Dale Lorna Jacobsen

A thoroughly good read!

Union Jack is not a story of the British banner, but the heroic tale of a man who was proud to wave a flag of deepest red in his struggles for the lot of his fellow workers on the rapidly expanding Queensland rail network.

John Laurence (Jack) O'Leary, the subject of this fascinating probe into a family’s history, worked in the coalmines of Wales before migrating to Queensland, where he took up work as a railway construction worker. The ‘navvies’, as these workers were called, lived in squalid tent camps beside the rail track they were building, shifting every few weeks to a new base to stay close to the work.

When Jack married young Scottish immigrant Mary Stevenson she was understandably taken aback when he transported her on a hand-pumped rail trolley to his tent beside the Mary Valley line north of Gympie. Sleeping on two wired-together camp stretchers was hardly the romantic honeymoon she might have expected. After the birth of their first child, Jack transferred to the Railway Workshops at Ipswich, and moved into a small cottage with Mary and their child. From then on, Jack became active in the Australian Railways Union (ARU, now called the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, RTBU). He became union delegate at the Workshops and relished involvement in fights for the rights of his workmates.

The family then moved to Rockhampton, with Jack increasing his union activities among fellow workers at the Railway Workshops there. A couple of years later, his restlessness brought the family to Warwick, and finally, in 1924, to Brisbane. This last shift coincided with the rising fear campaign being generated about Communism, with the ALP Central Executive demanding all party members sign an anti-Communist pledge. Labor Premier, Ted Theodore, also pushed for Communists to be removed from trade unions, and decided to target Jack's union, the militant ARU.

The Government sacked many railway workers and cut wages, all part of the vicious Theodore campaign against the union. Strike action followed and Jack shared the stage at meetings with leaders of the ARU. As part of the protest against the anti-Communist actions of the ALP, he stood – unsuccessfully – for ALP pre-selection in the seat of Logan.

This set the scene for increasing confrontations between Labor's Left and Right factions (nowadays a repetitious piece of history!), the breaking by the ARU of the Mungana Mine corruption story, and the elevation of Jack O'Leary to the position of District Secretary of the ARU. The political heat intensified and eventually Jack was expelled from the ALP for ‘supporting the ideology’ of the socialist Labor Premier of NSW, Jack Lang. Eventually the politics moved from vigorous verbal confrontations to physical violence, with fatal consequences.

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SEARCH Review - Peter Murphy

 My own experience in writing non-fiction has taught me that research, more research and then yet another trip to the dusty archives is the key to unlocking hitherto untold stories. To weave fictional elements into such material with studious discipline could be fraught with difficulty, particularly in the area of credibility. Jacobsen explains that after delving through a great many dusty files:

"I needed to loosen my grip on the recorded facts and set these characters free to tell their own story. My role would be to ensure they told their tales truthfully."

The historic accuracy of the accounts of Jack O’Leary’s life adventures was confirmed by the knowledgeable people at the launch of Union Jack in Brisbane on 25 June 2011. In this most enjoyable read, Jacobsen has combined the two strains of writing to superb effect to tell the tale of O’Leary, her own grandfather.

Praise must therefore go to the author for the additional ‘colour’ she has provided, bringing the cast of characters to life as real, living beings, struggling to buy food, living in the squalor of railway navvy camps and becoming the target of vicious attacks by rich and powerful – and corrupt – men over the politics of the era.

While it is important to make every effort to record the details of our history with great accuracy, Dale Jacobsen's Union Jack shows quite clearly that there are moments when those details can be blended into a captivating and thoroughly enjoyable read. The arrival of this book is indeed one of those rare moments.

Tony Reeves