P1-P2 - Interview with Fred Coombe (born 1896), Melbourne, 15 May 1984

Component identifier:

File

Content Summary:

Fred Coombe was the son of a labourer, who had had no education at all and could neither read nor write. Fred's first memories are of life in Broken Hill and surrounds from 1900: Aboriginal rural workers not being paid; hiding from the Governor Brothers, Joe and Jimmy; and men returning from the Boer War in 1902 when he was six. As a 14-year-old hand at a shearing shed on the Darling River, he participated in industrial sabotage of shearing equipment, under the influence of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He became a member before the First World War and describes their ideas, personalities and activities in their heyday during the war, and the treason-felony case against the Sydney Twelve in 1916. Coombe argues this was a frameup and explains why this was a widespread belief in labour movement circles at the time.

2 x 60 min. cassettes, c. 120 minutes.

Subjects:

Politics and government
Academic
History

Names:

Burgmann, Verity, FASS, Adjunct Professor of Politics

Contents

Access and use