Family background
Albert Edward Harris was born on 10 March 1867 in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, son of John Harris and Emma Jane Mann. He arrived in Sydney, NSW with his parents on 5 May 1876 on the vessel ’Astracan’. Albert Edward Harris married (1) Elizabeth Caroline Crossingham (1871-1937) on 3 September 1889 in Coopernook, NSW and they had a daughter Ethel (1890). He married (2) Helene Burton (1876-) on 10 August 1939 in Rockdale, NSW. Albert Edward Harris died on 10 March 1961 in Botany, NSW, aged 94 years and he was cremated at the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium. He lived in Young Street, Waterloo.
Occupation & interests
Harris worked as a farm hand at Coopernook in the 1880s.
Community activity
Albert Edward Harris received a Certificate of Appreciation from the NSW Government in recognition of his voluntary services given whilst a Director of The Royal South Sydney Hospital for a period of 38 years. Harris was a justice of the peace (JP). As Mayor in 1933 Harris said Waterloo’s incinerator was a nuisance for working class people living in a thickly populated area and as a result their homes had depreciated in value. A new incinerator, he said, should be built a long way from any residence.
Local government service
Albert Edward Harris was an alderman on Waterloo Council in 1911-19, 1921-32 and 1934-44 representing North Ward. He was mayor in 1922-23, 1933, 1938 and part of 1939.
References
‘Municipal Elections’, The Sydney Morning Herald 30 January 1911, p. 10, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15233668
‘New Mayors’, Evening News, 13 December 1922, p. 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118817012
‘Some of the recently elected suburban and country mayors and shire presidents’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 December 1932, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16941867
‘New Incinerator’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 1933, p.10, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16981380