Family background
George Sydney Stanley was born at Coledale NSW on 7 October 1908, son of Thomas S Stanley and Ada nee Killen. Unmarried, he died at Southport, Queensland on 14 February 1996, aged 87 years.
Occupation & interests
Stanley was mail officer with the PMG Department, and an active member of the Amalgamated Postal Workers’ Union.
Community activity
Stanley was the sole Lang Labor on Glebe Council, until he was joined in 1947 by Dr Horace Foley. Both were marginalised on the council. The physical conditions of the inner suburbs had deteriorated, and Stanley recognised the need to improve inner city housing, not demolish it and expel traditional residents to the outer suburbs. Stanley deplored the apathy he found at Glebe Council meetings in 1947, sometimes lapsing for want of a quorum. Brother Tom Stanley was also a Lang Labor activist.
Local government service
George Stanley was an alderman on Glebe Council in 1945-48. Stanley, a Lang Labor candidate, was elected to Glebe Council in October 1945 at a by-election caused by the death of Richard Gorman. Stanley rejected vocal and persistent slum eradication advocated by McKell and others in the Labor Party. A resident of Glebe, and proud of it, Stanley did not want to see the area where he lived demolished. He was elected to the Sydney City Council in 1948, representing Glebe Ward. He was Alderman for Glebe Ward on the City of Sydney Council from 4 December 1948 to 1 December 1950. He was a member of the Works Committee and the City Planning and Improvements Committee from 1949 to 1950.to 1950. He stood for Sydney City Council with his brother Tom in 1950. Both were unsuccessful.
References
Hogan, Michael 2004, Local labor: a history of the Labor Party in Glebe, 1891-2003, Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, pp. 148-50,154-55
Glebe Observer, 28 February 1947, p. 2
Glebe Observer, 22 October 1948, p. 1
Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 1949
Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1950
City of Sydney Archives. Aldermen’s Files