Veteran wharfie mourned

MARITIME Union national secretary Paddy Crumlin has paid tribute to veteran wharfie Jimmy Donovan who has passed away at the age of 85.

Mr Donovan was a senior official with the old Waterside Workers Federation and later with the Maritime Union in Sydney as well as a lifelong member of the Communist Party.

He began his working life as an apprentice boilermaker.

“Jimmy was a fighter and an uncompromising trade union and labour union leader that dedicated his life to the working class and understood the importance of class struggle driven by unity, peace, social justice and universal respect and recognition for worker and human rights,” Mr Crumlin wrote.

“He was an activist and leader of our community for over 62 years as a wharfie, an official and later an MUA veteran.”

Mr Crumlin said Jim Donovan was “revered and cherished to the very end”.

“His last contribution to the MUA Film Unit was just ten days before his passing, when he recorded a message of solidarity for our comrade Willie Adams of the ILWU. One legend of the waterfront commending the contribution of another.”

Mr Donovan was among the wharfies on the picket lines during the 1998 Patrick waterfront dispute.

A photo of him hugging fellow wharfie Sean Chaffer after the ruling by Justice North captures the emotion of those times.

“Jimmy was in the thick of it, day in and day out, alongside the tens of thousands of MUA members, supporters, fellow travellers and ordinary Australians who flocked to the picket lines to defend Australian wharfies’ right to a dignified, safe and respectful workplace,” Mr Crumlin wrote.

Jimmy Donovan and Sean Chaffer share a hug after a ruling by
Justice Tony North. Image: MUA

Mr Donovan reportedly was proud as punch when the Australian National Maritime Museum unveiled the Wharfies Mural in 2022, made possible in part by his work to preserve stories for future generations.

Even as the world changed, Mr Donovan remained committed to his ideals telling the Communist Party of Australia website two years ago that his family supported his outlook.

“My family has been 100 per cent behind my party membership. Even my two boys who are now in their fifties, and my grandchildren know that I am a communist and they ask me questions about it because my two sons have told them that pop’s a communist,” Mr Donovan said.

“They (his grandchildren) are up to their 30s now but of course the anti-communism that was around when I was twenty and thirty isn’t here today, so they didn’t ask any what you would call inquisitive questions.

“There’s no anti-communism in them whatsoever because it hasn’t been around.”

Funeral details are still to be announced.