophie Cotsis, who holds the Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety portfolios. She was the guest speaker at the Club’s annual May Day commemoration.e 60th anniversary of the Sutherland District Trade Union Club coincided with one of the most signicant decisions in years to aect Australia’s unions, unionists and employers.e Full Bench of the High Court of Australia in September unanimously ruled that Qantas Airways’ outsourcing of its ground handling services at 10 Australian airports to third party operators breached industrial relations law. e airline outsourced the jobs of 1700 of its ground handlers to other companies in November 2000.e Transport Workers Union of Australia, the TWU, pursued two actions in the Federal Court, then in the High Court, contending that Qantas’ outsourcing prevented the sta exercising their workplace rights, contravening the Fair Work Act. Two hearings in the Federal Court, then nally in the High Court, all agreed with the union.e TWU will now seek what it described as “signicant” compensation and penalties for the “largest sacking found to be illegal” in Australian history.e Tradies Board congratulated the TWU for its determination, and three-year ght, to win a fair outcome for its members.To mark its 60th anniversary, in August the Tradies made a signicant contribution to the community: $65,000 towards refreshing the Gurang Playroom of the children’s ward of Sutherland Hospital. In 1988, when Australia marked the bi-centennial of the arrival at Kurnell of the First Fleet, the Tradies donated $14,000 to refurbish a four-bed ward at Sutherland Hospital with new beds, drapes and oor and wall coverings.e Tradies continued to support dozens of community organisations, but three headliners - one back after an absence of three years and celebrating a milestone - were notable.After its three years of shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of Sutherland Shire’s largest and most treasured participation events, the Sutherland Shire Schools Music Festival, was back.After the long absence, hundreds of junior and senior primary singers from more than 40 Shire public schools showed their talents over two weeks of concerts at the sparkling new updated and renamed Sutherland Shire Entertainment Centre: the superbly performance-ready Pavilion.And even better, it celebrated the Festival’s 50th anniversary.e Sutherland Shire Schools Music Festival was back in 2023 after a three-year break caused by COVID-19. Joshua Dodd 89TRADIES’ 60TH YEAR

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In a Community Recognition Statement to the NSW Parliament, Heathcote MP Maryanne Stuart spoke of the Sutherland Shire people’s contribution to the Relay for Life held at Don Lucas Reserve at Wanda Beach in May.She said it involved those suering from cancer, carers, people in remission, family, friends and others who simply wanted to show their support.e Shire’s eort raised almost $333,000.Relays for Life held throughout Australia each year involve more than 134,000 participants, raising some $14 million for Cancer Council research, prevention and support programs.More than 6000 runners, walkers and every variation on each turned out for a dry start and wet nish Sutherland 2 Surf in June.e Tradies Sutherland 2 Surf is billed as southern Sydney’s biggest community run, oering 11 kilometres of fun. Opinions on enjoyable or not varied widely amongst the participants when they crossed the line at Wanda Beach.Now in its 51st year, Wanda Surf Life Saving Club started the event as a fundraiser. e initial fun run, on 23 September 1972, drew 50 competitors.e Tradies’ 60th year was its 40th of sponsoring the Elouera Surf Life Saving Club.e association began with a handshake between Tradies’ President Graham Hill and Elouera’s President Graham Tangye after a discussion in the back of a taxi.In September, Elouera Surf Life Saving Club hosted a celebratory luncheon at its beachfront clubhouse to mark the four decades of Tradies support that has helped it deliver surf safety.Elouera President Cameron Simpson said 40 years of contribution from the Tradies was a signicant milestone to celebrate.“It has assisted with not only running day-to-day operations of the club, but supporting some excellent initiatives. A major one is Elouera’s Surf Awareness Clinic, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in January 2024,” he said. “Our club recognises the support that Tradies provides to many community organisations. We are extremely grateful for this, and look forward to our partnership continuing for many years to come.”2023 has been signicant again for the Tradies-sponsored Clontarf Foundation’s Academy based at Endeavour Sports High School, Caringbah. Founded 20 years ago, the Clontarf Foundation now has 11,500 participants at 148 academies in six Australian states. ey help young Indigenous men get educational and other life skills needed to help them succeed in life.is year, more than 600 Years 9 and 10 Clontarf Foundation students from throughout NSW fought out the annual Ross Kelly Rugby League Cup at a tournament on the NSW Central Coast.In an extra time thriller against Mount Austin High from Wagga Wagga, the Endeavour High boys bagged an extra time golden point try to take the much sought-after trophy.Our sideline reporter took it away:“e Grand Final saw us take on a strong team from Mount Austin. e game was 12-6 to Endeavour until Mount Austin scored in the dying seconds to send the game into golden point. “After a tight battle, a nicely weighted kick from Rob Chateld-Carberry saw Ethan Dauro collect the ball and throw a 15-metre cutout pass to Clark Collins who juggled the catch, regathered and pinned the ears for the corner and scoring the game-winning try!”In 2023, its 60th year in business, the Tradies employs 166 people: 33 full-time, 77 part-time and 56 casuals. Its sta work across at least two, if not, all three of its venues at Caringbah, Gymea and Helensburgh. is gives sta insights into the wider operations of the Tradies and helps deliver consistently high standards of service across the three clubs. Post-COVID, the hospitality industry, including the Tradies, struggled to get sta while government support payments continued, and people prioritised family after long periods of lockdowns.As Australia began returning to normal after COVID, the Tradies’ team was stretched thin. But in 2023, as hospitality has somewhat bounced back, government payments have ended, and people are returning to normal life, it has become easier to nd sta.With its sta levels back to usual, the Tradies is again receiving unsolicited work applications each week.e 2023 Relay for Life continued to deliver good for many. Leader90 TRADIES’ 60TH YEAR

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COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENTabove: ABA Sustainability Award 2022. From left, Caringbah Operations Manager Louise Egan, Tradies Group General Manager Jason McMaster, Calida Project Manager Sam Marlow, and Pure Projects Project Manager Peter Sadlerabove: 4 Star Green Star logo. right: Nor East Café & Bistro, a biophilic design featuring live green walls and an abundance of natural lightToday’s communities demand that their neighbourhood businesses respect the environment. ey also expect them to be committed to enhancing environmental sustainability.With Tradies sites at Gymea, Caringbah and Helensburgh, some 200 sta, 60,000 members, and 651,000 visits in 2022, high-standard environmental management is integral to the Club’s day-to-day operations and planning.Sustainability is one of the Tradies’ core values. Its goal is to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025.It is already moving to achieve this with existing and planned solar installations and by negotiating new energy contracts. e contracts that include 25% green power began in mid-2023.e Tradies’ initiatives to cut environmental impact have been large steps and small. Its annual reports keep members informed about how it is meeting its environmental goals.In 2022 the Club received an Australian Business Award for Business Sustainability. is recognised its Green Star-certied renovations of Tradies Caringbah and the expansion of its iPromise environmental sustainability grants for schools, early learning centres and community organisations.Its’ $10 million redesign and t-out at Caringbah - completed in 2020 - was 4 Star Green Star certied in 2022 by the Green Building Council of Australia. It was the rst registered Club in Australia to achieve it.e upgraded Tradies Caringbah used the principle of biophilic design, or connecting people to the natural 92 COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

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left: In 2017, Jannali Public School received an iPromise Grant of $1550 to improve their composting capabilities in the school garden. Pictured are the school's student environmental group, the Jannali Rangers, with Tradies Group General Manager Jason McMasterright: Proud student gardeners showing o their iPromise gardens at Scarborough Public School in 2017left: Solar power array at Caringbah. right: Solar installation at Helensburghenvironment, emphasising resource eciency, using natural elements, air quality and well-being.Launched in 2013, the Tradies’ iPromise Sustainability Grants program has provided close to $180,000 to help fund projects across NSW and WA.ese include bushland regeneration, school vegetable gardens and chicken coops, composting programs, sustainable irrigation systems and native bee hives.Environmental outcomes at its three Clubs at Gymea, Caringbah and Helensburgh were recognised with a Highly Commended award for Sustainability at the 2020 Sutherland Shire Local Business Awards.e awards are based on the principle that a sustainable business is an environmentally friendly business. For example, in 2021, the Sustainability Award was made to Endota Spa at Tradies Gymea.Since 2016, the club has invested more than $250,000 in solar power installations: Helensburgh Tradies regularly operates o 100% solar energy during the day. Its 176kw solar array delivers 45%-50% of its total energy use. A 40kw system helps power Caringbah’s needs.e Tradies plans a 400kw solar power system at Gymea. To be installed on the roof of its multi-storey car park, it would meet about one-third of Tradies Gymea’s power needs. e $8 million project is awaiting Sutherland Shire Council approval.With other energy savings, the Tradies uses less power than it did in 2012.Smaller, everyday initiatives helping meet the Club’s environmental management aims are:• All plastic straws were eliminated in 2019• Biodegradable packaging is used for all takeaway items, as well as in cleaning cloths and garbage bags materials• BYO coee cups get a 50 cents discount. Tracking the discounts shows more than 5000 takeaway cups have been diverted from landll• All soft drinks are now sold in glass bottles, reusable glass bottles are oered for table water, and water rell stations are provided for personal reusable bottles• “I AM NOT PAPER” disposable cups are now used at all Tradies venues, while• Water tanks at Tradies Gymea collect rainwater to water the clubs’ gardens. 93COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

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After catastrophic wildres swept through much of the State in 2019, the Club committed $100,000 to bushre relief. It wanted environmental organisations amongst the recipients.is recognised that bushres aected not only human lives and homes but also destroyed habitats and killed millions of native animals. It wanted to help organisations that assist with both immediate relief and long-term environmental solutions.e Tradies donated $10,000 to Treading Lightly to replant and regenerate NSW south coast areas, $10,000 to WIRES to assist injured animals and $5000 to Aussie Ark to help open its new 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary.It introduced technologies to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions to help minimise its carbon footprint. For example, food waste is used to make composting material for soil regeneration.In 2022, across the Club’s Gymea, Caringbah, and Helensburgh sites, the initiatives recycled:• 16.9 tonnes of cardboard• 62.6 tonnes of co-mingled waste and,• 66.6 tonnes of food organics.is saw 78% of generated waste by weight diverted from landll.A new Tradies’ procurement policy prioritises local goods and services with solid sustainability and ethical credentials. It already chooses suppliers carefully, not based only on value and quality but also on how they align with the Club’s organisational values, especially sustainability.Sustainability, recycling and waste management are elements of all new Tradies’ employee inductions and on-the-oor training. Sta are also encouraged to participate in National Tree Day and Clean Up Australia Day events.e Tradies uses its social media, emails to members and in-venue communications to help raise awareness of environmental issues and encourage involvement in initiatives such as World Environment Day, Plastic Free July, and Clean Up Australia Day.Cleaning up at Cleanup Australia Day 202194 COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

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TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITYclockwise from top left: e action is intense for Tradies’ dedicated mahjong fansTwo groups of crocheters meet weekly at Tradies for a darn good yarn. e Wednesday Bowls Group on a roll at Tradies Even the Sutherland Sketchers got into 2023’s Barbie mania When the Tradies opened in a couple of rooms of a house called Pine Lodge on the corner of Kingsway and Manchester Road at Gymea, it was a place where trade union members could meet to discuss issues of the day.But meeting space in Sutherland Shire was scarce, and demand was high. Community organisations quickly saw the new club in the house on the corner as a potential place to meet.e union members, also community members, were happy to help - even though, within months, they found it hard to get space in their club for their meetings. Community demand was a signicant factor in the Tradies’ rst extensions of its original Gymea home.is early support began lasting, deep relationships between the Tradies and district organisations - and sometimes far beyond Sutherland Shire.e Tradies’ social clubs were fundamental in the founding of the Club and were part of its moves to help organisations beyond its walls.e Tradies Darts Club is almost as old as the Club and certainly is older than its ocial 60th birthday of 23 August 2023.Darts became the Tradies’ rst social club when the Club’s Board gave darts boards the green light on 14 March 1962. Fishing and golf followed in April and May.Tradies darts competition initially began at Gymea’s Astron Ballroom on Gymea Bay Road, but when the Club opened at Pine Lodge, on its present site, darts and dartboards were quickly packed up for the move.More sub-clubs quickly followed the pioneers, with Tradies members involved with table tennis, euchre, ten-pin bowls, pigeons - operating to everyone’s comfort from the car park - and snooker. In addition, there was a Ladies Auxiliary and a Club Librarian.Records are hazy, but Tradies euchre devotees were also early into the game. ey certainly played at the Astron Ballroom in the early 1960s, then, with commendable toughness, played in the garage of Pine Lodge, which 95TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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Patrick Jayatilake, left, and Dan Papdanco keeping darts in ight at the TradiesTradies’ ladies are right into their darts, toowas just a tin shed.e Tradies Golf Club hit o unocially on 13 May 1962 and became an ocial part of the Tradies in February 1965. As well as playing locally, the golfers travelled widely for inter-club competitions.A highlight was the annual Six Club Challenge. It began as Tradies v. Revesby Workers Club, but this expanded to include Blacktown Workers Club, Cronulla Labor and Working Mens Club, Mount Pritchard Workers Club and Warragamba Workers Club.e Tradies Golf Club helped many new arrivals in the Shire to make friends and settle into the area.Another early Tradies sub-club to take ight was its Pigeon Club. It left the coop for the rst time in mid-1967 and raced in mainly the cooler months for the next 13 years.As the Tradies grew, so did its help to its local organisations. e Club’s decades of support to them is now part of the fabric of the community.It now donates more than half a million dollars annually to community groups, charities, local schools and junior sporting clubs. is assistance contributes to the Tradies meeting its purpose of supporting its members, the community and the environment.While its support of community and sports organisations spans more than 50 years, how Tradies helps now also reects other issues in today’s society, such as food insecurity, domestic violence and mental health.Its long community involvement has allowed the Club to identify potential areas of community need and then oer help. It regularlyresearches community needs to identify gaps in support, current issues and ways to assist.With members’ support, the Tradies also runs food drives for community pantries when their stocks are low, holds raes to raise money for community causes, and helps fundraisers such as donation drives for winter appeals.COVID-19 and its after-eects have caused signicant economic uncertainty for many, increasing demands from assistance organisations.While it has assisted organisations in its communities almost from the time it opened its doors, since 2000 alone the Tradies has provided more than $11 million tosupport local community and sports organisations. Last year’s total was $834,667.A small sample of the many organisations sponsored in the Sutherland Shire and Helensburgh areas is:Darts may be the Tradies’ oldest sub-club. It competed in 1960 at the Astron Ballroom on Gymea Bay Road, when a Tradies club was just a glimmer in a handful of dreamers’ eyes.It probably helped that their equipment was highly portable because they were there when the Tradies moved to its home in 1963 on the corner of Manchester Road and Kingsway.Big inter-club events draw crowds of more than 120 when tournaments are held at the Tradies.e longest and unbroken community club association is that between the Tradies and the Gymea Gorillas Junior Rugby League Football Club.Its committee began meeting at the Tradies 50 years ago, in 1973.In 1975, a Tradies-sponsored Gorillas’ team - its youngest and smallest - became undefeated Cronulla-Sutherland Under 7 C grade junior rugby league champions. ey did it again in 1976. e Elouera Surf Life Saving Club and the Tradies began their partnership 40 years ago.Elouera is the youngest of the Shire’s Bate Bay surf clubs, joining Cronulla, North Cronulla and Wanda when it was established in 1966. Its home was in a former Police Boys Club between the North Cronulla and Wanda clubs.e initial 1983 Elouera-Tradies agreement allowed the surf club to buy new lifesaving equipment and make much-needed gear repairs and building maintenance.at year, Elouera had highly competitive surf and beach 96 TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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above left: e 1975 Gorillas Under 7 team with their premiership trophy. above right: Gorillas Life Member Peter Hadeld shows o an historic Tradies playing jerseye 2012 Tradies Surf Awareness Clinic at Elouera SLSC again taught kids how to enjoy the surf safelyPictured at the 2013 award ceremony are, from left, Member for Cronulla & now NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, Elouera’s Peter Carney, Ron Pears, Police and Emergency Services Minister Mike Gallacher, Basil Lewis and Tradies Directors Bob Rogers, Mike Batty & Bob Sharkey.Leaderevent members. A team with a big club support group headed to Clifton Beach, 25km southeast of Hobart in Tasmania, for the Australian surf lifesaving titles. Elouera capped 1983 by becoming the Australian Club Champion team.Elouera topped even that in 1987, with its historic highlight of winning the world surf lifesaving championships in Durban, South Africa. See the story from the end of page 49.A central element of the Tradies-Elouera partnership is the annual Elouera Surf Awareness Clinic, which delivers essential surf safety information and experience to 7 to 12-year-old children.Some 11,000 youngsters have now attended the clinics. e 39th was held at Elouera in 2023 after missing two years because of COVID-19 shutdowns.The NSW Government in 2013 recognised the partnership’s contribution to improving children’s surf safety with a new state government water safety award.e ve-day clinics cover how to recognise wave types, 97TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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above left: e Port Hacking Dragon Boat Club based at Yowie Bay celebrates its 40th year in 2023. above right: Sutherland Acoustic’s guest artist Rachel Colliss at their May 2023 concertabove left: World champions Belgium about to play Australia A at Tradies Sutherland Hockey Club in January 2020 above right: Dandelion has helped thousands of children and families in needrips and currents, basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation, how to body surf, paddle, and ride both body boards and Nipper surfboards and rst aid and personal skin protection.e range of community organisations supported by the Tradies today is broad. It includes:Port Hacking Dragon Boat Club, the oldest in NSW, has long been supported by the Tradies. Members trained in oyster barges until it took delivery of its rst dragon boat. e club, based at Yowie Bay and founded in 1983, carries on a tradition that began in southern China more than 2500 years ago.A dragon boat has a crew of 20-22 paddlers, a drummer and a sweep to steer. Club members train from the Yowie Bay boat ramp during the week, row on weekends and race competitively.Originally the Sutherland Folk Club, Sutherland Acoustic will mark its 30th anniversary with the Tradies in March 2024. It has hosted many performers, styles and personalities.e folk club started at Jerry Boames’ Wine Bar in Miranda in 1979 and went through many venue changes before nding its home at Gymea Tradies in 1994. Importantly, along with established and professional artists, it showcases new talent.For over 20 years, the Tradies’ support has supported Sutherland Hockey Club’s own fundraising to continue providing an Olympic-standard synthetic pitch.e club, one of the largest and most successful in Sydney, spans boys and girls learning the game, mixed junior teams playing in competitions throughout Sydney, to men’s and women’s teams playing in high-level and local competitions and veterans.In 2020, it hosted Australia A against world champion Belgium, and its women’s team against the NSW Institute of Sport.Two Sutherland Shire mums, unable to donate cots, car seats and prams to charities, decided they should not just 98 TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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above left: Friday Tradies bridge alone regularly draws 120 players, but there are four bridge events a week at the Club above right: Evelyn Morrisey, 100, a picture of concentration at Tradies bridgeabove left: Rugby League training with the Clontarf Academy on a trip to Dubbo in 2022 above right: Sutherland Shire ClubGRANTS Presentation 2022. Brett Costellogo to landll - so they founded the Dandelion Support Network just before Christmas in 2011.Helping families needing almost everything for their youngsters, Taren Point-based Dandelion has now given clothing and refurbished baby equipment from donors to more than 16,000 families in Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and some regional areas. e Tradies has assisted them since 2014.In 2022, Dandelion helped some 2000 families and their almost 3800 children, but tougher economic conditions have further driven demand in 2023: by August alone, more than 1600 families had sought assistance.And those unwanted prams and cots? In 2022, Dandelion found new homes for 650 prams and 450 cots - plus 1345 linen packs, 4420 clothing packs and 2160 toy packs.ere are no less than four bridge clubs in action at the Tradies each week - and to say they love their game is an understatement. ere are even (possibly) light-hearted complaints about public holidays - even the most important - interrupting bridge days.e Tradies Bridge Club regularly has 120 players at its Friday events. At the same time, the club at Gymea is also headquarters for the Hurstville and St George Bridge Clubs, plus a Tuesday morning devoted to people wanting to learn the game.In 2016, the Tradies became aware of the Clontarf Foundation Academy at Endeavour High School at Caringbah. It is one of 148 Clontarf Academies, with 11,500 students across Australia, working to improve the education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men.e Club became a sponsor after approaching the Academy and establishing their shared values and vision. It has since provided nancial support of some $490,000.e Tradies’ partnership with the Clontarf Academy is part of its continuing commitments to Reconciliation and Closing the Gap. 99TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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In 2022, the Tradies distributed more than $830,000 in money and in-kind support to local community and sports groups.Assistance Dogs AustraliaAustralian Red CrossBates Drive School - Sutherland 2 Surf PrizeBay BabesBeyond BlueBiggest Morning TeaBonnet Bay Baseball ClubCancer Council NSW - Sutherland Shire Relay for LifeCancer Patients FoundationCaringbah Lions ClubCaringbah RotaryCaringbah Sports Cricket ClubCivic Disability ServicesClontarf Foundation - Endeavour AcademyClub Waratah (Miranda Bombers AFC & Southern Power AFC)Como Jannali JRLFCCronulla Caringbah Sharks JRLFCCronulla Sutherland Baseball ClubCronulla Sutherland Junior Baseball AssocCronulla Sutherland Rugby League Referees AssociationCrossroads Community CareDandelion Support NetworkDe La Salle Caringbah JRLFCElouera SLSCEngadine Dragons JRLFCabove left: Clover the assistance dog during her training. above right: Assistance dog Luna quickly became a Tradies favourite. Chris BFull house for Girls Morning In 2022above left: Plenty of activities and ways to get involved over 24 hours. Relay for Life 2022. above right: Walking for a cause. Relay for Life 2023. LeaderVery happy... Caringbah Sports Cricket Club’ s 2018 U16A premiersSupporting the Shire’s Rugby League referees in 2020100 TRADIES AND THE COMMUNITY

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e community and the Club’s peer groups have recognised Tradies for its contributions and management practices.ey include:2022 – Australian Business Awards Business Sustainability (Winner)2022 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Mental & Social Wellbeing (Support of the Sutherland Shire Community Co-Op) (Highly Commended)2021 – Australian Business Awards Risk Management (Winner)2021 – Australian Business Awards Employer of Choice (Winner)2021 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Fostering Grassroots Sport (Support of Surf Life Saving Clubs and the Tradies Elouera Surf Awareness Clinic)(Winner)2020 – Australian Business Awards Process Improvement (Winner)2019 – Australian Business Awards Human Resource Management (Anti-Bullying & Harassment, Wellbeing & Culture) (Winner) 2019 - ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Health & Wellbeing (Safety & Healing for Victims of Domestic Violence) (Highly Commended)2018 – Australian Business Awards Community Contribution (iPromise Grants) (Winner)2018 – NSW Centre for Volunteering Volunteer Team of the Year (Southern Sydney Region) (Winner)2017 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Health & Wellbeing (Kookaburra Kids) (Highly Commended)2016 – Australian Business Awards Health & Wellbeing (Human Resources Management) (Winner)2016 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Art & Culture (Art For All) (Finalist)2016 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Environment (iPromise Grants) (Winner)2016 – Dimmi People’s Choice Awards Serendip – Top Rated Asian Restaurant2016 – NSW Oce of Environment & Heritage Green Globe Awards – Community Leadership Award (iPromise Grants) (Finalist)AWARDSNSW Volunteer of e Year Awards 2021 – Tradies Community Relations Manager Kathryn Tanner won Volunteer of the Year for Southern Sydney and was the inaugural NSW Club Volunteer of the Year.Achieved a ‘Best Workplace Award 2020’ for Employee Engagement from Voice ProjectWinner for ‘A place to call home’ in the Disability, Welfare & Social Inclusion category at the ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards 2018. 104 AWARDS

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2016 – Australian Human Resources Institute Award for Mental Health in the Workplace (Finalist)2015 – Australian Business Awards Service Excellence (Winner) 2015 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Education (Partnership with Menai High School) (Winner)2015 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Environment (iPromise Program) (Finalist)2015 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Welfare & Social Inclusion (Meals on Wheels) (Finalist)2015 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards Health & Wellbeing (Narrangy Booris) (Finalist)2014 – ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards (Tradies Give Back Program) (Highly Commended)2014 – AHRI Inclusion & Diversity Awards Workforce Flexibility (Finalist)2014 – Australia Business Awards Brand Excellence (Winner)2013 – Australian Business Awards Service Excellence (Winner)2013 – Australian Business Awards Community Contribution (Winner)2013 – NSW Oce of Environment & Heritage Green Globe Awards Waste & Recycling (Finalist)2013 – ClubsNSW - Clubs & Community Ambassador of the Year - Community Spirit for the Southern Metropolitan Region (Broadband For Seniors)2013 – e International Stevie Awards Sales & Customer Service (Bronze)2013 – NSW Oce of Environment & Heritage Sustainability Advantage (Silver Status)2013 – Australian Human Resources Institute Martin Seligman Award for Health & Wellbeing (Finalist)2013 – Australian Service Excellence Awards Not for Prot (Highly Commended)2012 – Australian Business Awards Community Contribution(Winner)2012 – e International Stevie Awards Business to Business Marketing (Bronze)2011 – ClubsNSW Awards for Excellence Outstanding Community Service (Large Club) (Winner) Young Achiever in Clubs (Elie Bassil Finalist) Peoples Choice (Nominated)2011 – NSW Oce of Environment & Heritage Sustainability Advantage (Bronze Status)2009 – Restaurant and Catering NSW Awards for Excellence – Venue Caterer (Finalist)2009 – Restaurant and Catering NSW Awards for Excellence – Hotel/Club Caterer (Finalist)2008 – Premier of NSW Community Service Award2008 – Customer Service Institute of Australia Accepted as a Corporate Member2007/08 – Australian Service Excellence Awards NSW Customer Service Manager of the Year (Shayne Smith)2007/08 – Australian Service Excellence Awards Medium Business (Nominated)2007 – Australian Human Resources Institute People Management (National Winner)2006 - Australian Human Resources Institute People Management (National Winner)2005 – ClubsNSW Awards for Excellence Best Club Sports Bar (Winner)2004 – ClubsNSW Awards for Excellence Club of the Year (Winner) Risk Management (Winner) Marketing, Promotions & Entertainment (Winner) Building Management (Winner) Responsible Service (Winner) Human Resources (Highly Commended) Community Service (Highly Commended) Financial Management (Nominated)2004 – Wesley Mission Spirit of Mission Community Awards – Community Award (Winner)2003 – ClubsNSW Awards for Excellence Club of the Year (Winner) Marketing Award (Winner) Responsible Service (Winner)2003 – e Australian Workers Heritage Centre Corporate Life MembersAwarded NSW Corporate Volunteer Team of the Year 2014 by the NSW Centre For Volunteering. Pictured are Tradies Sta Kaitlyn MacDougal, Savannah Keshwan and Peter Anderson with former NSW Minister for Citizenship, Communities and theMinister for Aboriginal Aairs Vincent Dominello 105AWARDS

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Our Twenty-rst Anniversaryby Alan CrossIn 1959, when the idea of a Trade Union Club in Sutherland Shire was rst born, R. G. Menzies had been Prime Minister of Australia for 10 years.For all those years trade unions had been under intense attack.e courts had extended the denition of a strike, governments had enacted anti-strike legislation and nearly all strikes were deemed illegal. Unions whose members struck to defend rights, pay or conditions or gain a share of the increasing national wealth were often ned large sums.Some incurred what employers and courts thought the ultimate penalty - de-registration.e movement for peace and disarmament suered similarly.e pro-Americanism of government and media maintained the Cold War atmosphere. Almost daily we were told by press and politicians from Menzies to B. (Bob) A. Santamaria, head of the National Civic Council, that invasion from the North was coming.ose who doubted this view were allegedly part of a world-wide conspiracy orchestrated from Moscow. Militant trade union leaders, peace movement gures and intellectually honest academics were the particular objects of attack.Why a Trade Union Club?Among a group of active trade unionists in the Shire, the conviction grew that it was possible and desirable to establish a club as a common meeting-ground and as a centre to support and encourage trade unionism.Such a belief was then little short of revolutionary when active unionists were commonly portrayed as mindless militants, with all the lack of intellectual or practical capacity implied in that phrase. But the foundation members were conscious of the need for a trade union centre and condent of the capacity of trade unionists to control their own aairs.is rationale lay behind two key decisions, one concerning membership and one concerning the name of the club.It was decided that full membership would be open only to nancial members of trade unions. Control would be kept in the hands of trade unionists. Non-unionists and anti-unionists could not undermine that control.Similarly, the name Sutherland District Trade Union Club was chosen as clearly identifying the exact nature of the club. Alternatives which carried dierent implications found little favour. us, the club would present itself as a Trade Union Club, with no dilution or dissembling; and control would rest strictly in the hands of trade union members. What has changed?From that point the Club has grown without changing its principles. But the Australian community has changed - and the Club has played a part in some of the changes and kept pace with others.e trade union movement has greatly enhanced its stature. No longer can governments and employers ignore it and courts dragoon it, or attempt to.e peace and disarmament movement is now arguably the most powerful force of a popular character in contemporary society. It unites hundreds of thousands of Australians in rallies and demonstrations against uranium mining, nuclear war and foreign bases.ere is wider and wider realisation that the possibility of nuclear catastrophe transcends class, creed, gender and ethnic origin; and that if we don’t act together we shall all suer separately.What has the Club done?e Club has done much locally to foster trade unionism and community organisations concerned with the welfare of people.It has made available meeting places, speakers, publicity, information and nance. Local union branches meet regularly in the Club and, on occasions, mass meetings pack the Auditorium.Peace and disarmament groups, unemployed groups, education groups, parent groups, Apex, Rotaract, Rotary and many other community groups have used the Club at no cost.But the Club goes to the community, too, donating to or sponsoring various activities from Gymea Technical and Further Education College Awards to the Oyster Bay Arts and Crafts Festival and is currently the major sponsor of the Elouera Surf Life Saving Club.e Club’s policy of aiding community groups far beyond the trade union membership, upon which it is founded, has been consistent and farsighted and is one reason for the respect it now enjoys in the Shire and beyond.e Club’s Wide Connectionse Club’s name is known far beyond the Shire.It is aliated to the Federation of Community, Sporting and Workers’ Clubs which brings reciprocal rights with clubs from Darwin to Hobart, Adelaide to Brisbane. Sub-clubs visit other clubs extensively. Trade unionists from other states and lands are always welcome. 107WHEN THE TRADIES TURNED 21

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e Club has sponsored many May Day candidates and has successfully hosted the Annual May Day Ball on more than one occasion.(Continuing the tradition, annual May Day dinners are now held.)Club members, on their world travels, have been known to distribute Club tie-pins and ties (one of which, incidentally, Prime Minister Hawke wears on occasions) and spread the good word about the Club. And Club members have been made welcome in many lands overseas.Services to Memberse Club has developed a very wide range of services to members and is always experimenting with more.Many forms of entertainment are oered - lms, revues, cabarets, family concerts, annual children’s picnics, bingo, meat marts, poker machines, etc.Over the years these forms have varied as members’ tastes have changed but the emphasis on family type entertainment has always been strong. e bistro and dining room services have been brought to the point where they provide excellent value to members at minimal cost to the Club.e various bars are ever popular, oering a variety of refreshments which have also changed from time to time to cater for members’ tastes.To many members, however, the Club’s most appreciated service is the support given to the various sub-clubs - the golfers, shos, pigeon-keepers, table tennis, indoor bowls and others which cater for members’ sporting and hobby activities. Support is given to cricketers, snooker and billiard facilities are also provided, and wine and dine clubs ourish.e services provided have steadily expanded over time and have increased patronage and generated revenue which has enabled further expansion, with more scheduled to come.How is the Club Run?e increasing patronage, not even aected by the introduction of random breath testing in December, 1982, is evidence of the ability of the committee and the management to devise and implement policies which have kept the Club abreast of the times.It is also a tribute to the ability of the members to elect competent and imaginative committees. Each year a committee of twelve is elected by secret ballot. e president and vice-president are elected at the same time as part of the committee.(Note: e 2003 Tradies’ Board is eight members, meeting 2017 legislation that mandated club boards be 7-9 members.)No more than three members of any one union can serve on the committee at the same time, a measure designed to prevent domination by members of any single union. At annual and quarterly meetings, the members have from time to time made important decisions upon recommendations from the committee concerning expansion or various aspects of trading policy.Since its very early days, the Club has beneted from the services of ecient secretary-managers, supervisors, bar, dining room, clerical, cleaning and other sta. e few industrial disputes which have arisen have been settled by discussion and negotiation.e rst propertye story of the acquisition of the rst premises has a certain epic quality.In 1961, when negotiators approached the owner, a Mr. Len Jones, they found that he was a retired publican who, in his early days, had been an ironworker and a member of his union, the Federated Ironworkers Association.Not only that, but he had been one of the members involved in a strike of six months duration at Lithgow in 1911, half a century before. Furthermore, Mr. Jones had been awarded a Certicate by his union as one of the members who stood solid for the full duration of the strike!Although subsequently Mr. Jones had become a publican, he had never lost his trade union outlook.He kept his Certicate as a valued memento of his early activities. When, in the evening of his life, he was approached regarding the possibility of selling his home so that a Trade Union Club could be established, he was very co-operative indeed.He made the cottage available at a reasonable gure; agreed to terms of instalments which eased the Club through the rst very dicult trading period before any liquor licence was granted. He was often later seen regularly in the Club supporting it.Some months later, when the Club’s application for a liquor licence came before the court, Len Jones gave evidence in support and produced his Certicate in court with telling eect at a critical point in the proceedings. It really convinced the magistrate that the application for a licence for a Trade Union Club was beyond any shadow of doubt completely bona de.And so, a stalwart pioneer of trade unionism’s early days played a notable part some half a century later in the establishment of Sutherland District Trade Union Club. We owe more to ‘the “Mr. Joneses” of this world than we usually appreciate.e rst members were asked to subscribe ten pounds in debentures(to establishment and expansion) and this source of nance has remained an important element 108 WHEN THE TRADIES TURNED 21

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in the Club’s nancial structure. However, bank loans have nanced the major expansions to a considerable degree and all repayments have been made from revenue generated from the improvements.Further expansionFrom that small start, the Club has expanded steadily. Today, the bar in the Southern Cross Lounge is virtually the only part of the original Jones cottage still remaining, albeit greatly enlarged.e rst major expansion, in 1966-67, added what is now the administration oces, bistro, poker machine area, main lounge and main bar. A second major expansion, in 1980-81, added the dining room, upstairs bar and lounge, and auditorium. ese additions made the Club more attractive at each stage.With the Club in a healthy nancial position today, further extensions are under way to add still more dining and sporting facilities.Growth over the yearsMembership has grown from 200 or so by the end of 1961 to around 2000 today. e number of sta employed has increased from four to 74. Revenue and prots have grown considerably, despite some uctuations.Committee members have given consistent attention to trading problems as they have appeared and management has been energetic in putting into eect the committee and general meeting decisions.Two highlightsAmong the many highlights of the Club’s activities, two may be mentioned as having more than passing signicance.e rst was the address by Jack Lang, former Premier of N.S.W. in 1970, when he was then 92 years of age.e second was the support given by the Club to the Australian competitors in the Olympics of 1980.ese activities, each in their own way, touched deep chords of feeling in the community.e address by Jack Lang, one of the most controversial gures in Australia’s history, revived bitter memories of the Depression of the 1930s among older members.e support given the Olympic athletes in the face of (Prime Minister Malcolm) Fraser’s ban on participation expressed the rising tide of opposition then developing against his harsh and unfeeling policies.Lang’s address made many older members vow that a Depression must never happen again.But it did. And unemployment, although recently falling somewhat, is again a major community problem which we too often ignore.Fraser’s Olympic ban was followed three years later by his downfall. But the forces he represents are still powerful and seek to inuence his successor’s government.ese two highlight events capture a unity between past and present and symbolise problems still unresolved.e Club is doing a great service to the trade union movement and the whole community in focusing from time to time on major issues which make us think through our attitudes and rene or re-dene our beliefs.In conclusione Club has proven its original thesis. Trade unionists can establish and operate a considerable enterprise in the interests of the trade union movement and of community groups concerned with the welfare of people.e Club has become a landmark in the Shire. It is hard to imagine the Shire without the “Tradies”.e trade union beliefs of the members are the rock upon which the Club is built.e democratic procedures within the Club have kept the Club steadfast to its basic principles. e progressive policies of the committee have greatly increased revenue - the life blood upon which all else depends.e Club’s future obviously depends upon adhering to its principles and constantly improving its services to members and the community.In the minds and hearts of a great many of its members the Club holds a unique position as a centre of friendship, a great venue for relaxation, and an invaluable trade union centre.e Eureka ag has been our symbol for some years. It symbolises the hopes for a better life for ordinary people. Let’s not lose that spirit. Let’s re-arm it -again and again.e emblem of our Club is the Eureka Flag - e Southern Cross. We, and all Australians, are proud of it.It was the ag of the gold miners at Ballarat, who, in 1854, fought for the right to vote and against injustice. It was the ag of the shearers at Barcaldine, Queensland, in 1894, who struck for unionism and good wages.It is now part of our national ag.We try to carry on the ideas of our forebears - democracy and a better life for all useful working people.All honour to the Southern Cross, the symbol of our Club. 109WHEN THE TRADIES TURNED 21

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FOUNDATION AND LIFE MEMBERSe Tradies’ Foundation Members literally laid the foundation of the Club. To take an idea to reality, its founders set a goal of having 200 members. is took from a formal meeting to establish the Club held in December 1960 until almost the end of 1961.e nal Foundation Members joined in August 1963, bringing the total to 343.Foundation Membersese are the men and women whose commitment saw the Tradies established:On October 20, 1960, the signatories to the Articles of Association that established the Sutherland District Trade Union Club were L H Moore, W Baker, E Heagney, F A Volk, D Ferguson, A Wren, A Gietzelt, J Steenson and G Nielson.At the Club’s rst annual general meeting, on December 12, they became its rst Board of Directors, with Don Ferguson becoming the Sutherland District Trade Union Club’s rst President.e following further Foundation Members joined:27.1.61 J Fuller. 20.2.61 L Johnson, T Dalton, R Willows, E J Tuite, W Calthorpe, R F Harris, J Graham, W Redmond, H Batterham, R Rich. 26.3.61 L Sparrius, R Provan, T Mulcahy, E Sprouste, R Pollard, W Robb.31.5.61 N Blott, W Bates, E Bates, J Campbell, J Snowden, J Knight. 28.6.61 Denis Williams, Eric Ronsdorf, Bruce May, Alan Robertson, Clarrie Hawken, George Perryman, Len Hodge, Reg Esam, Brian Doyle, James Harkins.1.7.61 W Cole, R Rudolph, Rupert Hughes, Clive Selby, Cameron Warren. 19.7.61 Edward Fakes, Arthur Mason, L H Welch, Fred Streeter, Francis Bennet, Edward Lawes, William Lunny, Joseph Bingham, Edward Warren.1.8.61 John Sullivan, Brian Gilchrist, Stan Webb, Noel Temple, Ernest Becket, Edwin Venables, Wilfred Marr, Jan Remp, Ray Eacott, Harold Gardiner. 17.8.61 Dawn Gietzelt , J B Lovegrove, R J McLean, David Gordon Heggie, Len William Jones, John O’Brien, K J Beaumont, Kenneth Turnbull, Alan Benn, Harry Biggs, William Brownjohn, John Hatch, Evan Hatch, John Slattery, James Stansell, Charles Wegg, Keith Warren, Norman White, T J Campbell.Tradies sta in the shirts heard around the world!Leanne Paddy and Caitlin Morrison before World’s Greatest Shave 2018. And after, with over $7,500 raised for the Leukaemia Foundation!Winner for Southern Sydney Region Volunteer Team of the Year at the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards 20181 1 0 FOUNDATION AND LIFE MEMBERS

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30.8.61 Kenneth C Whiting, John Benson, William Geddes, Athol Summers, James Rob Rose, Ron J McGann, Kevin Nicholson, Lyell A Morris, Douglas Kirkwood, Keith Fowler, Joseph Duggan, Harvey E Nation, Leonard Roy Hurst.13.9.61 Neville F Donnelly, John R Wilson, E N West, B N Clarke, Alan Frank Cross, A J Willis, L R Fitzgerald, C Selby, John K Harris, Norman L Stacey, Kevin John O’Brien, Leon John Graham Wallace, J Page, S Symons, N D Wright, George Spurgeon, Brian Young. 20.9.61 James Madden, William H Porter, James McCavana, Stanley J Sorenson, William A Gamblin, John E Arnold, William L Wallace, Ron Middleton, Daniel M Power, John Fallane, William Hughes, Leonard Roy Bagnall, Frank R ompson, Walter Smith, Cecil Rigby Gordon, James Abbott, Ross Middleton Smith.28.9. 61 Mervyn A Murchie, R L Levin, C W Erickson, D L Robbins, Leslie Moore, Edward Mullarkey, William Capewell, Noel Hollingdale, Joe Walsh, Stan Wilson, Gordon Campbell, Graham Kent Hill, J Magner, W A Vincent, Leo Kosluk, C W Brandley, Jack Bird, Ray W Tollis, George W Murray, L R omas, P Keating, James Morgan, James Hagan, D Booker, John Galbraith, F A Pennel, A Elphinston, E J Phelan, Daniel McKelvie.11.10. 61 Gerald John Williams, Robert Stanley Smith, James Stacey, Georey W Jones, Daniel Manion, Mrs D Mortier, John L Turrell, John Macintosh Porter, Wallace Gardiner, George Norman Bennet, Roy Ernest Gowing, Max Wright, Richard William Jordan. 19.10.61 John Eloric Grant, Mrs V Steenson, James Norman Ayling, Terence Cecil Winter, John E Stallworthy, Harold Ernest Towell.23.10.61 Jerey Ambis Aldridge, Henry James Stubbs, Roy Frederick Whitney, George Clarence Helensburgh junior surf club members warming up to hit the wavesAutomated External Debrillator presentations to Shire soccer clubs at Seymour Shaw Park in 2018 with Tradies President Dennis McHughleft: Santa with a young fan in 2019, in a chair perhaps more suited to Halloweenabove: Tradies volunteers Selina and Alyssa helping out at Orana’s Community Co-op Sutherland Shire 111FOUNDATION AND LIFE MEMBERS

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Holley, Maurice William Tourle, Mrs Patricia Elphinston, Terence James Hamill, Leslie Arthur Ingle.1.11.61 Robert Edward Harris, John Arthur Bourke, William Spedding, Denis omas, Maurice Taylor, Cyril John Nelson, Wayne C Campbell, Joseph McAnespie, Douglas R Woodham, omas Freney, Reginald T Christie, L Horne, William O›Shea, Ronald Christie, Walter Savage, Mrs Mary Wren, Edward J McManus, William Collins, Charles Ferguson, John Castle, Edward Cecil Mann, Amy S Doyle.23.11.61 Arthur Baker, Reginald John Hippitt, Alfred Gordon Hall, Allan William Jacobsen, Dallas Victor Davis, Sydney Charles Willard, Frederick James Wilson, Bernie L Anglin, Vernon Richard Jarrett, Keith Clarence Clark.13.12.61. John Steel, John Noonan, Eric William Kervisl, William Roberts, Eric Grinstead, Harry Augustus Bouer, William Charles Bouer, Robert Boyce Bouden, Douglas Empire Williams.24.1.62 J Norberry, R Waters, G Williamson, A F Fernley, M L Smith, S Rlllet. 4.4.62 R H Crosseld, R S Riley. 9.5.62 John Baxter Black, Bernard McKay, Warren Judd, George Edward Rose. 6.6.62 H McD Grey, L Locke, A P Young, F C Battersby, B K Smith. 4.7.62 Mrs V L Riley, J Tucker, B Bakewell, C T Nightingale, A G Evens.9.1.63 JC Hickson, DE Morris, P De Low, H C rower, M Maguire, N Prattis, R E Hotchkiss, K R Kotzer, A E Davies, N J Adams, G W Gerrard, J A Saunders, A B Goggin. 6.2.63 J T Hunter, R Wilson, J W Baird, W McP Christie, W B Bailey, Mrs J A Bailey, N O’Loughlin, A Lincoln, A N Stenhouse, R S Cook, A H Llewellyn, E W Jones.above: Plenty of larger rubbish to be removed as well. Tradies volunteers and Tradies helpers cleaning up left: Sorting through microplastics is almost as fun as it looks! Sutherland Shire Beach Clean Up Day 2022below: Blood from the boss... Tradies Group General Manager Jason McMaster donating1 1 2 FOUNDATION AND LIFE MEMBERS

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6.3.63 M Keane, K R Kotzur. 3.4.63 H Meyer, W R Meehan, T J Dwyer, N G ompson, J McL Crotty, D R Dunlop, D F Russel, V Tesser. 5.6.63 I R Evans, L J Baker, T Hopwood, E Hinton, W Nealy, T G Kenny, G T Taylor.3.7.63 Mrs L Bakewell, J Martin, A Krums, Bill Wilson, D G Wasson, J A McGregor, R C Manser, R S Charker, V R Higgs, M Lynch, M Haker. 17.7.63 M N Moore, G Taylor, D P Belbin, F R rower, D N Lewis, L C Laird, N Codnor, J L Pocock, B Giles, B G O’Conner, P S Hatton, P S Lawton, M Martini, G Noon, N Haddon, E Whitehall, V Chappell, B J Ryan, L S McCullam, Mrs B J Tollis, M A Knight, D R Dunlop. 7.8.63 J M Dew, N Benson, J A Rosengrove, E W Foley, G Reid, P J O’Nains, W Mayer, C E Hopton, A E Cannings, F G Wade, R LW Millington, JF Moran, Miss P R Moore.LIFE MEMBERS - at April 2023John Benson, Ron Bird, Phillip Bowering, Barry Collier, Ron Crawley, Bill Cremin, Neville Cremin, Alan Cross, Reg Easam, Jan Forshaw, Michael Forshaw, Bill Gibbs, Arthur Gietzelt, Dawn Gietzelt, Patricia Harris, Graham Hill, Edward Jermy, Les Johnson, Sid Kain, Maurice Keane, Don Mackay, Ken McDonell, Dennis McHugh, William McLaughlin, Mark Noble, John O’Brien, Eddie Pakes, Warren Phillips, Barry Purssell, Ronald Rich, Bill Robb, Bob Rogers, Leo Scarp, Bob Sharkey, Jack Slattery, Ken Smith, Doug Sparkes, Graham Tangye, Robert Taylor, Maurice Taylor, Brian ompson, Frank Volk, Rod Waters, George White, Hazel Wilson.above: Tradies volunteers, friends and helpers at Don Lucas Reserve for Relay for Liferight: Valet parking? Not a problem! Well… until social distancingbelow: Community Co-Op during the COVID years, when the only uncovered faces were those on the vegetablesHelensburgh Rural Fire Service about to begin their traditional Christmas drive through the community in 2020 113FOUNDATION AND LIFE MEMBERS

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AABA Sustainability Award .................................................................................................................................. 92AEU (Amalgamated Engineering Union) ............................................................................................... 16–17, 19Alan Cross ................................................................................................................................ 9, 11, 54, 106–7, 113Albanese, Anthony ................................................................................................................................... 67, 75, 83ALP ................................................................................................................................ 15, 18–19, 41, 55, 61–62, 87ALP Sutherland Shire Presidents Kevin Skinner ................................................................................................ 46Amalgamated Engineering Union. ........................................................................................................... See AEUAnniversary .................................................................................................. 9–10, 41, 46, 69–70, 89–90, 98, 102Annual General Meeting ....................................................................................... 23, 27, 34, 36, 48–49, 59, 63–64Assistance Dogs Australia ................................................................................................................................. 100Astron Ballroom ................................................................................................................................ 19–20, 95–96Australia Day events ...................................................................................................................................... 50, 94 Australian Business Awards ........................................................................................................................... 104–5 Australian Labor Party ..................................................................................... 14, 16, 18, 38, 55, 59, 67, 77, 83, 87 Australian Workers Union ............................................................................................................................ 60, 83BBaker ......................................................................................................................................... 31, 36, 51, 110, 113 Bill ....................................................................................................................... 10, 20, 25, 27, 31, 36, 51 Benson, John ........................................................................................................... 9–11, 28, 33–34, 43, 57, 111, 113 Board ................................................ 18–19, 24–26, 30, 33–34, 36, 51, 54, 59, 62, 64, 68, 72–73, 79, 82–83, 85–86 Branxton .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 Building Workers Industrial Union .......................................................................................................... 16, 19, 22 Bundeena ............................................................................................................................................8, 45, 73, 77 CCambodia ...........................................................................................................................................73–74, 77–78 Campaigns ....................................................................................................... 18, 27–28, 36, 44, 52, 54–55, 77, 83 Caringbah ............................................................................................. 7, 10, 13, 65, 69, 71, 79, 88, 90, 92–94, 99Caringbah RSL Club ............................................................................................................................... 47, 68–69 Caringbah Sports Cricket Club ......................................................................................................................... 100 Clontarf Academy ........................................................................................................................................ 79, 99Clontarf Foundation .............................................................................................................................. 79, 90, 100ClubsNSW .................................................................................................................................................. 86, 105 ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards .................................................................................................... 104–5 Collier, Barry Jeanette .................................................................................................................................. 62–63Communist Party of Australia ................................................................................................................... 17–18, 53 Community .......................................... 10–11, 13, 45, 48, 53–55, 73, 77–78, 82, 86, 89–90, 95–105, 107, 109, 113 Community Awards .......................................................................................................................................... 105 Community Organisations .................................................................. 35, 59, 66, 69, 77, 79, 82, 89–90, 92, 95, 98 Cook ..................................................................................................................................... 8, 38, 55–56, 83, 112 Cotterell, Tony ................................................................................................................................................ 63–64 COVID 19 ..................................................................................................................................... 81–83 Cronulla .................................................................................................................................. 14, 53–54, 87–88, 97 Cronulla Caringbah Sharks JRLFC .................................................................................................................. 100INDEX1 1 6 INDEX

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Cronulla Labor ................................................................................................................................... 15–16, 18, 96 Cronulla Sutherland Rugby League Referees Association ................................................................................ 100DDandelion .................................................................................................................................................. 98–99Darts ............................................................................................................................................. 25, 28, 72, 95–96 Dennis McHugh .............................................................................................................................. 10-12, 78, 113 Dharawal Nation ............................................................................................................................................. 7, 10 Dharawal People .............................................................................................................................................. 7–8 Director ............................................................................ 9-10, 12, 19–20, 24, 27, 33–34, 36, 61, 63, 65, 72, 78, 82 Director Bill Cremin ........................................................................................................................................... 24 Director Bob Sharkey .......................................................................................................................................... 24 EEducation ............................................................................................... 16, 18–19, 38, 54–55, 73–74, 78, 99, 105 Election ...................................................................................................... 38–40, 42, 56, 62, 65–66, 70, 83, 87–88 Elouera SLSC past president John Brown .......................................................................................................... 91 Elouera’s past President Graham Tangye ............................................................................................................ 90 Elouera Surf Life Saving Club .................................................................................................... 47, 49, 78, 90, 96, 107Endeavour High School .............................................................................................................................. 79, 99Endeavour Sports High School ..................................................................................................................... 79, 90 Environment & Heritage Green Globe Awards ............................................................................................ 104–5 Expansion .............................................................................................................. 6, 11, 13, 68–72, 92, 108–9FFederal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd ...................................................................................................................... 66 Federal Member for Hughes ......................................................................................................................... 52, 86 First Whitlam Oration ........................................................................................................................................ 56 Forshaw, Michael ................................................................................................................................... 12, 82, 113 Foundation ................................................................................................................................. 17, 78–79, 110-14 Foundation and Life Members ........................................................................................................................ 6, 77 Foundation Board ................................................................................................................................................ 51 Foundation Directors .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Foundation Members ..................................................................................................... 9, 51, 60, 77–78, 107, 110 Foundation Member Ted Lawes ......................................................................................................................... 23 Fuller, Jack ..................................................................................................................................................... 18–20 Fundraisers .............................................................................................................................. 52, 54–55, 59, 90, 96 GGibbs, Bill .......................................................................................................................................................... 113 Gietzelt ....................................................................................................................................... 18, 20, 70, 75, 110 Arthur ........................................................................................................................... 15, 18, 20, 75, 113 Dawn ..................................................................................................................................... 59, 110, 113Gillard, Julia ............................................................................................................................................. 66–67, 70Gough Whitlam ....................................................................................................................................... 38, 43, 56Graham ............................................................................................................................................ 72–73, 78, 110Gymea Gorillas Junior Rugby League Football Club ......................................................................................... 96Gymea North Public School ............................................................................................................................. 101 Gymea Technology High School ...................................................................................................................... 101 117INDEX

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HHealth & Wellbeing ...................................................................................................................................... 104–5Helensburgh ........................................................................................................ 6–7, 10, 13, 65, 76–80, 90, 92–93 Helensburgh Workers Club ........................................................................................................................... 76–77IiPromise Grants ........................................................................................................................................... 93, 104JJohnson ...............................................................................................................15, 18–20, 55–57, 61, 86, 110, 113 Jones, Len ................................................................................................................................... 20–22, 25, 27, 108 KKatoke Trust .......................................................................................................................................... 64–65, 101 LLang, Jack .................................................................................................................................................... 48, 109Licensing Court ............................................................................................................................ 22–23, 25, 30, 32 Life Members ................................................................................. 6, 9, 20, 23, 44, 55, 59, 73, 77–78, 82, 110–14Liquor Licence ......................................................................................... 10, 13, 21–22, 25–26, 29, 48, 51, 65, 108 permanent ............................................................................................................................................. 13 application ............................................................................................................................................. 20 MMember for Hughes ...................................................................................................................................... 55, 57Membership ................................................................. 15, 18, 20–21, 26–27, 30, 32, 65, 67, 72–73, 78, 106–7, 109 Miller ............................................................................................................................................ 9, 21, 32–35, 76 Miller’s Brewery ........................................................................................................................... 21, 23–25, 33, 35 Minns, Chris .................................................................................................................................................. 87–88 NNewcastle Workers Club ..................................................................................................................................... 52 North Cronulla SLSC ................................................................................................................................. 47, 102NSW Government ................................................................................................................................... 17, 66, 97 NSW Teachers Federation .......................................................................................................... 16, 18, 60, 78, 102 PPhil Bowering ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 Pine Lodge ............................................................................................................................. 10, 13, 21–22, 27, 95 Port Hacking Dragon Boat Club ...................................................................................................................... 98President ....................................................................................... 9, 12, 18–19, 24, 27, 36, 46, 66, 72–73, 78, 108 President Don Ferguson ................................................................................................................................ 19–20 President Graham Hill .......................................................................................... 36, 48, 54, 63, 65,72-73, 78, 110Prime Minister .................................................................................................................. 38, 40, 56, 67, 70, 75, 83Prime Minister Bob Hawke .............................................................................................. 51–52, 59–60, 63, 77, 83 Project ................................................................................................................................ 49, 59, 61, 63, 65, 77, 93RRobb, Bill ............................................................................................................................................... 20, 55, 113 1 1 8 INDEX

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SSeamen’s Union ........................................................................................................................................ 33–34, 43 Services .............................................................. 49–50, 54, 57, 72–73, 78, 82–83, 85–86, 90, 94, 108–9, 113–14Sharkey, Bob .................................................................................................................. 40, 46, 54, 82–83, 106, 113 Shire President ......................................................................................................................................... 18, 32, 46 Shire President Arthur Gietzelt ..................................................................................................................... 31–32 Soviet Union .................................................................................................................................................. 17, 41 Sta ......................................................................................... 10, 59, 61, 63, 73, 78, 82, 86, 89–90, 92, 94, 108–9Surf ................................................................................................................................................... 82, 90, 97, 103 Sutherland District Trade Union Club ......................................................... 10, 13, 25, 32, 47–48, 69, 78, 108, 110 Sutherland Shire Schools Music Festival ....................................................................................................... 70, 89 Sutherland Titans FC ........................................................................................................................................ 103TTeachers Federation ....................................................................................................................................... 18, 73 Tickner, Robert ........................................................................................................................................ 51, 53, 55–56, 61 Trade Union Club ..................................................................................................... 16, 18–19, 22, 64, 68, 107–8 Trade Union Members ...................................................................................................... 6, 16, 18, 24, 66, 95, 107 Trade Union Movement .......................................................................................... 13, 18, 34–35, 48, 60, 107, 109 Tradies Board ..................................................................................................................................... 12, 20, 61, 89 Tradies Bridge Club ................................................................................................................................... 99, 103 Tradies Caringbah .......................................................................................... 69, 71–73, 77–78, 80, 85, 88, 92, 114 Tradies Director Pat Harris ........................................................................................................................... 44, 49 Tradies’ Foundation Members ..................................................................................................................... 41, 110Tradies Founding ........................................................................................................................................... 61, 77 Tradies Golf Club .......................................................................................................................................... 22, 96 Tradies Group General Manager Jason McMaster .................................................................................. 87, 92–93 Tradies Gymea ........................................................................................................... 8, 45, 69–72, 77, 79, 93, 101 Tradies Gymea West Wing ................................................................................................................................. 78 Tradies Helensburgh ................................................................................................. 45, 71, 77–80, 82, 85, 88, 114 Tradies President Dennis McHugh .................................................................................... 75, 87–88, 91, 102, 111 Tradies Volunteers .......................................................................................................................................... 77–78 UUAW (Union of Australian Women) ............................................................................................................. 16, 18Unions ..................................................................................... 15–18, 21, 33, 35, 46, 51, 54–55, 60, 72, 77, 107–8VVolk, Frank ................................................................................................................................................... 19, 20, 113 WWanda Surf Life Saving Club ........................................................................................................................ 82, 90 Watson, Alan ................................................................................................................................................. 64–65 Whitlam governments ................................................................................................................................... 38, 57 Wilson, Hazel ........................................................................................................................................ 54–55, 113Women ....................................................................................... 17–18, 27–28, 39, 41, 49, 60, 67, 73, 83, 103, 110 Wran, Neville ................................................................................................................................................. 41, 43 119INDEX

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Beyond Wildest Dreams was written by Sutherland Shire writer and editor John Mulcair.He worked as a reporter and editor on local, regional andnational newspapers, then reported on national radio and television before holding senior public affairs positions at several Australian and international companies.John Mulcair then returned to local news, reporting for the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader for several years, covering all St George and Sutherland Shire councils.When the founders of the Tradies, the Sutherland District Trade Union Club, held their rst meetings in the early 1960s, they could do it in a room. There were only nine of them. Beyond Wildest Dreams, published to mark the Club’s 60th year, begins with the political, industrial, and social inuences in mid-20th century Australia and Sutherland Shire that saw it founded. The most signicant of these was the great division in Australian Labor Party politics and, as a result, in the labour movement and in many parts of society: The Split in the ALP.The other profound inuence was the essential do-it-yourself approach demanded of young families of ex-servicemen returning from World War 2 to establish their homes in Sutherland Shire and beyond.Beyond Wildest Dreams traverses six decades, also telling of the Tradies’ battles with brewing monopolies, a critical letter about a 1911 coal mining strike, a coal hauling shipthat saved it, ghts to expand, its years of help to the community, and its growth - including the threatened Caringbah RSL and Helensburgh Workers Clubs becoming part of Tradies.In its seventh decade, with 61,000 members and as an integral part today of its three communities, the Club’s founders might well agree today’s Tradies is Beyond their Wildest Dreams.THE STORY OF THE SUTHERLAND DISTRICT TRADE UNION CLUBJOHN MULCAIRWILDEST DREAMSBeyondWILDEST DREAMSBeyondJOHN MULCAIRTHE STORY OF THE SUTHERLAND DISTRICT TRADE UNION CLUB