Ernest James Foyle

https://www.labourhistory.org.au/hummer/vol-3-no-4/ernest-foyle/

It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Branch member and long-time labour and social movement activist Ernest James Foyle. Ernest died in Sydney on 6 August, 2000, aged 78. To his partner, Margaret Bettison, who is also a Branch member, The Hummer and the Branch extend sincere sympathies.

Ernest James Foyle was a long-time campaigner for social justice and environmental responsibility. Born in St. Peters, Sydney, in 1921, he attended school at Chippendale, leaving in his early teenage years in the depths of the Great Depression. Ernest eventually found work as a chicken plucker at Glazebrook & Sons, Double Bay, where he worked from 1935 until 1941. He was one of the many ‘Depression generation’ men and women who were radicalised by the social and economic crisis of the 1930s and for whom the Communist Party offered hope of a better future.

During World War Two, Ernest served with the Australian Army in the Middle East, New Guinea and Tarakan. At the war’s end he participated in the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme, learning the trade of plasterer. During the Cold War he was an activist in the Plasterers Union. As a member of the Labor Party, Ernest campaigned against the Vietnam War. In later years he devoted his energies to the cause of Aboriginal rights and was actively involved in the most recent campaign for Aboriginal reconciliation. He also took a keen interest in matters environmental.

Ernest read The Hummer avidly and in 1997 (vol.2, no.8), with partner Margaret, contributed a fascinating piece on William Henry James Webb (1903-1985), electrical trades worker, fellow unionist and communist activist. Ernest James Foyle was a valued member of our Branch. He will be greatly missed.

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=46...

FOYLE ERNEST JAMES : Service Number - NX73885 : Date of birth - 26 Sep 1921 : Place of birth - ST PETERS NSW : Place of enlistment - PADDINGTON NSW : Next of Kin - COOMBES THELMA

DEATH OF Mr ERNEST FOYLE Mr E. T. PAGE (Coogee) [4.31 p.m.]: My friend Ernest Foyle passed away peacefully on 6 August after a long battle with leukaemia. He was born on 26 September 1921 at St Peters. He was less than one year old when his father died and his mother moved in with her parents at Redfern. At the age of 14 he worked as a chicken processor in Double Bay, earning a penny for each chicken he plucked. He read a great deal. He joined the left-wing Australian League of Labor Youth and later the Communist Party. He joined the Australian Imperial Forces when he was 20 and became a stretcher bearer with the 2/11 Australian Field Ambulance, serving in the Middle East, New Guinea and Pacific Islands campaigns. Under a veterans training scheme, Ernest became a plasterer and worked on Parliament House. He was an active member of the former Plasterers Union. For many years he was its delegate to the Trades and Labor Council.

Ernie's experience in World War II turned him into a strong peace activist. As a member of various peace organisations he campaigned against the spread of nuclear weapons and was a leading protester against the Vietnam War. He joined the Australian Labor Party more than 30 years ago and became an active branch member. In February last year I addressed the House on the impact on my constituents of bank closures. Ernest Foyle involved himself in that issue. He was concerned about the closure of the Commonwealth Bank branch at Clovelly and its effect on older people living in the area, those on low incomes and, of course, the bank's employees. He had a real appreciation of the disastrous effects of economic rationalisation on the broader community. Currently I am active in a move to try to set up a community bank at Clovelly. In my view if that occurs it will be a tribute to the initial work of Ernie Foyle. Ernest was never one to simply complain: he was a person of action. His persistence often tested local politicians and their staff. There was always a postbox or bus stop which had been moved without adequate consultation or a road with unsafe traffic conditions or improvements that needed to be made to public transport. Ernest wanted a perfect world and could see no reason why we should settle for anything less. Ernie was described as the ultimate community person, and his neighbours loved him. He was the sort of person on whom everyone could rely, and if someone was in trouble he would do what he could to help. He grew a lot of vegetables and passed them around to locals in the Clovelly area. Ernest used to voluntarily pack books for the Socialist Book Shop. That was typical of Ernie, as he was always ready to do that sort of work for causes in which he believed. Ernie was capable of organising any campaign or activity, but he was willing to do the crucial donkey work which many others might consider below them. He was extremely committed to Aboriginal reconciliation and was actively involved with both the Friends of Tranby and the eastern suburbs organisation for reconciling Australia before that move became fashionable. He was one of the first members of that organisation back in 1997. He travelled to Canberra almost straightaway when he heard about the sea of hands demonstration. He soon came to be considered as one of the elders of the group that organised that demonstration. Ernest was also an ardent conservationist and a proud unionist, being a life member of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. He is survived by his wife Margaret, his first wife Gwenda, his children Helen, Stephen, Clare, Deidre, Matthew and Andrew, nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

'Foyle, Ernest James (Ernie) (1921–2000)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/foyle-ernest-james-ern..., accessed 26 August 2023.